Leviticus 25:14-28

14 “ ‘If you sell land to any of your own people or buy land from them, do not take advantage of each other.
15 You are to buy from your own people on the basis of the number of years since the Jubilee. And they are to sell to you on the basis of the number of years left for harvesting crops.
16 When the years are many, you are to increase the price, and when the years are few, you are to decrease the price, because what is really being sold to you is the number of crops.
17 Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God. I am the LORD your God.
18 “ ‘Follow my decrees and be careful to obey my laws, and you will live safely in the land.
19 Then the land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill and live there in safety.
20 You may ask, “What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not plant or harvest our crops?”
21 I will send you such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years.
22 While you plant during the eighth year, you will eat from the old crop and will continue to eat from it until the harvest of the ninth year comes in.
23 “ ‘The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you reside in my land as foreigners and strangers.
24 Throughout the land that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the redemption of the land.
25 “ ‘If one of your fellow Israelites becomes poor and sells some of their property, their nearest relative is to come and redeem what they have sold.
26 If, however, there is no one to redeem it for them but later on they prosper and acquire sufficient means to redeem it themselves,
27 they are to determine the value for the years since they sold it and refund the balance to the one to whom they sold it; they can then go back to their own property.
28 But if they do not acquire the means to repay, what was sold will remain in the possession of the buyer until the Year of Jubilee. It will be returned in the Jubilee, and they can then go back to their property.

Leviticus 25:14-28 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 25

  • 1. S Leviticus 19:13; 1 Samuel 12:3,4; 1 Corinthians 6:8
  • 2. ver 27; Leviticus 27:18,23
  • 3. ver 27,51,52
  • 4. S Leviticus 19:13; Job 31:16; Proverbs 22:22; Jeremiah 7:5,6; Jeremiah 21:12; Jeremiah 22:3,15; Zechariah 7:9-10; 1 Thessalonians 4:6
  • 5. S Leviticus 19:14
  • 6. S Leviticus 19:32
  • 7. S Genesis 26:5
  • 8. ver 19; Leviticus 26:4,5; Deuteronomy 12:10; Deuteronomy 33:28; Job 5:22; Psalms 4:8; Jeremiah 23:6; Jeremiah 30:10; Jeremiah 32:37; Jeremiah 33:16; Ezekiel 28:26; Ezekiel 34:25; Ezekiel 38:14
  • 9. Leviticus 26:4; Deuteronomy 11:14; Deuteronomy 28:12; Isaiah 55:10
  • 10. S ver 18
  • 11. S ver 4
  • 12. Deuteronomy 28:8,12; Psalms 133:3; Psalms 134:3; Psalms 147:13; Ezekiel 44:30; Haggai 2:19; Malachi 3:10
  • 13. S Exodus 16:5
  • 14. Leviticus 26:10
  • 15. Numbers 36:7; 1 Kings 21:3; Ezekiel 46:18
  • 16. Exodus 19:5
  • 17. S Genesis 23:4; 1 Chronicles 29:15; Psalms 39:12; S Hebrews 11:13; 1 Peter 2:11
  • 18. ver 29,48; Ruth 4:7
  • 19. ver 48; Ruth 2:20; Jeremiah 32:7
  • 20. Lev 27:13,19,31; Ruth 4:4
  • 21. ver 49
  • 22. S ver 15
  • 23. ver 10
  • 24. Leviticus 27:24
  • 25. S ver 10
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