Leviticus 25:45-55

45 either they that be born of comelings in your land; ye shall have these (as) servants, and by right of heritage ye shall leave them to your after-comers, and ye shall wield them without end; (or they who be born to newcomers in your land; ye shall have them as your slaves, and by right of inheritance ye shall leave them to your after-comers, and so ye shall own them forever;)

46 soothly oppress ye not by power your brethren, the sons of Israel. (but with your power, do not ye oppress your own brothers, the Israelites.)

47 If the hand of a comeling or of a pilgrim waxeth strong at you, and thy brother is made poor, and selleth himself to that comeling, either to any of his kin, (And if a newcomer, or a foreigner who liveth with you, groweth rich, and thy brother is made poor, and selleth himself to that newcomer, or to any of his kin,)

48 he may be again-bought after the selling; he that will of his brethren, again-buy him; (he can be bought back after that he is sold; yea, he of his brothers who will do so, should buy him back;)

49 both his father's brother, and the son of his father's brother, and his kinsman, and his ally. Else if also he shall be able, he shall again-buy himself, (or his father's brother, or the son of his father's brother, or another of his kin, should buy him back. Or if he is able, he should buy himself back,)

50 while the years be reckoned only from the time of his (original) selling till into the year of jubilee; and while the money, for which he was sold, is reckoned by the number of years, and while the hire of an hired man is reckoned. (while the years be reckoned from the time when he first sold himself until the Jubilee Year; and while the price, for which he can be bought back, be reckoned by the wages for a hired man.)

51 If more years be that dwell till to the jubilee, by these years he shall yield also the price; (If there be more years that remain until the Jubilee Year, he shall pay the value of those years;)

52 if few years be (and even if there be only a few years left), he shall (still) set reckoning with him by the number of the(se) years; and (so) he shall yield (money) to the buyer (for) that that is left of [the] years,

53 while those years, in which he served before, be reckoned for hires; (and) a stranger shall not torment an home-born man violently in thy sight. (while those years, in which he served before, shall be reckoned as for a hired man; never let a foreigner, or a stranger, violently torment a man born in the land before thee.)

54 That if he may not be again-bought by this manner, he shall go out with his free children in the year of jubilee; (And even if he is not bought back in this manner, he shall still go out free with his children in the Jubilee Year;)

55 for the sons of Israel be my servants, which I led out of the land of Egypt. I am your Lord God; (for the Israelites be my slaves, whom I led out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God;)

Leviticus 25:45-55 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.