Leviticus 23:21

23:21 “‘On this very day you must proclaim an assembly; it is to be a holy assembly for you. ¹  You must not do any regular work. This is a perpetual statute in all the places where you live throughout your generations. ² 

Leviticus 25:10

25:10 So you must consecrate the fiftieth year, ³  and you must proclaim a release ⁴  in the land for all its inhabitants. That year will be your jubilee; ⁵  each one of you must return ⁶  to his property and each one of you must return to his clan.

[23:21]  ¹ tn Heb “And you shall proclaim [an assembly] in the bone of this day; a holy assembly it shall be to you” (see the remarks in B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 160, and the remarks on the LXX rendering in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 367).

[23:21]  ² tn Heb “for your generations.”

[25:10]  ³ tn Heb “the year of the fifty years,” or perhaps “the year, fifty years” (GKC 435 §134.o, note 2).

[25:10]  ⁴ 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.

[25:10]  ⁵ 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).

[25:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “you [plural] shall return, a man.”