Lev 25:8-15 | NET2full | STEP | “‘You must count off seven weeks of years , seven times seven years , and the days of the seven weeks of years will amount to 49 years .

‏ Leviticus 25:8-15

Regulations for the Jubilee Year of Release

8 “‘You must count off ^{▼▼tn Heb “And you shall count off for yourself.”} seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, ^{▼▼tn Heb “seven years seven times.”} and the days of the seven weeks of years will amount to 49 years. ^{▼▼tn Heb “and they shall be for you, the days of the seven Sabbaths of years, forty-nine years.”} 9 You must sound loud horn blasts ^{▼▼sn On the “loud horn blasts” see the note on Lev 23:24, but unlike the language there, the Hebrew term for “horn” (שׁוֹפָר, shofar) actually appears here in this verse (twice).} —in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, on the Day of Atonement—you must sound the horn in your entire land. 10 So you must consecrate the fiftieth year, ^{▼▼tn Heb “the year of the fifty years,” or perhaps “the year, fifty years” (GKC 435 §134.o, note 2).} and you must proclaim a release ^{▼▼tn Cf. KJV, ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV “liberty”; TEV, CEV “freedom.” The characteristics of this “release” are detailed in the following verses. For substantial summaries and bibliography on the biblical and ancient Near Eastern material regarding such a “release” see J. E. Hartley, Leviticus (WBC), 427-34, and B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 270-74.} in the land for all its inhabitants. That year will be your Jubilee; ^{▼▼tn Heb “A jubilee that shall be to you.” Although there has been some significant debate about the original meaning of the Hebrew word translated “jubilee” (יוֹבֵל, yovel; see the summary in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 434), the term most likely means “ram” and can refer also to a “ram’s horn.” The fiftieth year would, therefore, be called the “jubilee” because of the associated sounding of the “ram’s horn” (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 172, and the literature cited there).} each one of you must return ^{▼▼tn Heb “you [plural] shall return, a man.”} to his property, and each one of you must return to his clan. 11 That fiftieth year will be your Jubilee; you must not sow the land, harvest its aftergrowth, or pick the grapes of its unpruned vines. ^{▼▼tn Heb “you shall not sow and you shall not…and you shall not….”} ^{▼▼sn See v. 5 above and the notes there.} 12 Because that year is a Jubilee, it will be holy to you—you may eat its produce ^{▼▼tn That is, the produce of the land (fem.; cf. v. 7 above).} from the field.

Release of Landed Property

13 “‘In this Year of Jubilee you must each return ^{▼▼tn Heb “you [plural] shall return, a man.”} to your property. 14 If you make a sale ^{▼▼tn Heb “sell a sale.”} to your fellow citizen ^{▼▼tn Or “to one of your countrymen” NIV84; NIV11 “to any of your own people”; NASB “to your friend.”} or buy ^{▼▼tn The Hebrew infinitive absolute קָנֹה (qanoh, “buying”) substitutes for the finite verb here in sequence with the previous finite verb “sell” at the beginning of the verse (see GKC 345 §113.z).} from your fellow citizen, no one is to wrong his brother. ^{▼▼tn Heb “do not oppress a man his brother.” Here “brother” does not refer only to a sibling, but to a fellow Israelite.} 15 You may buy it from your fellow citizen according to the number of years since ^{▼▼tn Heb “in the number of years after.”} the last Jubilee; he may sell it to you according to the years of produce that are left. ^{▼▼tn The words “that are left” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.} ^{▼▼sn The purchaser is actually buying only the crops that the land will produce until the next Jubilee, since the land will revert to the original owner at that time. The purchaser, therefore, is not actually buying the land itself.}