Leviticus 25:25-31

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. ¹  25:26 If a man has no redeemer, but he prospers ²  and gains enough for its redemption, ³  25:27 he is to calculate the value of the years it was sold, ⁴  refund the balance ⁵  to the man to whom he had sold it, and return to his property. 25:28 If he has not prospered enough to refund ⁶  a balance to him, then what he sold ⁷  will belong to ⁸  the one who bought it until the jubilee year, but it must revert ⁹  in the jubilee and the original owner ¹⁰  may return to his property.

Release of Houses

25:29 “‘If a man sells a residential house in a walled city, ¹¹  its right of redemption must extend ¹²  until one full year from its sale; ¹³  its right of redemption must extend to a full calendar year. ¹⁴  25:30 If it is not redeemed before the full calendar year is ended, ¹⁵  the house in the walled city ¹⁶  will belong without reclaim ¹⁷  to the one who bought it throughout his generations; it will not revert in the jubilee. 25:31 The houses of villages, however, ¹⁸  which have no wall surrounding them ¹⁹  must be considered as the field ²⁰  of the land; they will have the right of redemption and must revert in the jubilee.

[25:25]  ¹ tn Heb “the sale of his brother.”

[25:26]  ² tn Heb “and his hand reaches.”

[25:26]  ³ tn Heb “and he finds as sufficiency of its redemption.”

[25:27]  ⁴ tn Heb “and he shall calculate its years of sale.”

[25:27]  ⁵ tn Heb “and return the excess.”

[25:28]  ⁶ 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).

[25:28]  ⁷ tn Heb “his sale.”

[25:28]  ⁸ 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.

[25:28]  ⁹ tn Heb “it shall go out” (so KJV, ASV; see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 176).

[25:28]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the original owner of the land) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[25:29]  ¹¹ tn Heb “a house of a residence of a walled city.”

[25:29]  ¹² tn Heb “shall be.”

[25:29]  ¹³ tn Heb “of its sale.”

[25:29]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “days its right of redemption shall be” (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 176).

[25:30]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “until fulfilling to it a complete year.’

[25:30]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the house which [is] in the city which to it [is] a wall.” The Kethib has לֹא (lo’, “no, not”) rather than לוֹ (lo, “to it”) which is the Qere.

[25:30]  ¹⁷ tn See the note on v. 23 above.

[25:31]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “And the houses of the villages.”

[25:31]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “which there is not to them a wall.”

[25:31]  ²⁰ tn Heb “on the field.”