The Seventh Year
(Exodus 23:10–13; Deuteronomy 15:1–6)
Then the LORD said to Moses on Mount Sinai, Gal 4:24-25Exo 19:1Num 1:1Num 10:11-12 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you, the land itself must observe a Sabbath to the LORD. 2Ch 36:21Exo 23:10Lev 26:34-35Isa 8:8Deu 32:49Deu 32:8Deu 34:4Lev 14:34
For six years you may sow your field and prune your vineyard and gather its crops. Exo 23:10 But in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of complete rest for the land—a Sabbath to the LORD. 2Ch 36:21Lev 25:20-23Exo 23:10-11Lev 26:34-35Lev 26:43
You are not to sow your field or prune your vineyard. You are not to reap the aftergrowth of your harvest or gather the grapes of your untended vines. The land must have a year of complete rest. 2Ki 19:29Isa 37:30 Whatever the land yields during the Sabbath year shall be food for you—for yourself, your manservant and maidservant, the hired hand or foreigner who stays with you, Act 2:44Act 4:32Act 4:34-35Exo 23:11Lev 25:20 and for your livestock and the wild animals in your land. All its growth may serve as food.
The Year of Jubilee
And you shall count off seven Sabbaths of years—seven times seven years—so that the seven Sabbaths of years amount to forty-nine years. Lev 23:15Gen 2:2 Then you are to sound the horn far and wide on the tenth day of the seventh month, the Day of Atonement. You shall sound it throughout your land. Lev 23:24Lev 23:271Th 1:8Lev 16:30Lev 27:17Lev 27:24Num 10:102Co 5:19-21
So you are to consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty in the land for all its inhabitants. It shall be your Jubilee, when each of you is to return to his property and to his clan. Jer 34:8Isa 63:41Pe 2:16Isa 61:1-3Lev 25:13Gal 5:13Exo 20:22Co 3:17
The fiftieth year will be a Jubilee for you; you are not to sow the land or reap its aftergrowth or harvest the untended vines. Lev 25:4-5Lev 27:17 For it is a Jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You may eat only the crops taken directly from the field. Lev 25:6-7
Return of Property
In this Year of Jubilee, each of you shall return to his own property. Lev 25:10Lev 27:17-24Num 36:4
If you make a sale to your neighbor or a purchase from him, you must not take advantage of each other. Lev 19:13Lev 25:171Sa 12:3-4Amo 5:11-12Amo 8:4-7Ezk 22:12-13Ezk 22:7Isa 58:6 You are to buy from your neighbor according to the number of years since the last Jubilee; he is to sell to you according to the number of harvest years remaining. Lev 27:18-23Php 4:5 You shall increase the price in proportion to a greater number of years, or decrease it in proportion to a lesser number of years; for he is selling you a given number of harvests. Lev 25:27Lev 25:51
Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God; for I am the LORD your God. Lev 19:14Lev 19:32Lev 25:43Exo 20:20Gen 42:18Lev 25:141Sa 12:241Th 4:6
The Blessing of Obedience
(Deuteronomy 28:1–14)
You are to keep My statutes and carefully observe My judgments, so that you may dwell securely in the land. Deu 12:10Jer 23:6Pro 1:33Lev 26:3-12Psa 4:8Deu 28:1-14Ezk 33:24-26Ezk 34:25-28 Then the land will yield its fruit, so that you can eat your fill and dwell in safety in the land. Jol 2:26Psa 85:12Lev 26:5Ezk 34:25-28Ezk 36:30Isa 30:23Isa 65:21-22Jol 2:24
Now you may wonder, ‘What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not sow or gather our produce?’ Lev 25:4Luk 12:292Ch 25:92Ki 6:15-17Heb 13:5-6Isa 1:2Mat 6:25-34Mat 8:26 But I will send My blessing upon you in the sixth year, so that the land will yield a crop sufficient for three years. Deu 28:8Pro 10:222Co 9:10Psa 133:3Deu 28:3Gen 26:12Gen 41:47Exo 16:29 While you are sowing in the eighth year, you will be eating from the previous harvest, until the ninth year’s harvest comes in. 2Ki 19:29Lev 26:10Isa 37:30Jos 5:11-12
The Law of Redemption
The land must not be sold permanently, because it is Mine, and you are but foreigners and residents with Me. 1Pe 2:11Ezk 48:141Ch 29:15Psa 24:1Psa 39:12Deu 32:43Exo 19:5Gen 23:4 Thus for every piece of property you possess, you must provide for the redemption of the land. 1Co 1:30Eph 1:14Eph 1:7Eph 4:30Lev 25:27Lev 25:31Lev 25:51-53Rom 8:23
If your brother becomes impoverished and sells some of his property, his nearest of kin may come and redeem what his brother has sold. Rut 2:20Jer 32:7-8Rut 3:12Rut 3:92Co 8:9Heb 2:13-14Rev 5:9Rut 3:2 Or if a man has no one to redeem it for him, but he prospers and acquires enough to redeem his land, Lev 5:7 he shall calculate the years since its sale, repay the balance to the man to whom he sold it, and return to his property. But if he cannot obtain enough to repay him, what he sold will remain in possession of the buyer until the Year of Jubilee. In the Jubilee, however, it is to be released, so that he may return to his property. 1Co 15:52-541Pe 1:4-51Th 4:13-18Isa 35:9-10Jer 32:15Lev 25:10Lev 25:13
If a man sells a house in a walled city, he retains his right of redemption until a full year after its sale; during that year it may be redeemed. If it is not redeemed by the end of a full year, then the house in the walled city is permanently transferred to its buyer and his descendants. It is not to be released in the Jubilee. But houses in villages with no walls around them are to be considered as open fields. They may be redeemed, and they shall be released in the Jubilee. Psa 49:7-8
As for the cities of the Levites, the Levites always have the right to redeem their houses in the cities they possess. Jos 21:1-45Num 35:1-8 So whatever belongs to the Levites may be redeemed—a house sold in a city they possess—and must be released in the Jubilee, because the houses in the cities of the Levites are their possession among the Israelites. Deu 18:1-2Num 18:20-24 But the open pastureland around their cities may not be sold, for this is their permanent possession. Act 4:36-37Lev 25:23Num 35:2-5
Redemption of the Poor
Now if your countryman becomes destitute and cannot support himself among you, then you are to help him as you would a foreigner or stranger, so that he can continue to live among you. Deu 15:7-8Act 11:29Deu 10:18-19Exo 23:9Lev 19:34Lev 25:25Luk 6:351Jn 3:17 Do not take any interest or profit from him, but fear your God, that your countryman may live among you. Exo 22:25Deu 23:19-20Ezk 18:8Ezk 18:13Ezk 18:17Lev 25:17Ezk 22:12Neh 5:15 You must not lend him your silver at interest or sell him your food for profit. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God. Lev 11:45Exo 20:2Num 15:41Gen 17:7Heb 11:16Jer 31:1Jer 31:33Jer 32:38
Redemption of Bondmen
If a countryman among you becomes destitute and sells himself to you, then you must not force him into slave labor. Exo 21:21Ki 9:222Ki 4:1Lev 25:46Neh 5:5Deu 15:12-14Exo 1:14Exo 22:3 Let him stay with you as a hired worker or temporary resident; he is to work for you until the Year of Jubilee. Exo 21:2-3 Then he and his children are to be released, and he may return to his clan and to the property of his fathers. Lev 25:28Exo 21:3Jhn 8:32Lev 25:10Rom 6:14Tit 2:14
Because the Israelites are My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt, they are not to be sold as slaves. Lev 25:55Rom 6:221Co 7:21-23 You are not to rule over them harshly, but you shall fear your God. Col 4:1Exo 1:13-14Lev 25:17Lev 25:46Ezk 34:4Lev 25:53Deu 25:18Eph 6:9
Your menservants and maidservants shall come from the nations around you, from whom you may purchase them. Exo 12:44Isa 14:1-2Psa 2:8-9Rev 2:26-27 You may also purchase them from the foreigners residing among you or their clans living among you who are born in your land. These may become your property. Isa 56:3-6 You may leave them to your sons after you to inherit as property; you can make them slaves for life. But as for your brothers, the Israelites, no man may rule harshly over his brother. Isa 14:2Lev 25:43
Redemption of Servants
If a foreigner residing among you prospers, but your countryman dwelling near him becomes destitute and sells himself to the foreigner or to a member of his clan, 1Sa 2:7-8Jas 2:5Lev 25:26 he retains the right of redemption after he has sold himself. One of his brothers may redeem him: Heb 2:11-13Neh 5:5Gal 4:4-5Lev 25:25Lev 25:35Neh 5:8 either his uncle or cousin or any close relative from his clan may redeem him. Or if he prospers, he may redeem himself. Lev 25:26
He and his purchaser will then count the time from the year he sold himself up to the Year of Jubilee. The price of his sale will be determined by the number of years, based on the daily wages of a hired hand. Isa 16:14Isa 21:16Deu 15:18Job 14:6Job 7:1-2Lev 25:40Lev 25:53 If many years remain, he must pay for his redemption in proportion to his purchase price. If only a few years remain until the Year of Jubilee, he is to calculate and pay his redemption according to his remaining years. He shall be treated like a man hired from year to year, but a foreign owner must not rule over him harshly in your sight. Lev 25:43Lev 25:46
Even if he is not redeemed in any of these ways, he and his children shall be released in the Year of Jubilee. Exo 21:2-3Isa 49:25Isa 49:9Isa 52:3Lev 25:40-41 For the Israelites are My servants. They are My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God. Lev 25:421Co 7:22-231Co 9:191Co 9:21Exo 13:3Exo 20:2Gal 5:13Isa 43:3