Leviticus 25:23-34

Redemption of Property

23 "The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for 1the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me.
24 And in all the country you possess, you shall allow a redemption of the land.
25 "If your brother becomes poor and sells part of his property, 2then his nearest redeemer shall come and redeem what his brother has sold.
26 If a man has no one to redeem it and then himself becomes prosperous and finds sufficient means to redeem it,
27 let 3him calculate the years since he sold it and pay back the balance to the man to whom he sold it, and then return to his property.
28 But if he has not sufficient means to recover it, then what he sold shall remain in the hand of the buyer until the year of jubilee. In the jubilee it shall 4be released, and 5he shall return to his property.
29 "If a man sells a dwelling house in a walled city, he may redeem it within a year of its sale. For a full year he shall have the right of redemption.
30 If it is not redeemed within a full year, then the house in the walled city shall belong in perpetuity to the buyer, throughout his generations; 6it shall not be released in the jubilee.
31 But the houses of the villages that have no wall around them shall be classified with the fields of the land. They may be redeemed, and 7they shall be released in the jubilee.
32 As for 8the cities of the Levites, the Levites may redeem at any time the houses in the cities they possess.
33 And if one of the Levites exercises his right of redemption, then the house that was sold in a city they possess shall be released in the jubilee. For the houses in the cities of the Levites are their possession among the people of Israel.
34 But the fields 9of pastureland belonging to their cities may not be sold, for that is their possession forever.

Leviticus 25:23-34 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO LEVITICUS 25

In this chapter the Israelites are directed, when come into the land of Canaan, to observe every seventh year as a sabbatical year, in which there was to be no tillage of the land, and yet there would be a sufficiency for man and beast, Le 25:1-7; and every fiftieth year as a year of jubilee, in which also there was to be no tillage of the land, and every man was to return to his possession or estate, which had been sold to another any time before this, Le 25:8-17; and a promise of safety and plenty in the seventh year is made to encourage the observance of it, Le 25:18-22; and several laws and rules are delivered out concerning the sale of lands, the redemption of them, and their return to their original owner in the year of jubilee, Le 25:23-28; and the sale of houses, and the redemption of them, and the difference between those in walled cities and those in villages, with respect thereunto, Le 25:29-31; and also concerning the houses of the cities of the Levites, and the fields of the suburbs of them, Le 25:32-34; to which are added some instructions about relieving decayed, persons, and lending and giving to them, without taking usury of them, Le 25:34-38; and other laws concerning the release of such Israelites as had sold themselves for servants to the Israelites, in the year of jubilee, since none but Heathens were to be bondmen and bondmaids for ever, Le 25:39-46; and of such who were sold to proselytes, Le 25:47-55.

Cross References 9

  • 1. Deuteronomy 32:43; 2 Chronicles 7:20; Psalms 85:1; Hosea 9:3; Joel 2:18; Joel 3:2
  • 2. Ruth 2:20; Ruth 3:9, 12; Ruth 4:4, 6; Jeremiah 32:7, 8
  • 3. See ver. 50-52
  • 4. Leviticus 27:21
  • 5. ver. 13, 41
  • 6. [See ver. 28 above]
  • 7. [See ver. 28 above]
  • 8. [Numbers 35:2]; See Joshua 21:2-40
  • 9. Numbers 35:2; 1 Chronicles 13:2; [Acts 4:36, 37]; See Joshua 21:11-42; 1 Chronicles 6:55-81
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.