Leviticus 24-25

Contemporary English Version

Caring for the Lamps

(Exodus 27.20,21)

24 The Lord told Moses ²to say to the community of Israel:

You must supply the purest olive oil for the lamps in the sacred tent, so they will keep burning. ^3-4Aaron will set up the gold lampstand in the holy place of the sacred tent. Then he will light the seven lamps that must be kept burning there in my presence, every night from now on. This law will never change.

The Sacred Bread

The Lord said:

⁵^(A) Use your finest flour to bake twelve loaves of bread about two kilograms each, ⁶then take them into the sacred tent and lay them on the gold table in two rows of six loaves. ⁷Alongside each row put some pure incense that will be sent up by fire in place of the bread as an offering to me. ⁸Aaron must lay fresh loaves on the table each Sabbath, and priests in all generations must continue this practice as part of Israel's agreement with me. ⁹^(B) This bread will always belong to Aaron and his family; it is very holy because it was offered to me, and it must be eaten in a holy place.^[a]

Punishment for Cursing the Lord

^10-11Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri from the tribe of Dan, had married an Egyptian, and they had a son. One day their son got into a fight with an Israelite man in camp and cursed the name of the Lord. So the young man was dragged off to Moses, ¹²who had him guarded while everyone waited for the Lord to tell them what to do.

¹³Finally, the Lord said to Moses:

¹⁴This man has cursed me! Take him outside the camp and tell the witnesses to lay their hands on his head. Then command the whole community of Israel to stone him to death. ^15-16And warn the others that everyone else who curses me will die in the same way, whether they are Israelites by birth or foreigners living among you.

¹⁷^(C) Death is also the penalty for murder, ¹⁸but the killing of an animal that belongs to someone else requires only that the animal be replaced. ¹⁹Personal injuries to others must be dealt with in keeping with the crime— ²⁰^(D) a broken bone for a broken bone, an eye for an eye, or a tooth for a tooth. ²¹It's possible to pay the owner for an animal that has been killed, but death is the penalty for murder. ²²^(E) I am the Lord your God, and I demand equal justice both for you Israelites and for those foreigners who live among you.

²³When Moses finished speaking, the people did what the Lord had told Moses, and they stoned to death the man who had cursed the Lord.

The Seventh Year

(Deuteronomy 15.1-11)

25 ^(F) When Moses was on Mount Sinai, the Lord told him ²to say to the community of Israel:

After you enter the land that I am giving you, it must be allowed to rest one year out of every seven. ³You may raise grain and grapes for six years, ⁴but the seventh year you must let your fields and vineyards rest in honor of me, your Lord. ⁵This is to be a time of complete rest for your fields and vineyards, so don't harvest anything they produce. ^6-7However, you and your slaves and your hired workers, as well as any domestic or wild animals, may eat whatever grows on its own.

The Year of Celebration

The Lord said to his people:

⁸Once every 49 years ⁹on the tenth day of the seventh month,^[b] which is also the Great Day of Forgiveness,^[c] trumpets are to be blown everywhere in the land. ¹⁰This fiftieth year^[d] is sacred—it is a time of freedom and of celebration when everyone will receive back their original property, and slaves will return home to their families. ¹¹This is a year of complete celebration, so don't plant any seed or harvest what your fields or vineyards produce. ¹²In this time of sacred celebration you may eat only what grows on its own.

¹³During this year, all property must go back to its original owner. ^14-15So when you buy or sell farmland, the price is to be determined by the number of crops it can produce before the next Year of Celebration. Don't try to cheat. ¹⁶If it is a long time before the next Year of Celebration, the price will be higher, because what is really being sold are the crops that the land can produce. ¹⁷I am the Lord your God, so obey me and don't cheat anyone.

^18-19If you obey my laws and teachings, you will live safely in the land and enjoy its abundant crops. ²⁰Don't ever worry about what you will eat during the seventh year when you are forbidden to plant or harvest. ²¹I will see to it that you harvest enough in the sixth year to last for three years. ²²In the eighth year you will live on what you harvested in the sixth year, but in the ninth year you will eat what you plant and harvest in the eighth year.

²³No land may be permanently bought or sold. It all belongs to me—it isn't your land, and you only live there for a little while.

²⁴When property is being sold, the original owner must be given the first chance to buy it.

²⁵If any of you Israelites become so poor that you are forced to sell your property, your closest relative must buy it back, ²⁶if that relative has the money. Later, if you can afford to buy it, ²⁷you must pay enough to make up for what the present owner will lose on it before the next Year of Celebration, when the property would become yours again. ²⁸But if you don't have the money to pay the present owner a fair price, you will have to wait until the Year of Celebration, when the property will once again become yours.

²⁹If you sell a house in a walled city, you have only one year in which to buy it back. ³⁰If you don't buy it back before that year is up, it becomes the permanent property of the one who bought it, and it will not be returned to you in the Year of Celebration. ³¹But a house out in a village may be bought back at any time just like a field. And it must be returned to its original owner in the Year of Celebration. ³²If any Levites own houses inside a walled city, they will always have the right to buy them back. ³³And any houses that they do not buy back will be returned to them in the Year of Celebration, because these homes are their permanent property among the people of Israel. ³⁴No pastureland owned by the Levi tribe can ever be sold; it is their permanent possession.

Help for the Poor

The Lord said:

³⁵^(G) If any of your people become poor and unable to support themselves, you must help them, just as you are supposed to help foreigners who live among you. ^36-37^(H) Don't take advantage of them by charging any kind of interest or selling them food for profit. Instead, honor me by letting them stay where they now live. ³⁸Remember—I am the Lord your God! I rescued you from Egypt and gave you the land of Canaan, so that I would be your God.

³⁹^(I) Suppose some of your people become so poor that they have to sell themselves and become your slaves. ⁴⁰Then you must treat them as servants, rather than as slaves. And in the Year of Celebration they are to be set free, ⁴¹so they and their children may return home to their families and property. ⁴²I brought them out of Egypt to be my servants, not to be sold as slaves. ⁴³So obey me, and don't be cruel to the poor.

⁴⁴If you want slaves, buy them from other nations ⁴⁵or from the foreigners who live in your own country, and make them your property. ⁴⁶You can own them, and even leave them to your children when you die, but do not make slaves of your own people or be cruel to them.

⁴⁷Even if some of you Israelites become so much in debt that you must sell yourselves to foreigners in your country, ⁴⁸you still have the right to be set free by a relative, such as a brother ⁴⁹or uncle or cousin, or some other family member. In fact, if you ever get enough money, you may buy your own freedom ⁵⁰by paying your owner for the number of years you would still be a slave before the next Year of Celebration. ^51-52The longer the time until then, the more you will have to pay. ⁵³And even while you are the slaves of foreigners in your own country, your people must make sure that you are not mistreated. ⁵⁴If you cannot gain your freedom in any of these ways, both you and your children will still be set free in the Year of Celebration. ⁵⁵People of Israel, I am the Lord your God, and I brought you out of Egypt to be my own servants.