Leviticus 25:10

25:10 So you must consecrate the fiftieth year, ¹  and you must proclaim a release ²  in the land for all its inhabitants. That year will be your jubilee; ³  each one of you must return ⁴  to his property and each one of you must return to his clan.

Leviticus 25:28

25:28 If he has not prospered enough to refund ⁵  a balance to him, then what he sold ⁶  will belong to ⁷  the one who bought it until the jubilee year, but it must revert ⁸  in the jubilee and the original owner ⁹  may return to his property.

Leviticus 25:31

25:31 The houses of villages, however, ¹⁰  which have no wall surrounding them ¹¹  must be considered as the field ¹²  of the land; they will have the right of redemption and must revert in the jubilee.

¹ tn Heb “the year of the fifty years,” or perhaps “the year, fifty years” (GKC 435 §134.o, note 2).

² 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.

³ 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).

⁴ tn Heb “you [plural] shall return, a man.”

⁵ tn Heb “And if his hand has not found sufficiency of returning.” Although some versions take this to mean that he has not made enough to regain the land (e.g., NASB, NRSV; see also B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 176), the combination of terms in Hebrew corresponds to the portion of v. 27 that refers specifically to refunding the money (cf. v. 27; see NIV and G. J. Wenham, Leviticus [NICOT], 315).

⁶ tn Heb “his sale.”

⁷ tn Heb “will be in the hand of.” This refers to the temporary control of the one who purchased its produce until the next year of jubilee, at which time it would revert to the original owner.

⁸ tn Heb “it shall go out” (so KJV, ASV; see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 176).

⁹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the original owner of the land) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁰ tn Heb “And the houses of the villages.”

¹¹ tn Heb “which there is not to them a wall.”

¹² tn Heb “on the field.”