Leviticus 25:31

31 However, houses in unwalled villages are treated the same as fields. They can be redeemed and have to be returned at the Jubilee.

Leviticus 25:31 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 25:31

But the houses of the villages, which have no walls round
about them
As there were many in the days of Joshua, the Scripture speaks of: the Jews suppose that such are meant, even though they were afterwards walled:

shall be counted as the fields of the country;
and subject to the same law as they:

they may be redeemed;
at any time before the year of jubilee, and if not, then

they shall go out in the jubilee;
to the original owners of them, freely, as Jarchi says, without paying anything for them.

Leviticus 25:31 In-Context

29 "If a man sells a house in a walled city, he retains the right to buy it back for a full year after the sale. At any time during that year he can redeem it.
30 But if it is not redeemed before the full year has passed, it becomes the permanent possession of the buyer and his descendants. It is not returned in the Jubilee.
31 However, houses in unwalled villages are treated the same as fields. They can be redeemed and have to be returned at the Jubilee.
32 "As to the Levitical cities, houses in the cities owned by the Levites are always subject to redemption.
33 Levitical property is always redeemable if it is sold in a town that they hold and reverts to them in the Jubilee, because the houses in the towns of the Levites are their property among the People of Israel.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.