Leviticus 25:36-55

Context
25:36 Do not take interest or profit from him,¹ but you must fear your God and your brother must live² with you. 25:37 You must not lend him your money at interest and you must not sell him food for profit.³ 25:38 I am the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan – to be your God.⁴

25:39 “‘If your brother becomes impoverished with regard to you so that he sells himself to you, you must not subject him to slave service.⁵ 25:40 He must be with you as a hired worker, as a resident foreigner;⁶ he must serve with you until the year of jubilee, 25:41 but then⁷ he may go free,⁸ he and his children with him, and may return to his family and to the property of his ancestors.⁹ 25:42 Since they are my servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt, they must not be sold in a slave sale.¹⁰ 25:43 You must not rule over him harshly,¹¹ but you must fear your God.

25:44 “‘As for your male and female slaves¹² who may belong to you – you may buy male and female slaves from the nations all around you.¹³ 25:45 Also you may buy slaves¹⁴ from the children of the foreigners who reside with you, and from their families that are¹⁵ with you, whom they have fathered in your land, they may become your property. 25:46 You may give them as inheritance to your children after you to possess as property. You may enslave them perpetually. However, as for your brothers the Israelites, no man may rule over his brother harshly.¹⁶

25:47 “‘If a resident foreigner who is with you prospers¹⁷ and your brother becomes impoverished with regard to him so that¹⁸ he sells himself to a resident foreigner who is with you or to a member¹⁹ of a foreigner’s family, 25:48 after he has sold himself he retains a right of redemption.²⁰ One of his brothers may redeem him, 25:49 or his uncle or his cousin²¹ may redeem him, or anyone of the rest of his blood relatives – his family²² – may redeem him, or if²³ he prospers he may redeem himself. 25:50 He must calculate with the one who bought him the number of years²⁴ from the year he sold himself to him until the jubilee year, and the cost of his sale must correspond to the number of years, according to the rate of wages a hired worker would have earned while with him.²⁵ 25:51 If there are still many years, in keeping with them²⁶ he must refund most of the cost of his purchase for his redemption, 25:52 but if only a few years remain²⁷ until the jubilee, he must calculate for himself in keeping with the remaining years and refund it for his redemption. 25:53 He must be with the one who bought him²⁸ like a yearly hired worker.²⁹ The one who bought him³⁰ must not rule over him harshly in your sight. 25:54 If, however,³¹ he is not redeemed in these ways, he must go free³² in the jubilee year, he and his children with him, 25:55 because the Israelites are my own servants;³³ they are my servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

[25:36] ¹tn The meaning of the terms rendered “interest” and “profit” is much debated (see the summaries in P. J. Budd, Leviticus [NCBC], 354-55 and B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 178). Verse 37, however, suggests that the first refers to a percentage of money and the second percentage of produce (see J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 421).

[25:36] ²tn In form the Hebrew term וְחֵי (vÿkhey, “shall live”) is the construct plural noun (i.e., “the life of”), but here it is used as the finite verb (cf. v. 35 and GKC 218 §76.i).

[25:37] ³tn Heb “your money” and “your food.” With regard to “interest” and “profit” see the note on v. 36 above.

[25:38] ⁴tn Heb “to be to you for a God.”

[25:39] ⁵tn Heb “you shall not serve against him service of a slave.” A distinction is being made here between the status of slave and indentured servant.

[25:40] ⁶tn See the note on Lev 25:6 above.

[25:41] ⁷tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have adversative force here.

[25:41] ⁸tn Heb “may go out from you.”

[25:41] ⁹tn Heb “fathers.”

[25:42] ¹⁰tn Or perhaps reflexive Niphal rather than passive, “they shall not sell themselves [as in] a slave sale.”

[25:43] ¹¹tn Heb “You shall not rule in him in violence”; cf. NASB “with severity”; NIV “ruthlessly.”

[25:44] ¹²tn Heb “And your male slave and your female slave.” Smr has these as plural terms, “slaves,” not singular.

[25:44] ¹³tn Heb “ from the nations which surround you, from them you shall buy male slave and female slave.”

[25:45] ¹⁴tn The word “slaves” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied here.

[25:45] ¹⁵tn Heb “family which is” (i.e., singular rather than plural).

[25:46] ¹⁶tn Heb “and your brothers, the sons of Israel, a man in his brother you shall not rule in him in violence.”

[25:47] ¹⁷tn Heb “And if the hand of a foreigner and resident with you reaches” (cf. v. 26 for this idiom).

[25:47] ¹⁸tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.

[25:47] ¹⁹tn Heb “offshoot, descendant.”

[25:48] ²⁰tn Heb “right of redemption shall be to him.”

[25:49] ²¹tn Heb “the son of his uncle.”

[25:49] ²²tn Heb “or from the remainder of his flesh from his family.”

[25:49] ²³tc The LXX, followed by the Syriac, actually has “if,” which is not in the MT.

[25:50] ²⁴tn Heb “the years.”

[25:50] ²⁵tn Heb “as days of a hired worker he shall be with him.” For this and the following verses see the explanation in P. J. Budd, Leviticus (NCBC), 358-59.

[25:51] ²⁶tn Heb “to the mouth of them.”

[25:52] ²⁷tn Heb “but if a little remains in the years.”

[25:53] ²⁸tn Heb “be with him”; the referent (the one who bought him) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[25:53] ²⁹tn Heb “As a hired worker year in year.”

[25:53] ³⁰tn Heb “He”; the referent (the one who bought him) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[25:54] ³¹tn Heb “And if.”

[25:54] ³²tn Heb “go out.”

[25:55] ³³tn Heb “because to me the sons of Israel are servants.”