The LORD spoke to Moses on top of Mount Sinai:
"Tell the Israelites, when you enter the land I am giving you, the land itself must observe a Sabbath for the LORD. For six years you may sow your fields, prune your vineyards, and gather the harvests.
But in the seventh year, let the land rest. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. Whatever grows on its own, whatever the untended vines yield, leave it be. The land itself shall have a year of rest, a Sabbath to me.
Whatever the land produces in that seventh year will feed you, your servants, your hired workers, temporary residents, your livestock, and even the wild animals. All may eat freely.
Count off seven cycles of sabbaths—seven times seven years—which adds up to forty-nine years. Then, on the tenth day of the seventh month, the Day of Atonement, blow the trumpet throughout your land.
Consecrate the fiftieth year. Proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee: each of you is to return to your ancestral property, each to your own clan. Do not sow or reap what grows on its own, or harvest untended vines. It is holy, a year dedicated to me.
In this Year of Jubilee, all shall return to their own possessions. If you sell land to a fellow Israelite, do not take advantage. Buy and sell based on the years left until the next Jubilee. The price depends on how many harvests remain. Respect one another and fear your God.
Follow my decrees and obey my laws, and you will live safely in the land. The land will yield its produce, and you will eat your fill and live in security.
You may wonder, 'What will we eat in the seventh year when we do not plant or harvest?' I will bless the sixth year so that the land yields enough for three years. In the eighth year, you will eat from the old crop until the new harvest arrives in the ninth year.
Do not sell the land permanently, for the land belongs to me. You are but tenants and sojourners. Provide for the redemption of the land throughout your possessions.
If a countryman becomes poor and sells part of his property, his nearest relative shall redeem it. If he prospers later, he may redeem it himself by refunding the balance to the buyer. If he cannot, the property remains with the buyer until the Year of Jubilee, when it shall return to its original owner.
If a man sells a house in a walled city, he has one year to redeem it. If not redeemed, it remains permanently with the buyer. Houses in unwalled villages are treated as open country—they can be redeemed and will return in the Jubilee.
Levites always have the right to redeem their houses in the Levitical towns, for those are their permanent property. But pasturelands in their towns cannot be sold; they are theirs forever.
If a countryman becomes poor and cannot support himself, help him as you would a resident alien, so he may continue to live among you. Do not charge interest or sell him food at a profit. Fear your God, that your countryman may live among you safely.
If a countryman sells himself because of poverty, do not make him a slave. He shall be treated as a hired worker or resident until the Year of Jubilee, when he and his children shall be released and return to their family property. The Israelites are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt—they are not to be sold as slaves. Treat them fairly and fear your God.
You may buy male or female slaves from the nations around you. Temporary residents and their children born in your land may also become your property. They can be inherited as slaves, but you must not rule over fellow Israelites ruthlessly.
If an alien or temporary resident prospers and a countryman sells himself to him, the right of redemption remains. A relative may redeem him, or he may redeem himself if able. Count the years from the time of sale until the Year of Jubilee. The price is based on the rate paid to a hired worker. More years mean a higher price; fewer years, a lower price. Treat him as a worker from year to year and do not rule ruthlessly.
Even if he is not redeemed, he and his children shall be released in the Year of Jubilee. The Israelites are my servants, my own, whom I brought out of Egypt. I am the LORD your God."