Leviticus 25:23-28

25:23 The land must not be sold without reclaim ¹  because the land belongs to me, for you are foreigners and residents with me. ²  25:24 In all your landed property ³  you must provide for the right of redemption of the land. ⁴ 

25:25 “‘If your brother becomes impoverished and sells some of his property, his near redeemer is to come to you and redeem what his brother sold. ⁵  25:26 If a man has no redeemer, but he prospers ⁶  and gains enough for its redemption, ⁷  25:27 he is to calculate the value of the years it was sold, ⁸  refund the balance ⁹  to the man to whom he had sold it, and return to his property. 25:28 If he has not prospered enough to refund ¹⁰  a balance to him, then what he sold ¹¹  will belong to ¹²  the one who bought it until the jubilee year, but it must revert ¹³  in the jubilee and the original owner ¹⁴  may return to his property.

¹ tn The term rendered “without reclaim” means that the land has been bought for the full price and is, therefore, not subject to reclaim under any circumstances. This was not to be done with land in ancient Israel (contrast the final full sale of houses in v. 30; see the evidence cited in B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 174).

² tn That is, the Israelites were strangers and residents who were attached to the Lord’s household. They did not own the land. Note the parallel to the “priest’s lodger” in Lev 22:10.

³ tn Heb “And in all the land of your property.”

⁴ tn Heb “right of redemption you shall give to the land”; NAB “you must permit the land to be redeemed.”

⁵ tn Heb “the sale of his brother.”

⁶ tn Heb “and his hand reaches.”

⁷ tn Heb “and he finds as sufficiency of its redemption.”

⁸ tn Heb “and he shall calculate its years of sale.”

⁹ tn Heb “and return the excess.”

¹⁰ 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).

¹¹ tn Heb “his sale.”

¹² 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.

¹³ tn Heb “it shall go out” (so KJV, ASV; see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 176).

¹⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the original owner of the land) has been specified in the translation for clarity.