Bible Commentaries

^a Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof;

(a) The Jews began to count the year in September: for then all the fruits were gathered.

That which groweth of its ^b own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine ^c undressed: [for] it is a year of rest unto the land.

(b) Because of the corn that fell out of the ears the previous year.

(c) Or, which you have separated from yourself, and consecrated to God for the poor.

And the ^d sabbath of the land shall be meat for you; for thee, and for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy stranger that sojourneth with thee,

(d) That which the land brings forth in her rest.

^e Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile to sound on the tenth [day] of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land.

(e) In the beginning of the 50 years was the Jubile, so called, because the joyful tidings of liberty were publicly proclaimed by the sound of a cornet.

And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout [all] the land unto all the ^f inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his ^g possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.

(f) Which were in bondage.

(g) Because the tribes should neither have their possessions diminished nor confounded.

And if thou sell ought unto thy neighbour, or buyest [ought] of thy neighbour's hand, ye shall ^h not oppress one another:

(h) By deceit, or otherwise.

According to the number of ⁱ years after the jubile thou shalt buy of thy neighbour, [and] according unto the number of years of the fruits he shall sell unto thee:

(i) If the Jubile to come is near, you would be better to sell cheaply. If it is far off, sell at a higher price.

According to the multitude of years thou shalt increase the price thereof, and according to the fewness of years thou shalt diminish the price of it: for [according] to the number [of the years] of the ^k fruits doth he sell unto thee.

(k) And not the full possession of the land.

The land shall not be sold ^l for ever: for the land [is] mine; for ye [are] strangers and sojourners with me.

(l) It could not be sold for ever, but must return to the family in the Jubile.

And in all the land of your possession ye shall ^m grant a redemption for the land.

(m) You shall sell it on the condition that it may be redeemed.

Then let him ⁿ count the years of the sale thereof, and restore the overplus unto the man to whom he sold it; that he may return unto his possession.

(n) Deducting money for the years past, and paying for the rest of the years to come.

But if he be not able to restore [it] to him, then that which is sold shall remain in the hand of him that hath bought it until the year of jubile: and in the jubile it shall go ^o out, and he shall return unto his possession.

(o) From his hand that bought it.

And if it be not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house that [is] in the walled city shall be established ^p for ever to him that bought it throughout his generations: it shall not go out in the jubile.

(p) That is, for ever, read (Leviticus 25:23).

But the field of the ^q suburbs of their cities may not be sold; for it [is] their perpetual possession.

(q) Where the Levites kept their cattle.

And if thy brother be waxen poor, and ^r fallen in decay with thee; then thou shalt relieve him: [yea, though he be] a stranger, or a sojourner; that he may live with thee.

(r) In Hebrew it is, if his hand shake: meaning if he stretch forth his hand for help as one in misery.

For they [are] my servants, which I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: they shall not ^s be sold as bondmen.

(s) To perpetual servitude.

Moreover of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that [are] with you, which they begat in your land: and they shall be your ^t possession.

(t) For they shall not be bought out at the Jubile.

Either his uncle, or his uncle's son, may redeem him, or [any] that is nigh of kin unto him of his family may redeem him; or ^u if he be able, he may redeem himself.

(u) If he be able.

And he shall reckon with him that bought him from the year that he was sold to him unto the year of jubile: and the price of his sale shall be according unto the number of ^x years, according to the time of an hired servant shall it be with him.

(x) Which remains yet to the Jubile.

[And] as a yearly hired servant shall he be with him: [and the other] shall not rule with rigour over him in thy ^y sight.

(y) You shall not allow him to treat him severely, if you know it.