Leviticus 25, The Year of Jubilee

(This DRAFT study has been done fairly quickly, without the further guide of commentaries. I hope to improve on it later.)

YHWH prepares the priesthood for the entrance into Canaan. This chapter describes a special "sabbath" year of Jubilee, in which the land and the people are to reset their debts and obligations, especially regarding the land.

Leviticus 25:1-7, A sabbath for the land

 The LORD said to Moses on Mount Sinai, "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. For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. But in the seventh year the land is to have a sabbath of rest, a sabbath to the LORD. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest. Whatever the land yields during the sabbath year will be food for you--for yourself, your manservant and maidservant, and the hired worker and temporary resident who live among you, as well as for your livestock and the wild animals in your land. Whatever the land produces may be eaten.  

Just as the people rest on a seventh day, so the land is to have a seventh year of rest.

Leviticus 25:8-12, A Jubilee year

"`Count off seven sabbaths of years--seven times seven years--so that the seven sabbaths of years amount to a period of forty-nine years. Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement sound the trumpet throughout your land. Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each one of you is to return to his family property and each to his own clan. The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; do not sow and do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the untended  vines. For it is a jubilee and is to be holy for you; eat only what is taken directly from the fields.  

Every fiftieth year, after seven sevens, is to be a special year of Jubilee.

Leviticus 25:13-16, The Jubilee reset

"`In this Year of Jubilee everyone is to return to his own property. "`If you sell land to one of your countrymen or buy any from him, do not take advantage of each other. You are to buy from your countryman on the basis of the number of years since the Jubilee. And he is to sell to you on the basis of the number of years left for harvesting crops. 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 he is really selling you is the number of  crops.  

The Year of Jubilee is a time of reset, with property being returned to original owners. The buyer is to take into account the upcoming reset when property is sold in this temporary manner.

Leviticus 25:17-24, A Jubilee blessing

Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God. I am the LORD your God. "`Follow my decrees and be careful to obey my laws, and you will live safely in the land. Then the land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill and live there in safety. You may ask, "What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not plant or harvest our crops?" I will send you such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years. 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. "`The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants. Throughout the country that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the redemption of the land.  

If the Jubilee agricultural rules are followed, YHWH promises an abundant blessing in reward.

Leviticus 25:25-28, Redeeming a relative's property

"`If one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells some of his property, his nearest relative is to come and redeem what his countryman has sold. If, however, a man has no one to redeem it for him but he himself prospers and acquires sufficient means to redeem it, he is to determine the value for the years since he sold it and refund the balance to the man to whom he sold it; he can then go back to his own property. But if he does not acquire the means to repay him, what he sold will remain in the possession of the buyer until the Year of Jubilee. It will be returned in the Jubilee, and he can then go back to his property.  

A property sale is not expected to be permanent. A near relative always has a right to redeem the property. (We will see this played out in Ruth 4:1-12.)

Leviticus 25:29-31, City houses vs. country houses

"`If a man sells a house in a walled city, he retains the right of redemption a full year after its sale. During that time he may redeem it. If it is not redeemed before a full year has passed, the house in the walled city shall belong permanently to the buyer and his descendants. It is not to be returned in the Jubilee.  

But houses in villages without walls around them are to be considered as open country. They can be redeemed, and they are to be returned in the Jubilee.  

Property in the city is different from land ownership in the open country.

Leviticus 25:32-34, Rights of Levites

"`The Levites always have the right to redeem their houses in the Levitical towns, which they possess. So 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. But the pastureland belonging to their towns must not be sold; it is their permanent possession.  

The tribe of Levi, representing the priests, does not have its own region in Israel, but instead is spread out across the land, in a variety of cities. So they have special rights when it goes to buying and selling their houses.

Leviticus 25:35-38, No excessive interest

"`If one of your countrymen becomes poor and is unable to support himself among you, help him as you would an alien or a temporary resident, so he can continue to live among you. Do not take interest of any kind from him, but fear your God, so that your countryman may continue to live among you. You must not lend him money at interest or sell him food at a profit.

I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God. 

 As the NIV footnotes will point out, the concept of "interest" in verses 36 and 37 could mean "excessive interest." Embedded in this command is concern for the poor and prohibition against taking advantage of them.

Leviticus 25:39-43, Debtors

"`If one of your countrymen becomes poor among you and sells himself to you, do not make him work as a slave. He is to be treated as a hired worker or a temporary resident among you; he is to work for you until the Year of  Jubilee. Then he and his children are to be released, and he will go back to his own clan and to the property of his forefathers. Because the Israelites are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt, they must not be sold as slaves. Do not rule over them ruthlessly, but fear your God.  

An Israelite might sell themselves to another Israelite, because of poverty or debt, but the Year of Jubilee is to allow them to be released.

Leviticus 25:44-46, Slavery

"`Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. You 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. You can will them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly. 

The treatment of slaves (bond-servants) is different in regard to enslaving Israelites as against the treatment of members of other nations. Ownership of slaves from other nations can be passed on to descendants.

Leviticus 25:47-55, Redeeming a bondservant

"`If an alien or a temporary resident among you becomes rich and one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells himself to the alien living among you or to a member of the alien's clan, he retains the right of redemption after he has sold himself. One of his relatives may redeem him: An uncle or a cousin or any blood relative in his clan may redeem him. Or if he prospers, he may redeem himself.  

He and his buyer are to count the time from the year he sold himself up to the Year of Jubilee. The price for his release is to be based on the rate paid to a hired man for that number of years. If many years remain, he must pay for his redemption a larger share of the price paid for him. If only a few years remain until the Year of Jubilee, he is to compute that and pay for his redemption accordingly. He is to be treated as a man hired from year to year; you must see to it that his owner does not rule over him ruthlessly. 

"`Even if he is not redeemed in any of these ways, he and his children are to be released in the Year of Jubilee, for the Israelites belong to me as servants. They are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.   

An Israelite can be redeemed from slavery; they may even redeem themselves. Because of the Jubilee reset, the price paid for this redemption must take into account the time remaining before this automatic freedom. One who will be free in two or three years would pay much less for their immediate freedom than one who has decades to go before this automatic release.

First published August 28, 2025; updated August 28, 2025