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NASB | Leviticus 25:33 'What, therefore, belongs to the Levites may be redeemed and a house sale in the city of this possession reverts in the jubilee, for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the sons of Israel. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Leviticus 25:33 'Therefore, what is [purchased] from the Levites may be redeemed [by a Levite], and the house that was sold in the city they possess reverts in the Year of Jubilee, for the houses in the Levite cities are their [ancestral] property among the Israelites. |
Subject: Year of Jubilee possible in capitalism? |
Bible Note: In Leviticus 25:1-55, a provision is made for a seventh-year fallow; but there is no mention of the poor. The reason assigned is that the land, being God's land, must keep Sabbath- the Sabbath principle is extended to cover nature as well as man. We also find here the jubilee ordinances. After 49 years had elapsed, every 50th year was to be inaugurated as a jubilee by the blowing of the trumpet on the Day of Atonement. All slaves were to be emancipated (this may be a modified substitute for the earlier provisions with regard to emancipation after 7 years); no mention is made of the possibility of perpetual slavery, but it is ordained that the Hebrew slave of a foreigner may be redeemed by a relative, all Jews being essentially God's servants. The land was to lie fallow, and providential aid is promised to ensure sufficiency of produce during the period of three years when no harvest could be gathered- the 49th year- which would be a sabbatical fallow, the Year of Jubilee, and the following year, when tillage would be resumed. Here we also find elaborate directions for the redemption of land in the Jubilee Year. Summarized, they are: 1) No landed property may be sold, but only the usufruct of its produce up to the next Jubilee, and the price must be calculated by the distance from that period. 2) A kinsman may redeem land thus mortgaged, or (the meaning may be) exercise a right of pre-emption upon it. 3) The mortgager may redeem at the selling price, less the yearly proportion for the time elapsed since the sale. 4) House property in walled towns (not in villages) may be sold outright, and is redeemable only during one year. Such property was presumably regarded as human and artificial, while all land was essentially the property of God. 5) The Levitical possessions were redeemable at any time, and did not come under the Jubilee provisions. 6) Nothing is said in Leviticus as to the remission of debts, but there is a general prohibition of usury. 7) In Leviticus 27:16-25 a field devoted to God must be valued at once at a fixed rate, and might be redeemed at this price, plus a fine of 20 percent, up to the year of Jubilee. If not redeemed by then it became sacred property; no redemption of it was thereafter possible. Sources: "What Everyone Should Know about Economics and Prosperity", "Economics and God", Hasting's Bible Dictionary, The Ryrie Study Bible |