Discovery BoxLeviticus 25:1--27:34
Context25:1 The Lord spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai: 25:2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When you enter the land that I am giving you, the land must observe a Sabbath 1 to the Lord. 25:3 Six years you may sow your field, and six years you may prune your vineyard and gather the produce, 2 25:4 but in the seventh year the land must have a Sabbath of complete rest 3 – a Sabbath to the Lord. You must not sow your field or 4 prune your vineyard. 25:5 You must not gather in the aftergrowth of your harvest and you must not pick the grapes of your unpruned 5 vines; the land must have a year of complete rest. 25:6 You may have the Sabbath produce 6 of the land to eat – you, your male servant, your female servant, your hired worker, the resident foreigner who stays with you, 7 25:7 your cattle, and the wild animals that are in your land – all its produce will be for you 8 to eat.
25:8 “‘You must count off 9 seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, 10 and the days of the seven weeks of years will amount to forty-nine years. 11 25:9 You must sound loud horn blasts 12 – in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, on the Day of Atonement – you must sound the horn in your entire land. 25:10 So you must consecrate the fiftieth year, 13 and you must proclaim a release 14 in the land for all its inhabitants. That year will be your jubilee; 15 each one of you must return 16 to his property and each one of you must return to his clan. 25:11 That fiftieth year will be your jubilee; you must not sow the land, harvest its aftergrowth, or pick the grapes of its unpruned vines. 17 25:12 Because that year is a jubilee, it will be holy to you – you may eat its produce 18 from the field.
25:13 “‘In this year of jubilee you must each return 19 to your property. 25:14 If you make a sale 20 to your fellow citizen 21 or buy 22 from your fellow citizen, no one is to wrong his brother. 23 25:15 You may buy it from your fellow citizen according to the number of years since 24 the last jubilee; he may sell it to you according to the years of produce that are left. 25 25:16 The more years there are, 26 the more you may make its purchase price, and the fewer years there are, 27 the less you must make its purchase price, because he is only selling to you a number of years of 28 produce. 25:17 No one is to oppress his fellow citizen, 29 but you must fear your God, because I am the Lord your God. 25:18 You must obey my statutes and my regulations; you must be sure to keep them 30 so that you may live securely in the land. 31
25:19 “‘The land will give its fruit and you may eat until you are satisfied, 32 and you may live securely in the land. 25:20 If you say, ‘What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not sow and gather our produce?’ 25:21 I will command my blessing for you in the sixth year so that it may yield 33 the produce 34 for three years, 25:22 and you may sow the eighth year and eat from that sixth year’s produce 35 – old produce. Until you bring in the ninth year’s produce, 36 you may eat old produce. 25:23 The land must not be sold without reclaim 37 because the land belongs to me, for you are foreigners and residents with me. 38 25:24 In all your landed property 39 you must provide for the right of redemption of the land. 40
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. 41 25:26 If a man has no redeemer, but he prospers 42 and gains enough for its redemption, 43 25:27 he is to calculate the value of the years it was sold, 44 refund the balance 45 to the man to whom he had sold it, and return to his property. 25:28 If he has not prospered enough to refund 46 a balance to him, then what he sold 47 will belong to 48 the one who bought it until the jubilee year, but it must revert 49 in the jubilee and the original owner 50 may return to his property.
25:29 “‘If a man sells a residential house in a walled city, 51 its right of redemption must extend 52 until one full year from its sale; 53 its right of redemption must extend to a full calendar year. 54 25:30 If it is not redeemed before the full calendar year is ended, 55 the house in the walled city 56 will belong without reclaim 57 to the one who bought it throughout his generations; it will not revert in the jubilee. 25:31 The houses of villages, however, 58 which have no wall surrounding them 59 must be considered as the field 60 of the land; they will have the right of redemption and must revert in the jubilee. 25:32 As for 61 the cities of the Levites, the houses in the cities which they possess, 62 the Levites must have a perpetual right of redemption. 25:33 Whatever someone among the Levites might redeem – the sale of a house which is his property in a city – must revert in the jubilee, 63 because the houses of the cities of the Levites are their property in the midst of the Israelites. 25:34 Moreover, 64 the open field areas of their cities 65 must not be sold, because that is their perpetual possession.
25:35 “‘If your brother 66 becomes impoverished and is indebted to you, 67 you must support 68 him; he must live 69 with you like a foreign resident. 70 25:36 Do not take interest or profit from him, 71 but you must fear your God and your brother must live 72 with you. 25:37 You must not lend him your money at interest and you must not sell him food for profit. 73 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. 74
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. 75 25:40 He must be with you as a hired worker, as a resident foreigner; 76 he must serve with you until the year of jubilee, 25:41 but then 77 he may go free, 78 he and his children with him, and may return to his family and to the property of his ancestors. 79 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. 80 25:43 You must not rule over him harshly, 81 but you must fear your God.
25:44 “‘As for your male and female slaves 82 who may belong to you – you may buy male and female slaves from the nations all around you. 83 25:45 Also you may buy slaves 84 from the children of the foreigners who reside with you, and from their families that are 85 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. 86
25:47 “‘If a resident foreigner who is with you prospers 87 and your brother becomes impoverished with regard to him so that 88 he sells himself to a resident foreigner who is with you or to a member 89 of a foreigner’s family, 25:48 after he has sold himself he retains a right of redemption. 90 One of his brothers may redeem him, 25:49 or his uncle or his cousin 91 may redeem him, or anyone of the rest of his blood relatives – his family 92 – may redeem him, or if 93 he prospers he may redeem himself. 25:50 He must calculate with the one who bought him the number of years 94 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. 95 25:51 If there are still many years, in keeping with them 96 he must refund most of the cost of his purchase for his redemption, 25:52 but if only a few years remain 97 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 him 98 like a yearly hired worker. 99 The one who bought him 100 must not rule over him harshly in your sight. 25:54 If, however, 101 he is not redeemed in these ways, he must go free 102 in the jubilee year, he and his children with him, 25:55 because the Israelites are my own servants; 103 they are my servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.
26:1 “‘You must not make for yourselves idols, 104 so you must not set up for yourselves a carved image or a pillar, and you must not place a sculpted stone in your land to bow down before 105 it, for I am the Lord your God. 26:2 You must keep my Sabbaths and reverence 106 my sanctuary. I am the Lord.
26:3 “‘If you walk in my statutes and are sure to obey my commandments, 107 26:4 I will give you your rains in their time so that 108 the land will give its yield and the trees of the field will produce their fruit. 109 26:5 Threshing season will extend for you until the season for harvesting grapes, 110 and the season for harvesting grapes will extend until sowing season, so 111 you will eat your bread until you are satisfied, 112 and you will live securely in your land. 26:6 I will grant peace in the land so that 113 you will lie down to sleep without anyone terrifying you. 114 I will remove harmful animals 115 from the land, and no sword of war 116 will pass through your land. 26:7 You will pursue your enemies and they will fall before you by the sword. 117 26:8 Five of you will pursue a hundred, and a hundred of you will pursue ten thousand, and your enemies will fall before you by the sword. 26:9 I will turn to you, make you fruitful, multiply you, and maintain 118 my covenant with you. 26:10 You will still be eating stored produce from the previous year 119 and will have to clean out what is stored from the previous year to make room for new. 120
26:11 “‘I will put my tabernacle 121 in your midst and I will not abhor you. 122 26:12 I will walk among you, and I will be your God and you will be my people. 26:13 I am the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, from being their slaves, 123 and I broke the bars of your yoke and caused you to walk upright. 124
26:14 “‘If, however, 125 you do not obey me and keep 126 all these commandments – 26:15 if you reject my statutes and abhor my regulations so that you do not keep 127 all my commandments and you break my covenant – 26:16 I for my part 128 will do this to you: I will inflict horror on you, consumption and fever, which diminish eyesight and drain away the vitality of life. 129 You will sow your seed in vain because 130 your enemies will eat it. 131 26:17 I will set my face against you. You will be struck down before your enemies, those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when there is no one pursuing you.
26:18 “‘If, in spite of all these things, 132 you do not obey me, I will discipline you seven times more on account of your sins. 133 26:19 I will break your strong pride and make your sky like iron and your land like bronze. 26:20 Your strength will be used up in vain, your land will not give its yield, and the trees of the land 134 will not produce their fruit.
26:21 “‘If you walk in hostility against me 135 and are not willing to obey me, I will increase your affliction 136 seven times according to your sins. 26:22 I will send the wild animals 137 against you and they will bereave you of your children, 138 annihilate your cattle, and diminish your population 139 so that your roads will become deserted.
26:23 “‘If in spite of these things 140 you do not allow yourselves to be disciplined and you walk in hostility against me, 141 26:24 I myself will also walk in hostility against you and strike you 142 seven times on account of your sins. 26:25 I will bring on you an avenging sword, a covenant vengeance. 143 Although 144 you will gather together into your cities, I will send pestilence among you and you will be given into enemy hands. 145 26:26 When I break off your supply of bread, 146 ten women will bake your bread in one oven; they will ration your bread by weight, 147 and you will eat and not be satisfied.
26:27 “‘If in spite of this 148 you do not obey me but walk in hostility against me, 149 26:28 I will walk in hostile rage against you 150 and I myself will also discipline you seven times on account of your sins. 26:29 You will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters. 151 26:30 I will destroy your high places and cut down your incense altars, 152 and I will stack your dead bodies on top of the lifeless bodies of your idols. 153 I will abhor you. 154 26:31 I will lay your cities waste 155 and make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will refuse to smell your soothing aromas. 26:32 I myself will make the land desolate and your enemies who live in it will be appalled. 26:33 I will scatter you among the nations and unsheathe the sword 156 after you, so your land will become desolate and your cities will become a waste.
26:34 “‘Then the land will make up for 157 its Sabbaths all the days it lies desolate while you are in the land of your enemies; then the land will rest and make up its Sabbaths. 26:35 All the days of the desolation it will have the rest it did not have 158 on your Sabbaths when you lived on it.
26:36 “‘As for 159 the ones who remain among you, I will bring despair into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. The sound of a blowing leaf will pursue them, and they will flee as one who flees the sword and fall down even though there is no pursuer. 26:37 They will stumble over each other as those who flee before a sword, though 160 there is no pursuer, and there will be no one to take a stand 161 for you before your enemies. 26:38 You will perish among the nations; the land of your enemies will consume you.
26:39 “‘As for the ones who remain among you, they will rot away because of 162 their iniquity in the lands of your enemies, and they will also rot away because of their ancestors’ 163 iniquities which are with them. 26:40 However, when 164 they confess their iniquity and their ancestors’ iniquity which they committed by trespassing against me, 165 by which they also walked 166 in hostility against me 167 26:41 (and I myself will walk in hostility against them and bring them into the land of their enemies), and 168 then their uncircumcised hearts become humbled and they make up for 169 their iniquity, 26:42 I will remember my covenant with Jacob and also my covenant with Isaac and also my covenant with Abraham, 170 and I will remember the land. 26:43 The land will be abandoned by them 171 in order that it may make up for 172 its Sabbaths while it is made desolate 173 without them, 174 and they will make up for their iniquity because 175 they have rejected my regulations and have abhorred 176 my statutes. 26:44 In spite of this, however, when they are in the land of their enemies I will not reject them and abhor them to make a complete end of them, to break my covenant with them, for I am the Lord their God. 26:45 I will remember for them the covenant with their ancestors 177 whom I brought out from the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the Lord.’”
26:46 These are the statutes, regulations, and instructions which the Lord established 178 between himself and the Israelites at Mount Sinai through 179 Moses.
27:1 The Lord spoke to Moses: 27:2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When a man makes a special votive offering 180 based on the conversion value of persons to the Lord, 181 27:3 the conversion value of the male 182 from twenty years old up to sixty years old 183 is fifty shekels by the standard of the sanctuary shekel. 184 27:4 If the person is a female, the conversion value is thirty shekels. 27:5 If the person is from five years old up to twenty years old, the conversion value of the male is twenty shekels, and for the female ten shekels. 27:6 If the person is one month old up to five years old, the conversion value of the male is five shekels of silver, 185 and for the female the conversion value is three shekels of silver. 27:7 If the person is from sixty years old and older, if he is a male the conversion value is fifteen shekels, and for the female ten shekels. 27:8 If he is too poor to pay the conversion value, he must stand the person before the priest and the priest will establish his conversion value; 186 according to what the man who made the vow can afford, 187 the priest will establish his conversion value.
27:9 “‘If what is vowed is a kind of animal from which an offering may be presented 188 to the Lord, anything which he gives to the Lord from this kind of animal 189 will be holy. 27:10 He must not replace or exchange it, good for bad or bad for good, and if he does indeed exchange one animal for another animal, then both the original animal 190 and its substitute will be holy. 27:11 If what is vowed is an unclean animal from which an offering must not be presented to the Lord, then he must stand the animal before the priest, 27:12 and the priest will establish its conversion value, 191 whether good or bad. According to the assessed conversion value of the priest, thus it will be. 27:13 If, however, the person who made the vow redeems the animal, 192 he must add one fifth to 193 its conversion value.
27:14 “‘If a man consecrates his house as holy to the Lord, the priest will establish its conversion value, whether good or bad. Just as the priest establishes its conversion value, thus it will stand. 194 27:15 If the one who consecrates it redeems his house, he must add to it one fifth of its conversion value in silver, and it will belong to him. 195
27:16 “‘If a man consecrates to the Lord some of his own landed property, the conversion value must be calculated in accordance with the amount of seed needed to sow it, 196 a homer of barley seed being priced at fifty shekels of silver. 197 27:17 If he consecrates his field in the jubilee year, 198 the conversion value will stand, 27:18 but if 199 he consecrates his field after the jubilee, the priest will calculate the price 200 for him according to the years that are left until the next jubilee year, and it will be deducted from the conversion value. 27:19 If, however, the one who consecrated the field redeems it, 201 he must add to it one fifth of the conversion price 202 and it will belong to him. 203 27:20 If he does not redeem the field, but sells 204 the field to someone else, he may never redeem it. 27:21 When it reverts 205 in the jubilee, the field will be holy to the Lord like a permanently dedicated field; 206 it will become the priest’s property. 207
27:22 “‘If he consecrates to the Lord a field he has purchased, 208 which is not part of his own landed property, 27:23 the priest will calculate for him the amount of its conversion value until the jubilee year, and he must pay 209 the conversion value on that jubilee day as something that is holy to the Lord. 27:24 In the jubilee year the field will return to the one from whom he bought it, the one to whom it belongs as landed property. 27:25 Every conversion value must be calculated by the standard of the sanctuary shekel; 210 twenty gerahs to the shekel.
27:26 “‘Surely no man may consecrate a firstborn that already belongs to the Lord as a firstborn among the animals; whether it is an ox or a sheep, it belongs to the Lord. 211 27:27 If, however, 212 it is among the unclean animals, he may ransom it according to 213 its conversion value and must add one fifth to it, but if it is not redeemed it must be sold according to its conversion value.
27:28 “‘Surely anything which a man permanently dedicates to the Lord 214 from all that belongs to him, whether from people, animals, or his landed property, must be neither sold nor redeemed; anything permanently dedicated is most holy to the Lord. 27:29 Any human being who is permanently dedicated 215 must not be ransomed; such a person must be put to death.
27:30 “‘Any tithe 216 of the land, from the grain of the land or from the fruit of the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord. 27:31 If a man redeems 217 part of his tithe, however, he must add one fifth to it. 218 27:32 All the tithe of herd or flock, everything which passes under the rod, the tenth one will be holy to the Lord. 219 27:33 The owner 220 must not examine the animals to distinguish between good and bad, and he must not exchange it. If, however, he does exchange it, 221 both the original animal 222 and its substitute will be holy. 223 It must not be redeemed.’”
27:34 These are the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses to tell the Israelites 224 at Mount Sinai.
[25:2] 1 tn Heb “the land shall rest a Sabbath.”
[25:3] 2 tn Heb “its produce,” but the feminine pronoun “its” probably refers to the “land” (a feminine noun in Hebrew; cf. v. 2), not the “field” or the “vineyard,” both of which are normally masculine nouns (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 170).
[25:4] 3 tn Heb “and in the seventh year a Sabbath of complete rest shall be to the land.” The expression “a Sabbath of complete rest” is superlative, emphasizing the full and all inclusive rest of the seventh year of the sabbatical cycle. Cf. ASV “a sabbath of solemn rest”; NAB “a complete rest.”
[25:4] 4 tn Heb “and.” Here the Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) has an alternative sense (“or”).
[25:5] 5 tn Heb “consecrated, devoted, forbidden” (נָזִיר, nazir). The same term is used for the “consecration” of the “Nazirite” (and his hair, Num 6:2, 18, etc.), a designation which, in turn, derives from the very same root.
[25:6] 6 tn The word “produce” is not in the Hebrew text but is implied; cf. NASB “the sabbath products.”
[25:6] 7 tn A “resident who stays” would be a foreign person who was probably residing as another kind of laborer in the household of a landowner (B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 170-71). See v. 35 below.
[25:7] 8 tn The words “for you” are implied.
[25:8] 9 tn Heb “And you shall count off for yourself.”
[25:8] 10 tn Heb “seven years seven times.”
[25:8] 11 tn Heb “and they shall be for you, the days of the seven Sabbaths of years, forty-nine years.”
[25:9] 12 sn On the “loud horn blasts” see the note on Lev 23:24, but unlike the language there, the Hebrew term for “horn” (שׁוֹפָר, shofar) actually appears here in this verse (twice).
[25:10] 13 tn Heb “the year of the fifty years,” or perhaps “the year, fifty years” (GKC 435 §134.o, note 2).
[25:10] 14 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] 15 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] 16 tn Heb “you [plural] shall return, a man.”
[25:11] 17 tn Heb “you shall not sow and you shall not…and you shall not….”
[25:12] 18 tn That is, the produce of the land (fem.; cf. v. 7 above).
[25:13] 19 tn Heb “you [plural] shall return, a man.”
[25:14] 20 tn Heb “sell a sale.”
[25:14] 21 tn Or “to one of your countrymen” (NIV); NASB “to your friend.”
[25:14] 22 tn The Hebrew infinitive absolute קָנֹה (qanoh, “buying”) substitutes for the finite verb here in sequence with the previous finite verb “sell” at the beginning of the verse (see GKC 345 §113.z).
[25:14] 23 tn Heb “do not oppress a man his brother.” Here “brother” does not refer only to a sibling, but to a fellow Israelite.
[25:15] 24 tn Heb “in the number of years after.”
[25:15] 25 tn The words “that are left” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.
[25:16] 26 tn Heb “To the mouth of the many years.”
[25:16] 27 tn Heb “to the mouth of the few years.”
[25:16] 28 tn Heb “a number of produce”; the words “years of” are implied. As an alternative this could be translated “a number of harvests” (cf. NRSV, NLT).
[25:17] 29 tn Heb “And you shall not oppress a man his fellow citizen.”
[25:18] 30 tn Heb “And you shall keep and do them.” This appears to be a kind of verbal hendiadys, where the first verb is a modifier of the action of the second verb (see GKC 386 §120.d, although שָׁמַר [shamar, “to keep”] is not cited there; cf. Lev 20:8, etc.).
[25:18] 31 tn Heb “and you shall dwell on the land to security.”
[25:19] 32 tn Heb “eat to satisfaction”; KJV, ASV “ye shall eat your fill.”
[25:21] 33 tn Heb “and it [i.e., the land] shall make the produce.” The Hebrew term וְעָשָׂת (vÿ’asat, “and it shall make”) is probably an older third feminine singular form of the verb (GKC 210 §75.m). Smr has the normal form.
[25:21] 34 tn Smr and LXX have “its produce” (cf. 25:3, 7, etc.) rather than “the produce.”
[25:22] 35 tn Heb “the produce,” referring to “the produce” of the sixth year of v. 21. The words “sixth year” are supplied for clarity.
[25:22] 36 tn Heb “until the ninth year, until bringing [in] its produce.”
[25:23] 37 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).
[25:23] 38 tn That is, the Israelites were strangers and residents who were attached to the
[25:24] 39 tn Heb “And in all the land of your property.”
[25:24] 40 tn Heb “right of redemption you shall give to the land”; NAB “you must permit the land to be redeemed.”
[25:25] 41 tn Heb “the sale of his brother.”
[25:26] 42 tn Heb “and his hand reaches.”
[25:26] 43 tn Heb “and he finds as sufficiency of its redemption.”
[25:27] 44 tn Heb “and he shall calculate its years of sale.”
[25:27] 45 tn Heb “and return the excess.”
[25:28] 46 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] 48 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] 49 tn Heb “it shall go out” (so KJV, ASV; see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 176).
[25:28] 50 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the original owner of the land) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[25:29] 51 tn Heb “a house of a residence of a walled city.”
[25:29] 53 tn Heb “of its sale.”
[25:29] 54 tn Heb “days its right of redemption shall be” (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 176).
[25:30] 55 tn Heb “until fulfilling to it a complete year.’
[25:30] 56 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] 57 tn See the note on v. 23 above.
[25:31] 58 tn Heb “And the houses of the villages.”
[25:31] 59 tn Heb “which there is not to them a wall.”
[25:31] 60 tn Heb “on the field.”
[25:32] 62 tn Heb “the houses of the cities of their property.”
[25:33] 63 tn Heb “And which he shall redeem from the Levites shall go out, sale of house and city, his property in the jubilee.” Although the end of this verse is clear, the first part is notoriously difficult. There are five main views. (1) The first clause of the verse actually attaches to the previous verse, and refers to the fact that their houses retain a perpetual right of redemption (v. 32b), “which any of the Levites may exercise” (v. 33a; J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 418, 421). (2) It refers to property that one Levite sells to another Levite, which is then redeemed by still another Levite (v. 33a). In such cases, the property reverts to the original Levite owner in the jubilee year (v. 33b; G. J. Wenham, Leviticus [NICOT], 321). (3) It refers to houses in a city that had come to be declared as a Levitical city but had original non-Levitical owners. Once the city was declared to belong to the Levites, however, an owner could only sell his house to a Levite, and he could only redeem it back from a Levite up until the time of the first jubilee after the city was declared to be a Levitical city. In this case the first part of the verse would be translated, “Such property as may be redeemed from the Levites” (NRSV, NJPS). At the first jubilee, however, all such houses became the property of the Levites (v. 33b; P. J. Budd, Leviticus [NCBC], 353). (4) It refers to property “which is appropriated from the Levites” (not “redeemed from the Levites,” v. 33a) by those who have bought it or taken it as security for debts owed to them by Levites who had fallen on bad times. Again, such property reverts back to the original Levite owners at the jubilee (B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 177). (5) It simply refers to the fact that a Levite has the option of redeeming his house (i.e., the prefix form of the verb is taken to be subjunctive, “may or might redeem”), which he had to sell because he had fallen into debt or perhaps even become destitute. Even if he never gained the resources to do so, however, it would still revert to him in the jubilee year. The present translation is intended to reflect this latter view.
[25:34] 65 sn This refers to the region of fields just outside and surrounding the city where cattle were kept and garden crops were grown (B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 177).
[25:35] 66 tn It is not clear to whom this refers. It is probably broader than “sibling” (cf. NRSV “any of your kin”; NLT “any of your Israelite relatives”) but some English versions take it to mean “fellow Israelite” (so TEV; cf. NAB, NIV “countrymen”) and others are ambiguous (cf. CEV “any of your people”).
[25:35] 67 tn Heb “and his hand slips with you.”
[25:35] 68 tn Heb “strengthen”; NASB “sustain.”
[25:35] 69 tn The form וָחַי (vakhay, “and shall live”) looks like the adjective “living,” but the MT form is simply the same verb written as a double ayin verb (see HALOT 309 s.v. חיה qal, and GKC 218 §76.i; cf. Lev 18:5).
[25:35] 70 tn Heb “a foreigner and resident,” which is probably to be combined (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 170-71).
[25:36] 71 tn 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] 72 tn 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] 73 tn Heb “your money” and “your food.” With regard to “interest” and “profit” see the note on v. 36 above.
[25:38] 74 tn Heb “to be to you for a God.”
[25:39] 75 tn 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] 76 tn See the note on Lev 25:6 above.
[25:41] 77 tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have adversative force here.
[25:41] 78 tn Heb “may go out from you.”
[25:42] 80 tn Or perhaps reflexive Niphal rather than passive, “they shall not sell themselves [as in] a slave sale.”
[25:43] 81 tn Heb “You shall not rule in him in violence”; cf. NASB “with severity”; NIV “ruthlessly.”
[25:44] 82 tn Heb “And your male slave and your female slave.” Smr has these as plural terms, “slaves,” not singular.
[25:44] 83 tn Heb “ from the nations which surround you, from them you shall buy male slave and female slave.”
[25:45] 84 tn The word “slaves” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied here.
[25:45] 85 tn Heb “family which is” (i.e., singular rather than plural).
[25:46] 86 tn Heb “and your brothers, the sons of Israel, a man in his brother you shall not rule in him in violence.”
[25:47] 87 tn Heb “And if the hand of a foreigner and resident with you reaches” (cf. v. 26 for this idiom).
[25:47] 88 tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.
[25:47] 89 tn Heb “offshoot, descendant.”
[25:48] 90 tn Heb “right of redemption shall be to him.”
[25:49] 91 tn Heb “the son of his uncle.”
[25:49] 92 tn Heb “or from the remainder of his flesh from his family.”
[25:49] 93 tc The LXX, followed by the Syriac, actually has “if,” which is not in the MT.
[25:50] 94 tn Heb “the years.”
[25:50] 95 tn 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] 96 tn Heb “to the mouth of them.”
[25:52] 97 tn Heb “but if a little remains in the years.”
[25:53] 98 tn Heb “be with him”; the referent (the one who bought him) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[25:53] 99 tn Heb “As a hired worker year in year.”
[25:53] 100 tn Heb “He”; the referent (the one who bought him) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[25:55] 103 tn Heb “because to me the sons of Israel are servants.”
[26:1] 104 sn For the literature regarding the difficult etymology and meaning of the term for “idols” (אֱלִילִם, ’elilim), see the literature cited in the note on Lev 19:4. It appears to be a diminutive play on words with אֵל (’el, “god, God”) and, perhaps at the same time, recalls a common Semitic word for “worthless, weak, powerless, nothingness.” Snaith suggests a rendering of “worthless godlings.”
[26:1] 105 tn Heb “on.” The “sculpted stone” appears to be some sort of stone with images carved into (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 181, and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 449).
[26:2] 106 tn Heb “and my sanctuary you shall fear.” Cf. NCV “respect”; CEV “honor.”
[26:3] 107 tn Heb “and my commandments you shall keep and do them.” This appears to be a kind of verbal hendiadys, where the first verb is a modifier of the action of the second verb (see GKC 386 §120.d, although שָׁמַר [shamar, “to keep”] is not cited there; cf. Lev 20:8; 25:18, etc.).
[26:4] 108 tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.
[26:4] 109 tn Heb “the tree of the field will give its fruit.” As a collective singular this has been translated as plural.
[26:5] 110 tn Heb “will reach for you the vintage season.”
[26:5] 111 tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.
[26:5] 112 tn Heb “to satisfaction”; KJV, ASV, NASB “to the full.”
[26:6] 113 tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.
[26:6] 114 tn Heb “and there will be no one who terrifies.” The words “to sleep” have been supplied in the translation for clarity.
[26:6] 115 tn Heb “harmful animal,” singular, but taken here as a collective plural (so almost all English versions).
[26:6] 116 tn Heb “no sword”; the words “of war” are supplied in the translation to indicate what the metaphor of the sword represents.
[26:7] 117 tn Heb “to the sword.”
[26:9] 118 tn Heb “cause to arise,” but probably used here for the
[26:10] 119 tn Heb “old [produce] growing old.”
[26:10] 120 tn Heb “and old from the presence of new you will bring out.”
[26:11] 121 tn LXX codexes Vaticanus and Alexandrinus have “my covenant” rather than “my tabernacle.” Cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV “my dwelling.”
[26:11] 122 tn Heb “and my soul [נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh] will not abhor you.”
[26:13] 123 tn Heb “from being to them slaves.”
[26:13] 124 tn In other words, to walk as free people and not as slaves. Cf. NIV “with (+ your CEV, NLT) heads held high”; NCV “proudly.”
[26:14] 126 tn Heb “and do not do.”
[26:15] 127 tn Heb “to not do.”
[26:16] 128 tn Or “I also” (see HALOT 76 s.v. אַף 6.b).
[26:16] 129 tn Heb “soul.” These expressions may refer either to the physical effects of consumption and fever as the rendering in the text suggests (e.g., J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 452, 454, “diminishing eyesight and loss of appetite”), or perhaps the more psychological effects, “which exhausts the eyes” because of anxious hope “and causes depression” (Heb “causes soul [נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh] to pine away”), e.g., B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 185.
[26:16] 130 tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have causal force here.
[26:16] 131 tn That is, “your enemies will eat” the produce that grows from the sown seed.
[26:18] 132 tn Heb “And if until these.”
[26:18] 133 tn Heb “I will add to discipline you seven [times] on your sins.”
[26:20] 134 tn Heb “the tree of the land will not give its fruit.” The collective singular has been translated as a plural. Tg. Onq., some medieval Hebrew
[26:21] 135 tn Heb “hostile with me,” but see the added preposition בְּ (bet) on the phrase “in hostility” in v. 24 and 27.
[26:21] 136 tn Heb “your blow, stroke”; cf. TEV “punishment”; NLT “I will inflict you with seven more disasters.”
[26:22] 137 tn Heb “the animal of the field.” This collective singular has been translated as a plural. The expression “animal of the field” refers to a wild (i.e., nondomesticated) animal.
[26:22] 138 tn The words “of your children” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.
[26:22] 139 tn Heb “and diminish you.”
[26:23] 140 tn Heb “And if in these.”
[26:23] 141 tn Heb “with me,” but see the added preposition בְּ (bet) on the phrase “in hostility” in vv. 24 and 27.
[26:24] 142 tn Heb “and I myself will also strike you.”
[26:25] 143 tn Heb “vengeance of covenant”; cf. NAB “the avenger of my covenant.”
[26:25] 144 tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) has a concessive force in this context.
[26:25] 145 tn Heb “in hand of enemy,” but Tg. Ps.-J. and Tg. Neof. have “in the hands of your enemies” (J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 454).
[26:26] 146 tn Heb “When I break to you staff of bread” (KJV, ASV, and NASB all similar).
[26:26] 147 tn Heb “they will return your bread in weight.”
[26:27] 148 tn Heb “And if in this.”
[26:28] 150 tn Heb “in rage of hostility with you”; NASB “with wrathful hostility”; NRSV “I will continue hostile to you in fury”; CEV “I’ll get really furious.”
[26:29] 151 tn Heb “and the flesh of your daughters you will eat.” The phrase “you will eat” has not been repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[26:30] 152 sn Regarding these cultic installations, see the remarks in B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 188, and R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:903. The term rendered “incense altars” might better be rendered “sanctuaries [of foreign deities]” or “stelae.”
[26:30] 153 tn The translation reflects the Hebrew wordplay “your corpses…the corpses of your idols.” Since idols, being lifeless, do not really have “corpses,” the translation uses “dead bodies” for people and “lifeless bodies” for the idols.
[26:30] 154 tn Heb “and my soul will abhor you.”
[26:31] 155 tn Heb “And I will give your cities a waste”; NLT “make your cities desolate.”
[26:33] 156 tn Heb “and I will empty sword” (see HALOT 1228 s.v. ריק 3).
[26:34] 157 tn There are two Hebrew roots רָצָה (ratsah), one meaning “to be pleased with; to take pleasure” (HALOT 1280-81 s.v. רצה; cf. “enjoy” in NASB, NIV, NRSV, and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 452), and the other meaning “to restore” (HALOT 1281-82 s.v. II רצה; cf. NAB “retrieve” and B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 189).
[26:35] 158 tn Heb “it shall rest which it did not rest.”
[26:37] 160 tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) is used in a concessive sense here.
[26:37] 161 tn The term rendered “to stand up” is a noun, not an infinitive. It occurs only here and appears to designate someone who would take a powerful stand for them against their enemies.
[26:39] 162 tn Heb “in” (so KJV, ASV; also later in this verse).
[26:39] 163 tn Heb “fathers’” (also in the following verse).
[26:40] 164 tn Heb “And.” Many English versions take this to be a conditional clause (“if…”) though there is no conditional particle (see, e.g., NASB, NIV, NRSV; but see the very different rendering in B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 190). The temporal translation offered here (“when”) takes into account the particle אָז (’az, “then”), which occurs twice in v. 41. The obvious contextual contrast between vv. 39 and 40 is expressed by “however” in the translation.
[26:40] 165 tn Heb “in their trespassing which they trespassed in me.” See the note on Lev 5:15, although the term is used in a more technical sense there in relation to the “guilt offering.”
[26:40] 166 tn Heb “and also which they walked.”
[26:41] 168 tn Heb “or then,” although the LXX has “then” and the Syriac “and then.”
[26:41] 169 tn Heb “and then they make up for.” On the verb “make up for” see the note on v. 34 above.
[26:42] 170 tn Heb “my covenant with Abraham I will remember.” The phrase “I will remember” has not been repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[26:43] 171 tn Heb “from them.” The preposition “from” refers here to the agent of the action (J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 455).
[26:43] 172 tn The jussive form of the verb with the simple vav (ו) here calls for a translation that expresses purpose.
[26:43] 173 tn The verb is the Hophal infinitive construct with the third feminine singular suffix (GKC 182 §67.y; cf. v. 34).
[26:43] 174 tn Heb “from them.”
[26:43] 175 tn Heb “because and in because,” a double expression, which is used only here and in Ezek 13:10 (without the vav) for emphasis (GKC 492 §158.b).
[26:43] 176 tn Heb “and their soul has abhorred.”
[26:45] 177 tn Heb “covenant of former ones.”
[26:46] 178 tn Heb “gave” (so NLT); KJV, ASV, NCV “made.”
[26:46] 179 tn Heb “by the hand of” (so KJV).
[27:2] 180 tn Cf. the note on Lev 22:21. Some take this as an expression for fulfilling a vow, “to fulfill a vow” (e.g., HALOT 927-28 s.v. פלא piel and NASB; cf. NRSV “in fulfillment of a vow”) or, alternatively, “to make a vow” or “for making a vow” (HALOT 928 s.v. פלא piel [II פלא]). Perhaps it refers to the making a special vow, from the verb פָלָא (pala’, “to be wonderful; to be remarkable”), cf. Milgrom, Numbers [JPSTC], 44. B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 151 and 193, suggests that this is a special term for “setting aside a votive offering” (related to פָלָה, palah, “to set aside”). In general, the point of the expression seems to be that this sacrifice is a special gift to God that arose out of special circumstances in the life of the worshiper.
[27:2] 181 tn Heb “in your valuation, persons to the
[27:3] 182 tn Heb “your conversion value shall be [for] the male.”
[27:3] 183 tn Heb “from a son of twenty years and until a son of sixty years.”
[27:3] 184 tn See the note on Lev 5:15.
[27:6] 185 tn Heb “five shekels silver.”
[27:8] 186 tn Heb “and the priest shall cause him to be valued.”
[27:8] 187 tn Heb “on the mouth which the hand of the one who vowed reaches.”
[27:9] 188 tn Heb “which they may present from it an offering.” The plural active verb is sometimes best rendered in the passive (GKC 460 §144.f, g). Some medieval Hebrew
[27:9] 189 tn Heb “from it.” The masculine suffix “it” here is used for the feminine in the MT, but one medieval Hebrew
[27:10] 190 tn Heb “it and its substitute.” The referent (the original animal offered) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[27:12] 191 tn Heb “and the priest shall cause it to be valued.” See the note on v. 8 above.
[27:13] 192 tn Heb “And if redeeming [infinitive absolute] he redeems it [finite verb].” For the infinitive absolute used to highlight contrast rather than emphasis see GKC 343 §113.p. The referent of “he” (the person who made the vow) and “it” (the animal) have both been specified in the translation for clarity.
[27:13] 193 tn Heb “on,” meaning “on top of, in addition to” (likewise in v. 15).
[27:14] 194 tn The expression “it shall stand” may be a technical term for “it shall be legally valid”; cf. NLT “assessment will be final.”
[27:15] 195 tn Heb “and it shall be to him.”
[27:16] 196 tn Heb “a conversion value shall be to the mouth of its seed.”
[27:16] 197 tn Heb “seed of a homer of barley in fifty shekels of silver.”
[27:17] 198 tn Heb “from the year of the jubilee.” For the meaning of “jubilee,” see the note on Lev 25:10 above.
[27:18] 199 tn Heb “And if.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have adversative force here.
[27:18] 200 tn Heb “the silver.”
[27:19] 201 tn Heb “And if redeeming [infinitive absolute] he redeems [finite verb] the field, the one who consecrated it.” For the infinitive absolute used to highlight contrast rather than emphasis see GKC 343 §113.p.
[27:19] 202 tn Heb “the silver of the conversion value.”
[27:19] 203 tn Heb “and it shall rise to him.” See HALOT 1087 s.v. קום 7 for the rendering offered here, but see also the note on the end of v. 14 above (cf. J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 476, 478).
[27:20] 204 tn Heb “and if he sells.”
[27:21] 205 tn Heb “When it goes out” (cf. Lev 25:25-34).
[27:21] 206 tn Heb “like the field of the permanent dedication.” The Hebrew word חֵרֶם (kherem) is a much discussed term. In this and the following verses it refers in a general way to the fact that something is permanently devoted to the
[27:21] 207 tn Heb “to the priest it shall be his property.”
[27:22] 208 tn Heb “his field of purchase,” which is to be distinguished from his own ancestral “landed property” (cf. v. 16 above).
[27:23] 209 tn Heb “give” (so KJV, ASV, NASB, NLT).
[27:25] 210 tn See the note on Lev 5:15.
[27:26] 211 tn Heb “to the
[27:27] 213 tn Heb “in” or “by.”
[27:28] 214 tn Heb “Surely, any permanently dedicated [thing] which a man shall permanently dedicate to the
[27:29] 215 tn Heb “permanently dedicated from among men.”
[27:30] 216 tn On the “tithe” system in Israel, see R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:1035-55 and esp. pp. 1041-42 on Lev 27:30-33.
[27:31] 217 tn Heb “And if redeeming [infinitive absolute] a man redeems [finite verb].” For the infinitive absolute used to highlight contrast rather than emphasis see GKC 343 §113.p.
[27:31] 218 tn Heb “its one fifth on it.”
[27:32] 219 sn The tithed animal was the tenth one that passed under the shepherd’s rod or staff as they were being counted (see J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 485, and B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 200).
[27:33] 220 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the owner of the animal) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[27:33] 221 tn Heb “And if exchanging [infinitive absolute] he exchanges it [finite verb].” For the infinitive absolute used to highlight contrast rather than emphasis see GKC 343 §113.p.
[27:33] 222 tn Heb “it and its substitute.” The referent (the original animal offered) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[27:33] 223 tn Heb “it shall be and its substitute shall be holy.”
[27:34] 224 tn Most of the commentaries and English versions translate, “which the
