Leviticus 25:47-55
New English Translation
47 “‘If a resident foreigner who is with you prospers[a] and your brother becomes impoverished with regard to him so that[b] he sells himself to a resident foreigner who is with you or to a member[c] of a foreigner’s family, 48 after he has sold himself he retains a right of redemption.[d] One of his brothers may redeem him, 49 or his uncle or his cousin[e] may redeem him, or any one of the rest of his blood relatives—his family[f]—may redeem him, or if[g] he prospers he may redeem himself. 50 He must calculate with the one who bought him the number of years[h] 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.[i] 51 If there are still many years, in keeping with them[j] he must refund most of the cost of his purchase for his redemption, 52 but if only a few years remain[k] until the Jubilee, he must calculate for himself in keeping with the remaining years and refund it for his redemption. 53 He must be with the one who bought him[l] like a yearly hired worker.[m] The one who bought him[n] must not rule over him harshly in your sight. 54 If, however,[o] he is not redeemed in these ways, he must go free[p] in the Jubilee year, he and his children with him, 55 because the Israelites are my own servants;[q] they are my servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Leviticus 25:47 tn Heb “And if the hand of a foreigner and resident with you reaches” (cf. v. 26 for this idiom).
- Leviticus 25:47 tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.
- Leviticus 25:47 tn Heb “offshoot, descendant.”
- Leviticus 25:48 tn Heb “right of redemption shall be to him.”
- Leviticus 25:49 tn Heb “the son of his uncle.”
- Leviticus 25:49 tn Heb “or from the remainder of his flesh from his family.”
- Leviticus 25:49 tc The LXX, followed by the Syriac, actually has “if,” which is not in the MT.
- Leviticus 25:50 tn Heb “the years.”
- Leviticus 25:50 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.
- Leviticus 25:51 tn Heb “to the mouth of them.”
- Leviticus 25:52 tn Heb “but if a little remains in the years.”
- Leviticus 25:53 tn Heb “be with him”; the referent (the one who bought him) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Leviticus 25:53 tn Heb “As a hired worker year in year.”
- Leviticus 25:53 tn Heb “He”; the referent (the one who bought him) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Leviticus 25:54 tn Heb “And if.”
- Leviticus 25:54 tn Heb “go out.”
- Leviticus 25:55 tn Heb “because to me the sons of Israel are servants.”
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