Leviticus 25:1-34 – Proclaim Liberty!

Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ the Redeemer Church of Manhattan KS, 12 Mar. 2017

Greyed-out text omitted to keep delivery under 40 minutes.

1 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai saying, 2 “Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘When y’all go into the land which I am giving to you, the land must then rest for a time of rest unto the Lord. 3 Six years you must sow your field, and six years you must prune your vineyard and gather its produce, 4 but during the seventh year there must be for the land a [special] time of rest among the times of rest – a time of rest for Yahweh. You may not sow your field and you may not prune your vineyard -

v The “you’s” change from a plural address in v.2 to instruction to every citizen in particular, with singular “you’s” in vs. 3-9.

v Not only must people rest (ch. 24), the land also must rest by not being actively farmed.

Ø For instance, a Jew couldn’t take the Sabbatical year for himself and then hire a gentile to farm the land that year. The land had to rest too. (Ibn Ezra)

Ø This is a commonly-understood principle in crop-farming, but it has been increasingly abandoned in my lifetime by businesses operating 24-7 and 365 days a year. I remember talking to a public elementary school principal in Colorado after they switched to year-round schooling, and he said that it was not working well, as I recall, because there was no rest and it was even running the buildings down faster.

Ø Not sowing grain in the field and not pruning the vineyard would have been like pulling the plug on food production. You don’t get wheat to make bread if you don’t plant it, and you won’t get enough grapes for all your fruit juice applications if you don’t pare back the new growth on the vines.

v As we see in the summary down in verse 23, this was a way of living out the truth that man is not the ultimate owner of land; God is, so for one year in seven, God’s people refrained from exercising dominion over their land in order to demonstrate that Yahweh is God over the land, not man, and if it was God’s, then it was holy.

Ø Psalm 24:1-2 “The land and that which fills her belong to Yahweh – the world and her inhabitants. Because it was He who founded her...” (NAW, Cf. 1 Cor. 10:26)

Ø “The year of rest proclaimed to the Israelites that the decisive factor is not daily work in the field or vineyard, but Yahweh the giver of the land. In this way, the sabbatical year speaks even more clearly than the weekly Sabbath of the relativity of all work. The goal of all work, its crown, is rest, the Sabbath before the Lord.” ~Gispen, as quoted by Wenham

v One question arises as to whether all business was to cease or if only the farming of fruits and grains was to cease, since only fruit and grain farming are explicitly mentioned here.

Ø Jewish tradition leaned in the direction of only forbidding agricultural work (Rashi), including digging in the ground and selling agricultural tools.[1] They also seemed to squirrel around resting from vineyard work by temporarily declaring their vines “ownerless” (Soncino).

Ø I however, would lean toward all business ceasing except for basic maintenance (such as the upkeep of livestock which Leviticus 24 mentions being let out into the fallow fields to graze, or perhaps repairing storm damage on a shop or something), because merely shifting from agricultural work to working just as hard at other trades would seem to undercut the whole principle of resting and trusting God for provision. Non-agricultural trade was banned on the weekly Sabbath, so I don’t see why it should be banned on the sabbatical.

v Another question arises: What were they supposed to do with all the extra time saved by not operating their farm?

Ø One thing that they obviously had to do was hash through the legal ramifications of returning everyone to his property. A lot had to be shuffled around and discussed and made arrangements for, deeds had to be re-written and re-issued, and displaced families moved back onto land they once owned. There was also the matter of heirs claiming the estates of parents who had died after selling the family property. That would all take some time.

Ø Another important thing comes from Deuteronomy 31:10ff – every sabbatical year they were to listen to a public reading of the first five books of the Bible. That would take a while, but it also set the tone for the use of time throughout the rest of the year to spend extra time meditating on God’s word. I would encourage you that when you take a day of rest or and extended rest like a sabbatical, be sure to give yourself extra devotional time with the Lord.

Ø There seemed to also be an opportunity to focus on the poor during that year, as landowners were reduced to walking around in the wilderness scrounging food and praying that God would provide just like the poor had to do every year. It was a reminder to everyone of their dependence on God and their common status as God’s creatures.[2]

v Now there might be some farmers willing to follow the letter of that law, but who weren’t willing to disconnect themselves from farming and take a sabbatical, so they might sow extra crops the year before the sabbatical year and harvest the regular amount, but leave the extra grain so that it would naturally grow grain that could be harvested during the sabbatical year, or similarly with their vineyard, they might just plant extra vines to make up for the smaller grape harvest that un-pruned vines would yield and try to carry on like normal with harvesting and processing and storing grapes as rasins and juice and wine and jelly. God is pretty smart, and He foresaw there would be some people like that, so He pre-empts such measures to get around His law in v.4 with the words of v.5:

5 don’t even harvest what grew beyond your [last] harvest, and don’t stock the grapes you left alone. It must be a year of rest for the land. 6 Nevertheless, the land’s time of rest will become food for y’all: for you and for your servant and for your maid and for your day-worker and for your visitors residing with you, 7 and for your cattle and for the wildlife which is in your land. All its produce will be for eating.

v The mention of servants can be distracting to Americans steeped in anti-slavery information. I encourage you to set aside the question of the morality of slavery for a moment in order to pick up on the main point here.

v The main point is that God is promising to provide – not merely a small amount that would only be enough to feed the priviledged wealthy but – a plentiful amount of food, such that the poorer classes will also have enough to eat.

v It is also a reminder to the land-owners that it will be their responsibility to see to it that those who are not landowners have enough to eat. There were probably migrant workers back then too, and they would be out of a job due to the moratorium in the Sabbatical year on sowing, pruning, and harvesting. Landowners were to see to it that even they got fed.

v Now it is probably more accurate to think of these classes in terms of their modern counterparts:

Ø A slave would be like a modern-day intern who is committed to working for a few years on a particular project in return for a compensation package and some specialized training.

Ø A maid would be a young woman who has graduated from school but isn’t married yet, so she is filling in the time as a nanny.

Ø The day-worker/hired hand is the guy who comes and fixes your air conditioner or plumbing or mows your grass,

Ø and the temporary foreign resident is the travelling businesmann who usually stays at hotels – only they didn’t have hotels in those days, so they stayed in people’s homes.

Ø Even at a time when there would be some uncertainty as to whether there would be enough food to go around, God promises that there will be enough to serve all these people – and not only people, but as verse 7 adds, there will also be food for the livestock and pets!

v Now, when the Jews ignored this law, it worked against them. They skipped 70 sabbatical years during the course of their existence as a nation in the Promised land, so God put them into Exile in Babylon to make up for those 70 years.

Ø Jer. 34:17 "Therefore thus says the LORD: 'You have not obeyed Me in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother and every one to his neighbor. Behold, I proclaim liberty (דּרור/ αφεσιν) to you,' says the LORD 'to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine! And I will deliver you to trouble among all the kingdoms of the earth. (NKJV)

Ø 2 Chr. 36:20-21 “And those who escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon, where they became servants to him and his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths. As long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.” (NKJV, cf. Lev. 26:34-35)

Ø Ignoring God’s law carries serious consequences, so we need to pay attention.

8 So you must tally for yourself seven sabbatical years – seven times seven years; thus the days of seven sabbatical years will be the forty-ninth year for you. 9 Then you must cause a horn fanfare to sound abroad in the seventh month during the tenth of the month on the Day of Atonements. Y’all must cause the horn to sound abroad through all your land.

v This would be in addition to the horn fanfare sounded on the first day of the tenth month every year as per Leviticus 23:24. When the Jews heard the horn on the the tenth day, it was a very special sound heard only once every 50 years. I imagine that people stood still and strained their ears at sunrise on that day just to hear that once-or-twice-in-a-lifetime sound.

v As I understand it, this would essentially inaugurate a second Sabbath year in a row after the 49^th year, which was a Sabbatical year, followed by a Jubilee year, which is why God says He would provide three years worth of food to cover the sabbatical year, the Jubilee year, and then the early part of the next year while they cranked their agricultural work back up and waited for the harvest.[3]

v “[S]o as there were a seventh day sabbath, and a fiftieth day sabbath (Pentecost), so there were a seventh year sabbath (or sabbatical), and a fiftieth year Sabbath” (Jubilee). ~John Gill

v The fact that the year of Jubilee coincided with the Day of Atonement was not an accident. As we saw from our scripture readings from Isaiah 61 and Luke 4, this unique phrase about the Jubliee found in v.10 “proclaim liberty/release” was specifically connected to what Jesus came to do; Isaiah prophecied that Jesus would proclaim liberty to the captives, and, when Jesus came, He said He was fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy. Later on, the Apostle Paul explicitly tied this word from Leviticus 24 of proclaiming liberty together with Jesus’ ministry of liberating people trapped in the bondage of iniquity by forgiving their sin: Acts 13:38-42 “Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through Him forgiveness (αφεσιν) of sins is proclaimed to you, and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses. Therefore take heed, so that the thing spoken of in the Prophets may not come upon you: 'Behold, you scoffers, and marvel, and perish; for I am accomplishing a work in your days, a work which you will never believe, though someone should describe it to you.'” (NASB)

v The phrase “for yourself/for you” appears twice in verse 8 in the Hebrew.

Ø It seems to emphasize that this special occasion was a gift. It was not just in order to follow God’s rules and be good little Jews that they counted off the 49 years; it was for their own benefit, to keep track of their own freedom, to get their own vacation. This was a good gift from God, given for them to enjoy!

Ø At the same time, the “for you” limits to whom this gift was given. It was given to the Jews; we Gentiles do not have to observe it obligatorily. At the same time, I think that the principle of an economic reset is still something which we could use to benefit a contemporary economy. I will plan to address that more in depth in my next sermon, though.

10 So y’all must set the year apart as holy – the fiftieth year, and y’all must proclaim a release through the land to all its inhabitants. It will be the Jubilee for y’all, and y’all must return, each-and-every one to his property and to his family. 11 This will be the Jubilee year; the fiftieth year will be for y’all. Y’all must not sow and y’all must not harvest what grew beyond it [your land] and y’all must not stock what was left alone of it, 12 because this is the Jubilee; it must be holy for y’all. It is from the field that y’all may eat its produce.

v The Hebrew word translated “Jubilee[4]” occurs only once in the OT before this point, and that is in Exodus, when the assembly was called before God at Mount Sinai, and there it is translated “ram’s horn/trumpet.” It occurs again only once in the O.T. after Leviticus, where it is also translated “ram’s horn/trumpet” – the ones that sounded the blast to fell the walls of Jericho in Joshua 6. The association between the Jubilee holy year and horn fanfare is already established here in Leviticus 24 as the way of announcing release from all debt & bondage.

v But the English word “Jubilee” is actually a transliteration of the Hebrew word for “free-flowing” and is not based on the Latin word for “rejoicing,” as many mistakenly assume. It is a synonym for the Hebrew word for “release/liberty” found in this same passage.

v Now, the return to property holdings and to family is explained in the next few verses:

13 During this Jubilee year, each of y’all must return to his property. 14 So when you sell real-estate to your fellow-man or buy from the hand of your fellow-man, each of y’all must not take advantage of his brother: 15 It should be with an accounting of the years following the Jubilee that you buy from your fellow-man; it should be with an accounting of the years of produce that he sells to you. 16 For a horizon of more years you should make its purchase-price more, and for a horizon of less years you should make his purchase-price less, because it is the number of production-years he is selling to you. 17 So each of y’all must not take advantage of his fellow-man, rather you must have respect for your God, for I am Yahweh y’all’s God.

v This flows from the command for everyone to return to their family property-holdings in the Jubilee year. In this economic system, if I sell part of my land to a neighbor in order to get some quick cash to build an addition onto my house, I still get that land back whenever the Jubilee year hits. So, say that land is capable of producing a thousand dollars of hay each year. If I sell it to my neighbor 20 years before the Jubilee year hits, he’s going to be able to make $20,000 off it – less $2,000 for the two sabbatical years intervening[5], but if Jubilee is coming up in only two years, he can’t make but two grand off it, so that has to be factored into the sale. If I’m splitting the profit fifty-fifty with my neighbor, I’d have to sell the property for only $1,000 if Jubilee is in two years, but I could sell the same property for $9,000 if Jubilee is 20 years away.

v Verse 17 says that fearing God is the basis behind keeping fair business practices, and that is an enduring principle, as it says in 1 Thessalonians 4:6 “…no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger...” (NKJV)

v The result of fearing God and keeping such standards of periodic rest and of making fair transactions is that citizens will enjoy security and safety.

18 And y’all must act on my statutes, and y’all must keep my judgments and act on them, then y’all will reside upon the land confidently, 19 and then the land will put out its fruit and y’all will eat to satisfaction, and y’all will reside confidently on it.

v When you keep a fair economy, you can have confidence that you’ll be able to make enough to provide for your family if you put out a reasonable effort. The alternative is a might-makes-right economy where you never can be sure if you will be able to eat the fruit of your labor or if some stronger person will cheat you out of it, perhaps by persuading the legislature to make a law that favors their business and cripples your business, or perhaps by mustering an army or a group of terrorists to overrun your land. When it’s dog-eat-dog and there are no ultimate rules, no one dwells in security. Just ask the folks in Yemen or Syria.

v Now next, God pre-empts a possible objection to taking sabbatical years.

20 But if y’all say, “What will we eat in the seventh year if we can’t sow and can’t gather our produce?” 21 Then I will command my blessing for y’all during the sixth year and it [your land] will make three years’ worth of produce, 22 and the eighth year y’all will sow but y’all will eat from the unused produce until the ninth year; y’all will eat the unused until it puts out its produce!

v If I take a holy time of rest, will I get left in the dust by everybody else who isn’t resting?
If I take Sunday off of my studies; how am I going to survive academically on Mondays?
If I say I won’t work on Sundays, how am I ever going to get a job and provide for myself?

v God says He will command blessing on the work you do before taking your rest. It is a matter of trusting God to take care of you. Only a God who is powerfull enough to work all things for your good can compensate you for taking a year off of regular work, and it takes a lot of faith to take a leap like that in our world today, but if there is one thing I’ve learned from being a faith-supported missionary for 18 years, it is that God generally provides what you trust Him to provide. If you don’t give Him the opportunity to provide, you don’t know what He can do.

v Isaiah 37:30 describes a time later in Israel’s history when King Hezekiah trusted God to deliver the Jews from a foreign army that had conquered every other country in the Levant and then besieged Jerusalem. It’s possible that the siege happened on the year before the Jubilee year, and Hezekiah may have been struggling over trusting God to provide for the people to take a Jubilee year after they had fled from their fields into the walled city and then used up all their food trying to survive the siege. But God routed the Syrian army, and if that was the beginning of a Jubilee year, it would have been an extra-special one, celebrating liberty under God instead of bondage under a Syrian occupation. There was still the problem of feeding everybody, but God promised Isaiah the prophet that He would provide three years’ worth of food, just as God does here in Leviticus to those who dare to take a Sabbatical and a Jubilee.[6]

23 So the land may not be sold in perpetuity because the land belongs to me, thus y’all are visitors and tenants by me, 24 and in all the land of your property y’all must make allowance for redemption for the land.

v Have you ever considered that the house you live in and the yard around it actually belongs to God?

Ø How would that change the way you think about your house if you thought of yourself as merely renting property from God? You would always have to check with Him first before you did anything with the house, because you wouldn’t have the authority to do whatever you want with it.

Ø This is true of everything else too: the car you drive is really God’s car and you are just using it, the children you raise are really God’s children; you are just babysitting them for Him.

Ø When you look at your life as a “sojourner and tenant,” it changes the way you use your possessions. I even heard of a businessman who tried to put it on the legal documents of his business that it was owned by God not him! That’s the right attitude says God.

v And it’s not just an Old Testament mindset, it’s in the New Testament too:

Ø Mark 9:41 “…whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My name, because you belong to Christ, assuredly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.” (NKJV)

Ø Romans 6:22 “But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness…” (NKJV)

Ø A slave can’t act like an independent owner; he has to act in the interest of his master, and for Christians, our Master is Jesus.

Conclusion: Three takeaways

1) This passage points us toward Jesus and forgiveness of sin through Him. Jesus fulfilled the Jubilee in a spiritual way by freeing people from the bondage of sin:

Ø Isaiah 61:1 prophesied of what the Messiah would do, and Jesus read Isaiah’s prophecy at the synagogue in Luke 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty[7] (דּרור/αφεσιν) to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord…” then Jesus said, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Ø Matthew Henry suggested that Jesus died on a Jubilee year.

Ø And it is because Jesus pardoned us and gave us freedom from the bondage of sin that we can forgive others.

§ The Hebrew calendar pictured forgiveness of sin on the Day of Atonements and on the same day proclaimed release with the start of the year of Jubilee,

§ but Jesus taught us that we can live that out every day of our lives; He taught us to pray, “Forgive us of our debts as [at the same time as] we forgive our debtors.”

Ø There is a further fulfillment of Jubilee yet to come. Jesus will return with a trumpet blast, and all those in the bondage of death will be released from their graves and be reconstituted, some to everlasting life and some to everlasting torment. Those whom Jesus redeems will receive possession of His inheritance and of a new heavens and new earth – a sort of re-set to our first forefather Adam in the Garden of Eden with sin cleared out of the way. (Henry)

2) This passage also teaches us as God’s people to get appropriate rest:

Ø But do we in the New Testament church have to take off work for a year every seven years and for two years every half-century?

§ I’m inclined to think that there is practical wisdom in taking sabbaticals.

· Some jobs lend themselves to sabbaticals at regular intervals, others tend to backload those years into a retirement package all at the end, but take what you can.

· Some people get further education or travel or do mission trips. Such things are worth doing if you do it with a mindset of choosing something God would want rather than just doing something selfish.

§ The Old Testament Sabbaths were pointing forward to Jesus who fulfilled them, so we are not obligated to their formats, and yet we need rest, so we take rests, all the while looking forward to a greater rest still to come.

§ But as for the Jubilee, it seems that Jesus’ fulfillment of that was so decisive that it would not honor Him to continue the Jubilee years. That’s just my opinion.[8]

· Is there a place for the functions of the year of Jubilee in protecting people from going into unlimited debt and in helping people push the re-set button financially? Yes! We have bankruptcy proceedings which are a part of that. Every economy needs these principles to be healthy, but I’ll plan to get more into those next week.

Ø So when you do take a day of rest or a sabbatical, make it a “rest/Sabbath unto the Lord” What is rest unto the LORD?

§ It’s not selfish gratification or lazy idleness, it is purposeful change of activity.

§ Rest that is oriented toward God, draws one closer to God, and is observed in order to glorify Him.

3) This passage teaches us to live a sojourner and a tenant instead of like an owner

Ø Independent of the world: Hebrews 11:13-16 “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.” (NKJV, cf. 1 Peter 2:11)

Ø Dependent on God - trusting God to provide. Matthew 6: 24 “No one is able to serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and he will love the other, or he will stand behind one and he will despise the other. You are not able to serve God and Mammon… 31 Therefore, don’t start caring [too much], saying, ‘What might we eat,’ or ‘What might we drink?’ or ‘What might we wrap up in?’, for all these things are what the nations are eagerly seeking, and your heavenly Father sees that you are in need of every one of these. But continue seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added onto you.” (NAW)

Comparative translations of Leviticus 25:1-34

When a translation adds words not in the Hebrew text, but does not indicate it has done so by the use of italics (or greyed-out text), I put the added words in [square brackets]. When one version chooses a wording which is different from all the other translations, I underline it. When a version chooses a translation which, in my opinion, either departs too far from the root meaning of the Hebrew word or departs too far from the grammar form of the original Hebrew, I use ~~strikeout~~. And when a version omits a word which is in the Hebrew text, I insert an X. (Sometimes I will place the X at the end of a word if the original word is plural but the English translation is singular.) I occasionally use colors to help the reader see correlations between the various editions and versions when there are more than two different translations of a given word. Hebrew text that is colored purple matches the Dead Sea Scrolls, and variants between the DSS and the MT are noted in endnotes with the following exceptions: When a holem or qibbutz pointing in the MT is represented in the DSS by a vav, when a hireq pointing in the MT is represented in the DSS by a yod (the corresponding consonantal representation of the same vowel), or when the tetragrammaton is spelled with paleo-Hebrew letters, I did not record it a variant. Dead Sea Scrolls which contain Leviticus 25 11Q1 paleoLeviticus^a (verses 28-36), 4Q24 Leviticus ^b(verses 28-29, 45-49, 51-52,54), 11Q2 Leviticus^b (verses 31-33, 46)

LXX	Brenton	KJV	NAW	HWSG
1 Καὶ ἐλάλησεν κύριος πρὸς Μωυσῆν ἐν τῷ ὄρει Σινα λέγων	1 And the Lord spoke to Moses in the mount Sina, saying,	1 And the LORD spake unto Moses in mount Sinai, saying,	1 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai saying,	1 וַיְדַבֵּר יְהוָה אֶל-מֹשֶׁה בְּהַר סִינַי לֵאמֹר:
2 Λάλησον τοῖς υἱοῖς Ισραηλ καὶ ἐρεῖς πρὸς αὐτούς Ἐὰν εἰσέλθητε εἰς τὴν γῆν, ἣν ἐγὼ δίδωμι ὑμῖν, καὶ ἀναπαύσεται ἡ γῆ, ἣν ἐγὼ δίδωμι ὑμῖν, σάββατα τῷ κυρίῳ.	2 Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them, Whensoever ye shall have entered into the land, which I give to you, then the land shall rest which I give to you, for its sabbaths to the Lord.	2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the LORD.	2 “Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘When y’all go into the land which I am giving to you, the land must then rest for a time of rest unto the Lord.	2 דַּבֵּר אֶל-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם כִּי תָבֹאוּ אֶל-הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי נֹתֵן לָכֶם וְשָׁבְתָה הָאָרֶץ שַׁבָּת לַיהוָה:
3 ἓξ ἔτη σπερεῖς τὸν ἀγρόν σου καὶ ἓξ ἔτη τεμεῖς τὴν ἄμπελόν σου καὶ συνάξεις τὸν καρπὸν αὐτῆς.	3 Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shall prune thy vine, and gather in its fruit.	3 Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof;	3 Six years you must sow your field, and six years you must prune your vineyard and gather its produce,	3 שֵׁשׁ שָׁנִים תִּזְרַע שָׂדֶךָ וְשֵׁשׁ שָׁנִים תִּזְמֹר[A] כַּרְמֶךָ וְאָסַפְתָּ אֶת-תְּבוּאָתָהּ:
4 τῷ δὲ ἔτει τῷ ἑβδόμῳ σάββατα ἀνάπαυσις ἔσται τῇ γῇ, σάββατα τῷ κυρίῳ· τὸν ἀγρόν σου οὐ σπερεῖς καὶ τὴν ἄμπελόν σου οὐ τεμεῖς	4 But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath, it shall be a rest to the land, a sabbath to the Lord: thou shalt not sow thy field, and thou shalt not prune thy vine.	4 But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the LORD: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.	4 but during the seventh year there must be for the land a [special] time of rest among the times of rest – a time of rest for Yahweh. You may not sow your field and you may not prune your vineyard -	4 וּבַשָּׁנָה הַשְּׁבִיעִת שַׁבַּת שַׁבָּתוֹן[B] יִהְיֶה לָאָרֶץ שַׁבָּת לַיהוָה שָׂדְךָ לֹא תִזְרָע וְכַרְמְךָ לֹא תִזְמֹר:
LXX	Brenton	KJV	NAW	HWSG
5 καὶ τὰ αὐτόματα ἀναβαίνοντα τοῦ ~~ἀγροῦ~~ σου οὐκ ἐκθερίσεις καὶ τὴν σταφυλὴν τοῦ ~~ἁγιάσματός~~ σου οὐκ ἐκτρυγήσεις· ἐνιαυτὸς ἀναπαύσεως ἔσται τῇ γῇ.	5 And thou shalt not gather the spontaneous produce of thy field, and thou shalt not gather fully the grapes of thy ~~dedication~~: it shall be a year of rest to the land.	5 That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy [vine] undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the land.	5 don’t even harvest what grew beyond your [last] harvest, and don’t stock the grapes you left alone. It must be a year of rest for the land.	5 [C]אֵת סְפִיחַ[D] קְצִירְךָ לֹא תִקְצוֹר וְאֶת-עִנְּבֵי נְזִירֶךָ לֹא תִבְצֹר שְׁנַת שַׁבָּתוֹן יִהְיֶה לָאָרֶץ:
6 καὶ ἔσται τὰ σάββατα τῆς γῆς X βρώματά X σοι καὶ τῷ παιδί σου καὶ τῇ παιδίσκῃ σου καὶ τῷ μισθωτῷ σου καὶ τῷ παροίκῳ τῷ προσκειμένῳ πρὸς σέ,	6 And the Sabbath[s] of the land shall be food X X for thee, and for thy man-servant, and for thy maid-servant, and thy hireling, and the strangerX that abides with thee.	6 And the 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 strangerX that ~~sojourneth~~ with thee,	6 Nevertheless, the land’s time of rest will become food for y’all: for you and for your servant and for your maid and for your day-worker and for your visitors residing with you,	6 וְהָיְתָה שַׁבַּת הָאָרֶץ לָכֶם לְאָכְלָה לְךָ וּלְעַבְדְּךָ וְלַאֲמָתֶךָ וְלִשְׂכִירְךָ וּלְתוֹשָׁבְךָ[E] הַגָּרִים עִמָּךְ:
7 καὶ τοῖς κτήνεσίν σου καὶ τοῖς θηρίοις τοῖς ἐν τῇ γῇ σου ἔσται πᾶν τὸ γένημα αὐτοῦ εἰς βρῶσιν.	7 And for thy cattle, and for the wild beats that are in thy land, shall every fruit of it be for food.	7 And for thy cattle, and for the beast that are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be meat.	7 and for your cattle and for the wildlife which is in your land. All its produce will be for eating.	7 וְלִבְהֶמְתְּךָ וְלַחַיָּה אֲשֶׁר בְּאַרְצֶךָ תִּהְיֶה כָל-תְּבוּאָתָהּ לֶאֱכֹל: ס
8 Καὶ [ἐξ]αριθμήσεις σεαυτῷ ἑπτὰ ἀναπαύσεις ἐτῶν, ἑπτὰ ἔτη ἑπτάκις, καὶ ἔσονταί σοι X ἑπτὰ ἑβδομάδες ἐτῶν ἐννέα καὶ τεσσαράκοντα ἔτη.	8 And thou shalt reckon to thyself seven sabbaths of years, seven times seven years; and they shall be to thee X seven weeks of years, nine and forty years.	8 And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine year[s].	8 So you must tally for yourself seven sabbatical years – seven times seven years; thus the days of seven sabbatical years will be the forty-ninth year for you.	8 וְסָפַרְתָּ לְךָ שֶׁבַע שַׁבְּתֹת שָׁנִים שֶׁבַע שָׁנִים שֶׁבַע פְּעָמִים וְהָיוּ לְךָ יְמֵי שֶׁבַע שַׁבְּתֹת הַשָּׁנִים תֵּשַׁע וְאַרְבָּעִים שָׁנָה:
9 καὶ διαγγελεῖτε ~~σάλπιγγος~~ φωνῇ [ἐν πάσῃ τῇ γῇ ὑμῶν] τῷ μηνὶ τῷ ἑβδόμῳ τῇ δεκάτῃ τοῦ μηνός· τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τοῦ ἱλασμοῦ διαγγελεῖτε ~~σάλπιγγι~~ ἐν πάσῃ τῇ γῇ ὑμῶν	9 In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall make a proclamation with the sound of a ~~trumpet~~ [in all your land]; on the day of atonement ye shall make a proclamation with a ~~trumpet~~ in all your land.	9 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.	9 Then you must cause a horn fanfare to sound abroad in the seventh month during the tenth of the month on the Day of Atonements. Y’all must cause the horn to sound abroad through all your land.	9 וְהַעֲבַרְתָּ שׁוֹפַר תְּרוּעָה בַּחֹדֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִעִי בֶּעָשׂוֹר לַחֹדֶשׁ בְּיוֹם הַכִּפֻּרִים תַּעֲבִירוּ שׁוֹפָר בְּכָל-אַרְצְכֶם:
LXX	Brenton	KJV	NAW	HWSG
10 καὶ ἁγιάσετε τὸ ἔτος τὸ πεντηκοστὸν ἐνιαυτὸν καὶ διαβοήσετε ἄφεσιν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς πᾶσιν τοῖς κατοικοῦσιν αὐτήν· ἐνιαυτὸς ἀφέσεως σημασία αὕτη ἔσται ὑμῖν, καὶ ἀπελεύσεται εἷς ἕκαστος εἰς τὴν κτῆσιν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἕκαστος εἰς τὴν πατρίδα αὐτοῦ ἀπελεύσεσθε.	10 And ye shall sanctify the year, the fiftieth year, and ye shall proclaim a release upon the land to all that inhabit it; it shall be given a year of release, a jubilee[F] for you; and each one shall depart to his possession, and ye shall go each to his family.	10 And ye shall hallow the X fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.	10 So y’all must set the year apart as holy – the fiftieth year, and y’all must proclaim a release through the land to all its inhabitants. It will be the Jubilee for y’all, and y’all must return, each-and-every one to his property and to his family.	10 וְקִדַּשְׁתֶּם אֵת שְׁנַת הַחֲמִשִּׁים שָׁנָה וּקְרָאתֶם דְּרוֹר[G] בָּאָרֶץ לְכָל-יֹשְׁבֶיהָ יוֹבֵל הִוא[H] תִּהְיֶה לָכֶם וְשַׁבְתֶּם אִישׁ אֶל-אֲחֻזָּתוֹ וְאִישׁ אֶל-מִשְׁפַּחְתּוֹ תָּשֻׁבוּ:
11 [ἀφέσεως] σημασία αὕτη, τὸ ἔτος τὸ πεντηκοστὸν ἐνιαυτὸς ἔσται ὑμῖν· οὐ σπερεῖτε οὐδὲ ἀμήσετε τὰ αὐτόματα ἀναβαίνοντα αὐτῆς καὶ οὐ τρυγήσετε τὰ ἡγιασμένα αὐτῆς,	11 This is a jubilee of [release], the year shall be to you the fiftieth year: ye shall not sow, nor reap the produce that comes of itself [from the land], neither shall ye gather its dedicated fruits.	11 A jubile shall that X fiftieth year be unto you: ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of ~~thy~~ [vine] undressed.	11 This will be the Jubilee year; the fiftieth year will be for y’all. Y’all must not sow and y’all must not harvest what grew beyond it [your land] and y’all must not stock what was left alone of it,	11 יוֹבֵל הִוא שְׁנַת הַחֲמִשִּׁים שָׁנָה תִּהְיֶה לָכֶם לֹא תִזְרָעוּ וְלֹא תִקְצְרוּ אֶת-סְפִיחֶיהָ וְלֹא תִבְצְרוּ אֶת-נְזִרֶיהָ[I]:
12 ὅτι ἀφέσεως σημασία ἐστίν, ἅγιον ἔσται ὑμῖν, ἀπὸ τῶν πεδίων φάγεσθε τὰ γενήματα αὐτῆς.	12 For it is a jubilee of release; it shall be holy to you, ye shall eat its fruits off the field[s].	12 For it is the jubile; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field.	12 because this is the Jubilee; it must be holy for y’all. It is from the field that y’all may eat its produce.	12 כִּי יוֹבֵל הִוא קֹדֶשׁ תִּהְיֶה לָכֶם מִן-הַשָּׂדֶה תֹּאכְלוּ אֶת-תְּבוּאָתָהּ:
13 Ἐν τῷ ἔτει τῆς [ἀφέσεως] σημασίᾳ αὐτῆς ἐπανελεύσεται ἕκαστος εἰς τὴν κτῆσιν αὐτοῦ.	13 In the year of the release even the jubilee of it, shall each one return to his possession.	13 In the year of this jubile ye shall return every man unto his possession.	13 During this Jubilee year, each of y’all must return to his property.	13 בִּשְׁנַת הַיּוֹבֵל הַזֹּאת תָּשֻׁבוּ אִישׁ אֶל-אֲחֻזָּתוֹ:
14 ἐὰν δὲ ἀποδῷ πρᾶσιν τῷ πλησίον σου [ἐὰν] καὶ κτήσῃ παρὰ τοῦ X πλησίον σου, μὴ θλιβέτω ἄνθρωπος τὸν ~~πλησίον~~·	14 And if thou shouldest sell a possession to thy neighbour, or if thou shouldest buy X X X of thy neighbour, let not a man oppress his ~~neighbour~~.	14 And if thou sell ~~ought~~ unto thy neighbour, or buyest ought of thy neighbour's hand, ye shall not oppress one another:	14 So when you sell real-estate to your fellow-man or buy from the hand of your fellow-man, each of y’all must not take advantage of his brother:	14 וְכִי-תִמְכְּרוּ[J] מִמְכָּר לַעֲמִיתֶךָ אוֹ קָנֹה מִיַּד עֲמִיתֶךָ אַל-תּוֹנוּ אִישׁ אֶת-אָחִיו:
LXX	Brenton	KJV	NAW	HWSG
15 κατὰ ἀριθμὸν ἐτῶν μετὰ τὴν σημασίαν κτήσῃ παρὰ τοῦ πλησίον X, κατὰ ἀριθμὸν ἐνιαυτῶν γενημάτων ἀποδώσεταί σοι.	15 According to the number of years after the jubilee shalt thou buy of thy neighbour, according to the number of years of the fruits shall he sell to thee.	15 According to the number of 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:	15 It should be with an accounting of the years following the Jubilee that you buy from your fellow-man; it should be with an accounting of the years of produce that he sells to you.	15 בְּמִסְפַּר שָׁנִים אַחַר הַיּוֹבֵל תִּקְנֶה מֵאֵת עֲמִיתֶךָ בְּמִסְפַּר שְׁנֵי-תְבוּאֹת יִמְכָּר-לָךְ:
16 καθότι [ἂν] X πλεῖον τῶν ἐτῶν, πληθύνῃ τὴν ἔγκτησιν αὐτοῦ, καὶ καθότι ἂν ἔλαττον τῶν ἐτῶν, ἐλαττονώσῃ τὴν κτῆσιν αὐτοῦ· ὅτι ἀριθμὸν γενημάτων αὐτοῦ οὕτως ἀποδώσεταί σοι.	16 According as there may be X a greater number of years he shall increase the value of his possession, and according as there may be a less number of years he shall lessen the value of his possession; for according to the number of his crops, so shall he sell to thee.	16 According to X 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 fruits doth he sell unto thee.	16 For a horizon of more years you should make its purchase-price more, and for a horizon of less years you should make his purchase-price less, because it is the number of production-years he is selling to you.	16 לְפִי רֹב הַשָּׁנִים תַּרְבֶּה מִקְנָתוֹ וּלְפִי מְעֹט הַשָּׁנִים תַּמְעִיט מִקְנָתוֹ כִּי מִסְפַּר תְּבוּאֹת הוּא מֹכֵר לָךְ:
17 μὴ θλιβέτω ἄνθρωπος τὸν πλησίον καὶ φοβηθήσῃ [κύριον] τὸν θεόν σου·X ἐγώ εἰμι κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὑμῶν.	17 Let not a man oppress his neighbour, and thou shalt fear [the Lord] thy God: X I am the Lord thy God.	17 Ye shall not therefore oppress one X ~~another~~; but thou shalt fear thy God: for I am the LORD your God.	17 So each of y’all must not take advantage of his fellow-man, rather you must have respect for your God, for I am Yahweh y’all’s God.	17 וְלֹא תוֹנוּ אִישׁ אֶת-עֲמִיתוֹ וְיָרֵאתָ מֵאֱלֹהֶיךָ כִּי אֲנִי יְהוָֹה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם:
18 καὶ ποιήσετε πάντα τὰ δικαιώματά μου καὶ πάσας τὰς κρίσεις μου καὶ φυλάξασθε καὶ ποιήσετε αὐτὰ καὶ κατοικήσετε ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς πεποιθότες·	18 And ye shall keep all my ordinances, and all my judgments; and do ye observe them, and ye shall keep them, and dwell securely in the land.	18 Wherefore ye shall do my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; and ye shall dwell in the land in safety.	18 And y’all must act on my statutes, and y’all must keep my judgments and act on them, then y’all will reside upon the land confidently,	18 וַעֲשִׂיתֶם אֶת-חֻקֹּתַי וְאֶת-מִשְׁפָּטַי תִּשְׁמְרוּ וַעֲשִׂיתֶם אֹתָם וִישַׁבְתֶּם עַל-הָאָרֶץ לָבֶטַח:
19 καὶ δώσει ἡ γῆ τὰ ἐκφόρια αὐτῆς, καὶ φάγεσθε εἰς πλησμονὴν καὶ κατοικήσετε πεποιθότες ἐπ᾿ αὐτῆς.	19 And the land shall yield her increase, and ye shall eat to fullness, and shall dwell securely in it.	19 And the land shall yield her fruit, and ye shall eat [your] fill, and dwell therein in safety.	19 and then the land will put out its fruit and y’all will eat to satisfaction, and y’all will reside confidently on it.	19 וְנָתְנָה הָאָרֶץ פִּרְיָהּ וַאֲכַלְתֶּם לָשֹׂבַע וִישַׁבְתֶּם לָבֶטַח עָלֶיהָ:
20 ἐὰν δὲ λέγητε Τί φαγόμεθα ἐν τῷ ἔτει τῷ ἑβδόμῳ ~~τούτῳ~~, [ἐὰν] μὴ σπείρωμεν μηδὲ συναγάγωμεν τὰ γενήματα ἡμῶν;	20 And if ye should say, What shall we eat in [this] seventh year, if we do not sow nor gather in our fruits?	20 And if ye shall say, What shall we eat X the seventh year? behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase:	20 But if y’all say, “What will we eat in the seventh year if we can’t sow and can’t gather our produce?”	20 וְכִי תֹאמְרוּ מַה-נֹּאכַל בַּשָּׁנָה הַשְּׁבִיעִת הֵן לֹא נִזְרָע וְלֹא נֶאֱסֹף אֶת-תְּבוּאָתֵנוּ[K]:
LXX	Brenton	KJV	NAW	HWSG
21 καὶ ἀποστελῶ τὴν εὐλογίαν μου ὑμῖν ἐν τῷ ἔτει τῷ ἕκτῳ, καὶ ποιήσει τὰ γενήματα αὐτῆς εἰς τὰ τρία ἔτη.	21 Then will I send my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and [the land] shall produce its fruits for three years.	21 Then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years.	21 Then I will command my blessing for y’all during the sixth year and it [your land] will make three years’ worth of produce,	21 וְצִוִּיתִי אֶת-בִּרְכָתִי לָכֶם בַּשָּׁנָה הַשִּׁשִּׁית וְעָשָׂת אֶת-הַתְּבוּאָה[L] לִשְׁלֹשׁ הַשָּׁנִים:
22 καὶ σπερεῖτε τὸ ἔτος τὸ ὄγδοον καὶ φάγεσθε ἀπὸ τῶν γενημάτων παλαιά· ἕως τοῦ ἔτους τοῦ ἐνάτου, ἕως ἂν ἔλθῃ τὸ γένημα αὐτῆς, φάγεσθε παλαιὰ [παλαιῶν].	22 And ye shall sow in the eighth year, and eat old fruits till the ninth year: until its fruit come, ye shall eat old [fruits of the old].	22 And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat yet of old fruit until the ninth year; until her fruits come in ye shall eat of the old store.	22 and the eighth year y’all will sow but y’all will eat from the unused produce until the ninth year; y’all will eat the unused until it puts out its produce!	22 וּזְרַעְתֶּם אֵת הַשָּׁנָה הַשְּׁמִינִת וַאֲכַלְתֶּם מִן-הַתְּבוּאָה יָשָׁן עַד הַשָּׁנָה הַתְּשִׁיעִת עַד-בּוֹא תְּבוּאָתָהּ תֹּאכְלוּ יָשָׁן:
23 καὶ ἡ γῆ οὐ πραθήσεται εἰς βεβαίωσιν, ἐμὴ γάρ ἐστιν ἡ γῆ, διότι προσήλυτοι καὶ πάροικοι ὑμεῖς ἐστε ἐναντίον μου·	23 And the land shall not be sold for a permanence; for the land is mine, because ye are strangers and sojourners before me.	23 The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.	23 So the land may not be sold in perpetuity because the land belongs to me, thus y’all are visitors and tenants by me,	23 וְהָאָרֶץ לֹא תִמָּכֵר לִצְמִתֻת[M] כִּי-לִי הָאָרֶץ כִּי-גֵרִים וְתוֹשָׁבִים אַתֶּם עִמָּדִי:
24 καὶ κατὰ πᾶσαν γῆν κατασχέσεως ὑμῶν λύτρα δώσετε τῆς γῆς. --	24 And in every land of your possession, ye shall allow ransoms for the land.	24 And in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption for the land.	24 and in all the land of your property y’all must make allowance for redemption for the land.	24 וּבְכֹל אֶרֶץ אֲחֻזַּתְכֶם גְּאֻלָּה תִּתְּנוּ לָאָרֶץ: ס

[1] John Gill cited as sources for this information: Torat Cohenim apud Yalkut, ut supra. (par. 1. fol. 191. 1.) and Mishna Sheviith, c. 5. sect. 6.

[2] Many also see in this a foreshadowing of the communism practiced by the early Christians at first as well as of the equal status before God that all believers are said to have in the New Testament. While there is plausibility, it seems to me to be a stretch hermeneutically.

[3] There is debate over how Jubilee worked. The two other positions I have run across but have not accepted are:

1) That the Jubilee was the same as the sabbatical year, not in addition to it (“[T]hat it should be the seventh sabbatical year, that is, the forty-ninth (which by a very common form of speech is called the fiftieth), seems to me most probable, and is, I think, made pretty clear and the objections removed by that learned chronologer Calvisius.” ~Matthew Henry)

2) That the Jubilee was instead a kind of 49-day addition to the calendar every 49 years to keep the calendar in step with the seasons – kind of like our leap-year except that the 49 days were considered to be an extra “year.” This would mean translating v.8 “The [49] days of the 7 [cycles] of sabbatical years shall be for you a year.”

[4] “…so called from the peculiar sound of the trumpet on this day, different from all others; though others, as Ben Melech, think, and the Jews commonly, that it had its name from the trumpet itself, which they suppose was made of a ram's horn, "jobel", in the Arabic language, signifying a ram… though perhaps it is best of all to derive it from הוביל, "to bring back, restore, return", because at this time men were returned to their liberty, estates, and families…” ~John Gill

[5] “But they must reckon only “the years of the fruits,” and therefore must discount for the sabbatical years.” ~M. Henry

[6] “None but a legislator who was conscious of acting under divine authority would have staked his character on so singular an enactment as that of the sabbatic year; and none but a people who had witnessed the fulfillment of the divine promise would have been induced to suspend their agricultural preparations on a recurrence of a periodical Jubilee.”~JFB

[7] Other instances of the word “liberty” which occur in the English New Testament are actually translations of a different Greek word (ελευθερια), so the connection with the Levital Jubilee is weaker to them.

[8] Rushdoony had an interesting explanation: “The Holy Land was God’s Throne area, and hence not for sale… A comparable concept on a lesser scale is the modern Vatican State, owned by the Vatican entirely and hence not on the market for sale… The Throne, however, is now in heaven, which has in full the unchanging status once required of Canaan. Obviously, therefore land can now be sold. Just as obviously, God does intend that land laws give stability to society. The absence of any land and property tax in Biblical law very definitely protects enduring ownership, whereas modern tax laws destroy ownership… Eminent domain is a divine right… It belongs to God alone. The ‘right’ of the state to eminent domain has no place in Biblical law. The state has a duty to protect man and his property, but not to tax or to confiscate it.” (p.492)