Leviticus 25:19-52

¹⁹and that the earth bring forth his fruits to you (or and so that the land shall bring forth its harvest for you), which ye shall eat till to fullness, and dread not the assailing of any man.

²⁰That if ye say (or And if ye say to me), What shall we eat in the seventh year, if we sow not, neither gather (in) our fruits?

²¹(For an answer), I shall give my blessing to you in the sixth year, and it shall make the fruits of three years;

²²and ye shall sow in the eighth year, and ye shall eat eld fruits till to the ninth year; (yea), till new things come forth, ye shall eat the eld things.

²³Also the land shall not be sold into without end, for it is mine, and ye be my comelings, and my tenants;

²⁴wherefore all the country of your possession shall be sold under the condition of again-buying. (and so all the land of your possession shall be sold under the condition of being able to buy it back.)

²⁵If thy brother is made poor, and selleth his little possession, and his nigh kinsmen will, he may again-buy that that he sold (or he can buy back what he hath sold);

²⁶soothly if he hath no nigh kinsman, and he may find the price to again-buy, (and if he hath no one near of kin, but he findeth the money to buy it back,)

²⁷the fruits shall be reckoned from that time in which he sold it, and he shall yield that that is left to the buyer, and he shall receive so his possession again (or and so he shall receive his possession back again).

²⁸That if his hand findeth not, that he yield the price, the buyer shall have that that he bought, till to the year of jubilee; for in that year each selling shall go again to the lord, and to the first wielder. (But if his hand findeth not, so that he can pay the price, the buyer shall have what he bought, until the Jubilee Year; then in that year each parcel of land which hath been purchased, shall return to its original owner.)

²⁹He that selleth his house, within the walls of a city, shall have license to again-buy (it), till one year be full-filled; (He who selleth his house, within the walls of a city, shall have license to buy it back, until one year is fulfilled;)

³⁰if he again-buyeth (it) not, and the circle of the year is passed, the buyer shall wield it, and his heirs into without end, and it shall not be able to be again-bought, yea, in the jubilee. (but if he buyeth it not back, and the circle of the year is passed, the buyer, and his heirs, shall own it forever, and it shall not be able to be bought back, yea, even in the Jubilee Year.)

³¹Forsooth if the house is in a town that hath not walls, it shall be sold by the law of the fields; soothly if it is not again-bought in the jubilee, it shall turn again to the lord thereof, (or and even if it is not bought back, in the Jubilee Year it shall return to its original owner).

³²The houses of the deacons, that be in the cities, may evermore be again-bought; (But the houses of the Levites, that be in the cities, can be bought back forevermore;)

³³if those be not again-bought, those shall turn again in the jubilee to the lords (thereof); for the houses of the cities of deacons be for (their) possessions (forevermore) among the sons of Israel; (and even if they be not bought back, they shall still return to their original owners in the Jubilee Year; for the houses in the Levite cities shall be their possessions among the Israelites forevermore;)

³⁴forsooth the suburbs of them shall not be sold, for it is (their) everlasting possession.

³⁵If thy brother is made poor, and feeble in power, and thou receivest him as a comeling, and a pilgrim, (or and thou receivest him like a newcomer, or like a foreigner), and he liveth with thee,

³⁶take thou not usuries of him, neither more than thou hast given; dread thou thy God, that thy brother may live with thee. (receive thou not usury, or interest, from him, nor any more than thou hast given to him; fear thou thy God, and let thy brother live with thee.)

³⁷Thou shalt not give to him thy money (in)to usury (or Thou shalt not charge him interest for thy money), and thou shalt not ask over that that thou lendest, (for) increases of (thy) fruits;

³⁸I am your Lord God, that led you out of the land of Egypt, that I should give to you the land of Canaan, and that I should be your God. (I am the Lord your God, who led you out of the land of Egypt, so that I could give you the land of Canaan, and so that I would become your God.)

³⁹If thy brother compelled by poverty selleth himself to thee, thou shalt not oppress him by servage of servants (or thou shalt not make him thy slave),

⁴⁰but he shall be as an hired man and (as) a tenant; till to the year of jubilee he shall work with thee (or he shall work for thee until the Jubilee Year),

⁴¹and afterward he shall go out with his free children, and he shall turn again to his kindred, and to the possession of his fathers. (and then he shall go out free with his children, and he shall return to his family, and to his inheritance from his fathers.)

⁴²For they be my servants, and I led them out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold by the condition of servants; (For they be my slaves, and I led them out of Egypt; and they shall not be sold into human slavery;)

⁴³torment thou not them by thy power, but dread thou thy Lord. (so do not thou torment him with thy power, but rather, fear thou thy God.)

⁴⁴A servant and (a) handmaid be to you of the nations that be in your compass, and of the comelings the which be pilgrims with you, (For your slaves and your slave-girls, buy thou them from the nations that be all around you, and from the newcomers who be foreigners, or strangers, among you,)

⁴⁵either 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;)

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

⁴⁷If 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,)

⁴⁸he 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;)

⁴⁹both 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,)

⁵⁰while 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.)

⁵¹If 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;)

⁵²if 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,