The Sabbath Year
1The Lord said to Moses at Mount Sinai, 2“Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a sabbath to the Lord. 3For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. 4But in the seventh year the land is to have a year of sabbath rest, a sabbath to the Lord. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. 5Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest. 6Whatever the land yields during the sabbath year will be food for you—for yourself, your male and female servants, and the hired worker and temporary resident who live among you, 7as well as for your livestock and the wild animals in your land. Whatever the land produces may be eaten.
The Year of Jubilee
8“ ‘Count off seven sabbath years—seven times seven years—so that the seven sabbath years amount to a period of forty-nine years. 9Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement sound the trumpet throughout your land. 10Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each of you is to return to your family property and to your own clan. 11The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; do not sow and do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the untended vines. 12For it is a jubilee and is to be holy for you; eat only what is taken directly from the fields.
13“ ‘In this Year of Jubilee everyone is to return to their own property.
14“ ‘If you sell land to any of your own people or buy land from them, do not take advantage of each other. 15You 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. 16When 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. 17Do 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. 19Then the land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill and live there in safety. 20You may ask, “What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not plant or harvest our crops?” 21I will send you such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years. 22While 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. 24Throughout 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. 26If, however, there is no one to redeem it for them but later on they prosper and acquire sufficient means to redeem it themselves, 27they 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. 28But 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.
29“ ‘Anyone who sells a house in a walled city retains the right of redemption a full year after its sale. During that time the seller may redeem it. 30If it is not redeemed before a full year has passed, the house in the walled city shall belong permanently to the buyer and the buyer’s descendants. It is not to be returned in the Jubilee. 31But houses in villages without walls around them are to be considered as belonging to the open country. They can be redeemed, and they are to be returned in the Jubilee.
32“ ‘The Levites always have the right to redeem their houses in the Levitical towns, which they possess. 33So the property of the Levites is redeemable—that is, a house sold in any town they hold—and is to be returned in the Jubilee, because the houses in the towns of the Levites are their property among the Israelites. 34But the pastureland belonging to their towns must not be sold; it is their permanent possession.
35“ ‘If any of your fellow Israelites become poor and are unable to support themselves among you, help them as you would a foreigner and stranger, so they can continue to live among you. 36Do not take interest or any profit from them, but fear your God, so that they may continue to live among you. 37You must not lend them money at interest or sell them food at a profit. 38I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.
39“ ‘If any of your fellow Israelites become poor and sell themselves to you, do not make them work as slaves. 40They are to be treated as hired workers or temporary residents among you; they are to work for you until the Year of Jubilee. 41Then they and their children are to be released, and they will go back to their own clans and to the property of their ancestors. 42Because the Israelites are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt, they must not be sold as slaves. 43Do not rule over them ruthlessly, but fear your God.
44“ ‘Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. 45You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. 46You can bequeath them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly.
47“ ‘If a foreigner residing among you becomes rich and any of your fellow Israelites become poor and sell themselves to the foreigner or to a member of the foreigner’s clan, 48they retain the right of redemption after they have sold themselves. One of their relatives may redeem them: 49An uncle or a cousin or any blood relative in their clan may redeem them. Or if they prosper, they may redeem themselves. 50They and their buyer are to count the time from the year they sold themselves up to the Year of Jubilee. The price for their release is to be based on the rate paid to a hired worker for that number of years. 51If many years remain, they must pay for their redemption a larger share of the price paid for them. 52If only a few years remain until the Year of Jubilee, they are to compute that and pay for their redemption accordingly. 53They are to be treated as workers hired from year to year; you must see to it that those to whom they owe service do not rule over them ruthlessly.
54“ ‘Even if someone is not redeemed in any of these ways, they and their children are to be released in the Year of Jubilee, 55for the Israelites belong to me as servants. They are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.
安息年的条例
1耶和华在西奈山上对摩西说： 2“你要告诉以色列人：你们到了我将要赐给你们的土地后，要让土地在耶和华面前守安息。 3六年之内，你们可以耕种田地，修整葡萄园，收获出产。 4但第七年是要向耶和华守的安息年，土地要完全休息。你们不可耕种，不可修整葡萄园。 5不可收割自生自长的庄稼，也不可摘未经修剪而结的葡萄。这一年土地要完全休耕。 6但安息年间土地里自生自长的，你们和你们的仆婢、雇工与住在你们中间的外族人都可以吃， 7你们的牲畜和境内的野兽也可以吃。
禧年的条例
8“你们要计算七个安息年，即七个七年，共四十九年。 9第五十年的七月十日赎罪日那天，你们要在境内各地吹号。 10你们要以这一年为圣年，向境内所有居民宣告自由。这一年将成为你们的禧年。你们要各归祖业，各回本家。 11第五十年是你们的禧年。这一年你们不可耕种，不可收割自生自长的庄稼，也不可摘未经修剪而结的葡萄。 12这是禧年，是你们的圣年，你们可以吃土地里自生自长的。 13在禧年，各人要回到祖业。 14因此，你们和同胞买卖田地时，不可彼此亏负。 15买卖双方要按照距下个禧年的年数和收成的年数定价。 16距下个禧年的年数多，价钱就高；年数少，价钱就低。因为卖的是田地收成的次数。 17要敬畏你们的上帝，不可彼此亏负。我是你们的上帝耶和华。 18你们要遵行我的律例，持守我的典章，就可以在那片土地上安居。 19土地会出产丰富，使你们丰衣足食、安然居住。 20你们可能会问，‘第七年不种不收，我们吃什么？’ 21我要在第六年赐福给你们，使田地的出产够你们吃三年。 22第八年开始耕种时，你们仍会吃陈粮，一直吃到第九年的收割季节。
赎回土地的条例
23“你们不可永远卖掉土地，因为土地是我的，你们只不过是寄居在那片土地上的过客。 24你们购买每一块土地时，都必须让原主保留赎回的权利。 25如果有人因贫穷而卖掉土地，他的近亲要把卖掉的土地赎回来。 26如果无人为他赎回，而他自己渐渐富裕起来，有能力赎回， 27他要计算卖掉土地的年数，退还距下个禧年所剩年数的地价，便可以赎回自己的土地。 28如果他没有能力赎回，所卖的土地在禧年之前要属于买主。到了禧年，买主必须把土地归还原主。
赎回房屋的条例
29“如果有人卖掉自己城里的房子，要保留一年赎回权。卖掉房子的一年之内，他可以赎回。 30如果一年之内他没有赎回，房子便永远归买主所有，就是到了禧年也不用归还。 31如果房子在四围无墙的乡村，要视房子为乡下的土地，原主可以赎回；到了禧年，买主必须将房子归还。 32在利未人的城邑里，利未人永远有权赎回所卖的房子。 33如果他们没有赎回，到了禧年要把房子归还他们，因为在利未人的城里，利未人的房屋是他们在以色列人中所拥有的产业。 34但不可出卖利未人城郊的草场，那是他们永远拥有的产业。
照顾同胞的条例
35“如果你们的同胞生活日益贫穷，难以维生，你们要像照顾外族人和寄居者一样照顾他的生活，让他住在你们当中。 36不可向他放债取利，要敬畏你们的上帝，让他住在你们当中。 37你们借钱给他，不可收取利息；借粮给他，不可谋利。 38我是你们的上帝耶和华。我曾经带领你们离开埃及，为要把迦南赐给你们，并做你们的上帝。
买卖奴隶的条例
39“如果你们的同胞穷得把自己卖给你们，不可把他当作奴隶， 40要待他像雇工和寄居者一样。他要为你工作到禧年。 41到了禧年，他和孩子们便可以离开你们，回到自己的宗族和祖业。 42因为以色列人是我的仆人，是我从埃及带出来的，所以他们不可卖身为奴。 43你们也不可苛待他们，要敬畏你们的上帝。 44你们可以从邻国购买奴隶， 45也可以买居住或出生在你们境内的外族人。这些人可以作你们的产业。 46你们可以将他们作为产业传给你们的子孙，使他们终身做奴隶。但你们不可苛待自己的同胞。
47“如果你们中间的外族人渐渐富裕，你们同胞中却有人日益贫穷，把自己卖给外族人或他们的族人， 48他可以保留赎身的权利。他的兄弟、 49叔伯、堂兄弟或其他近亲都可以赎回他。如果他富裕起来，也可以赎回自己。 50他要和买主计算从自己卖身为奴到下个禧年之间的年数，然后按雇工的工价，照年数计算赎价。 51如果离禧年还有很多年，他就要按年数和当初卖价的比例偿还赎价。 52如果离禧年只有不多的几年，他就要按年数偿还赎身费。 53买主要待他如按年雇用的工人。你们要确保买主不会苛待他。 54如果禧年来临前他没有被赎回，到了禧年他和孩子们都要获得自由。 55因为以色列人是我的仆人，是我从埃及领出来的仆人。我是你们的上帝耶和华。
