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New Living Translation |   | |
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| | Lev 25:1 | While Moses was on Mount Sinai, the LORD said to him,
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| | Lev 25:2 | "Give these instructions to the Israelites: When you have entered the land I am giving you as an inheritance, the land itself must observe a Sabbath to the LORD every seventh year.
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| | Lev 25:3 | For six years you may plant your fields and prune your vineyards and harvest your crops,
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| | Lev 25:4 | but during the seventh year the land will enjoy a Sabbath year of rest to the LORD. Do not plant your crops or prune your vineyards during that entire year.
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| | Lev 25:5 | And don't store away the crops that grow naturally or process the grapes that grow on your unpruned vines. The land is to have a year of total rest.
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| | Lev 25:6 | But you, your male and female slaves, your hired servants, and any foreigners who live with you may eat the produce that grows naturally during the Sabbath year.
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| | Lev 25:7 | And your livestock and the wild animals will also be allowed to eat of the land's bounty.
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| | Lev 25:8 | "In addition, you must count off seven Sabbath years, seven years times seven, adding up to forty-nine years in all.
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| | Lev 25:9 | Then on the Day of Atonement of the fiftieth year, blow the trumpets loud and long throughout the land.
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| | Lev 25:10 | This year will be set apart as holy, a time to proclaim release for all who live there. It will be a jubilee year for you, when each of you returns to the lands that belonged to your ancestors and rejoins your clan.
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| | Lev 25:11 | Yes, the fiftieth year will be a jubilee for you. During that year, do not plant any seeds or store away any of the crops that grow naturally, and do not process the grapes that grow on your unpruned vines.
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| | Lev 25:12 | It will be a jubilee year for you, and you must observe it as a special and holy time. You may, however, eat the produce that grows naturally in the fields that year.
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| | Lev 25:13 | In the Year of Jubilee each of you must return to the lands that belonged to your ancestors.
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| | Lev 25:14 | "When you make an agreement with a neighbor to buy or sell property, you must never take advantage of each other.
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| | Lev 25:15 | When you buy land from your neighbor, the price of the land should be based on the number of years since the last jubilee. The seller will charge you only for the crop years left until the next Year of Jubilee.
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| | Lev 25:16 | The more the years, the higher the price; the fewer the years, the lower the price. After all, the person selling the land is actually selling you a certain number of harvests.
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| | Lev 25:17 | Show your fear of God by not taking advantage of each other. I, the LORD, am your God.
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| | Lev 25:18 | "If you want to live securely in the land, keep my laws and obey my regulations.
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| | Lev 25:19 | Then the land will yield bumper crops, and you will eat your fill and live securely in it.
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| | Lev 25:20 | But you might ask, 'What will we eat during the seventh year, since we are not allowed to plant or harvest crops that year?'
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| | Lev 25:21 | The answer is, 'I will order my blessing for you in the sixth year, so the land will produce a bumper crop, enough to support you for three years.
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| | Lev 25:22 | As you plant the seed in the eighth year, you will still be eating the produce of the previous year. In fact, you will eat from the old crop until the new harvest comes in the ninth year.'
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| | Lev 25:23 | And remember, the land must never be sold on a permanent basis because it really belongs to me. You are only foreigners and tenants living with me.
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| | Lev 25:24 | "With every sale of land there must be a stipulation that the land can be redeemed at any time.
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| | Lev 25:25 | If any of your Israelite relatives go bankrupt and are forced to sell some inherited land, then a close relative, a kinsman redeemer, may buy it back for them.
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| | Lev 25:26 | If there is no one to redeem the land but the person who sold it manages to get enough money to buy it back,
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| | Lev 25:27 | then that person has the right to redeem it from the one who bought it. The price of the land will be based on the number of years until the next Year of Jubilee. After buying it back, the original owner may then return to the land.
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| | Lev 25:28 | But if the original owner cannot afford to redeem it, then it will belong to the new owner until the next Year of Jubilee. In the jubilee year, the land will be returned to the original owner.
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| | Lev 25:29 | "Anyone who sells a house inside a walled city has the right to redeem it for a full year after its sale. During that time, the seller retains the right to buy it back.
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| | Lev 25:30 | But if it is not redeemed within a year, then the house within the walled city will become the permanent property of the buyer. It will not be returned to the original owner in the Year of Jubilee.
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| | Lev 25:31 | But a house in a village--a settlement without fortified walls--will be treated like property in the open fields. Such a house may be redeemed at any time and must be returned to the original owner in the Year of Jubilee.
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| | Lev 25:32 | "The Levites always have the right to redeem any house they have sold within the cities belonging to them.
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| | Lev 25:33 | And any property that can be redeemed by the Levites--all houses within the Levitical cities--must be returned in the Year of Jubilee. After all, the cities reserved for the Levites are the only property they own in all Israel.
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| | Lev 25:34 | The strip of pastureland around each of the Levitical cities may never be sold. It is their permanent ancestral property.
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| | Lev 25:35 | "If any of your Israelite relatives fall into poverty and cannot support themselves, support them as you would a resident foreigner and allow them to live with you.
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| | Lev 25:36 | Do not demand an advance or charge interest on the money you lend them. Instead, show your fear of God by letting them live with you as your relatives.
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| | Lev 25:37 | Remember, do not charge your relatives interest on anything you lend them, whether money or food.
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| | Lev 25:38 | I, the LORD, am your God, who brought you out of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.
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| | Lev 25:39 | "If any of your Israelite relatives go bankrupt and sell themselves to you, do not treat them as slaves.
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| | Lev 25:40 | Treat them instead as hired servants or as resident foreigners who live with you, and they will serve you only until the Year of Jubilee.
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| | Lev 25:41 | At that time they and their children will no longer be obligated to you, and they will return to their clan and ancestral property.
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| | Lev 25:42 | The people of Israel are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt, so they must never be sold as slaves.
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| | Lev 25:43 | Show your fear of God by treating them well; never exercise your power over them in a ruthless way.
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| | Lev 25:44 | "However, you may purchase male or female slaves from among the foreigners who live among you.
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| | Lev 25:45 | You may also purchase the children of such resident foreigners, including those who have been born in your land. You may treat them as your property,
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| | Lev 25:46 | passing them on to your children as a permanent inheritance. You may treat your slaves like this, but the people of Israel, your relatives, must never be treated this way.
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| | Lev 25:47 | "If a resident foreigner becomes rich, and if some of your Israelite relatives go bankrupt and sell themselves to such a foreigner,
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| | Lev 25:48 | they still retain the right of redemption. They may be bought back by a close relative--
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| | Lev 25:49 | an uncle, a nephew, or anyone else who is closely related. They may also redeem themselves if they can get the money.
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| | Lev 25:50 | The price of their freedom will be based on the number of years left until the next Year of Jubilee--whatever it would cost to hire a servant for that number of years.
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| | Lev 25:51 | If many years still remain, they will repay most of what they received when they sold themselves.
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| | Lev 25:52 | If only a few years remain until the Year of Jubilee, then they will repay a relatively small amount for their redemption.
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| | Lev 25:53 | The foreigner must treat them as servants hired on a yearly basis. You must not allow a resident foreigner to treat any of your Israelite relatives ruthlessly.
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| | Lev 25:54 | If any Israelites have not been redeemed by the time the Year of Jubilee arrives, then they and their children must be set free at that time.
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| | Lev 25:55 | For the people of Israel are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. I, the LORD, am your God.
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