World English Bible · Egypt and Sinai
Leviticus 25
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said to on , "Speak to the , and tell them, 'When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall keep a to . You shall sow your field six years, and you shall prune your six years, and gather in its fruits; but in the seventh year there shall be a of solemn rest for the land, a to . You shall not sow your field or prune your . What grows of itself in your harvest you shall not reap, and you shall not gather the grapes of your undressed . It shall be a year of solemn rest for the land. The of the land shall be for food for you; for yourself, for , for your maid, for your hired servant, and for your , who lives as a with you. 7For your livestock also, and for the animals that are in your land, shall all its increase be for food. "'You shall count off seven of years, seven times seven years; and there shall be to you the days of seven of years, even forty-nine years. Then you shall sound the loud on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the you shall throughout all your land. You shall make the fiftieth year , and proclaim throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a to you; and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family. That fiftieth year shall be a to you. In it you shall not sow, neither reap that which grows of itself, nor gather from the undressed . For it is a ; it shall be to you. You shall eat of its increase out of the field. "'In this each of you shall return to his property. "'If you sell anything to your neighbor, or buy from your neighbor, you shall not wrong one another. According to the number of years after the you shall buy from your neighbor. According to the number of years of the crops he shall sell to you. According to the length of the years you shall increase its price, and according to the shortness of the years you shall diminish its price; for he is selling the number of the crops to you. You shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your ; for I am your . "'Therefore you shall do , and keep my and do them; and you shall in the land in safety. The land shall yield its fruit, and you shall eat your fill, and therein in safety. If you said, "What shall we eat the seventh year? Behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase;" then I will command my on you in the sixth year, and it shall bear fruit for the three years. You shall sow the eighth year, and eat of the fruits from the old store until the ninth year. Until its fruits come in, you shall eat the old store. "'The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine; for you are strangers and live as with me. In all the land of your possession you shall grant a for the land. "'If your brother becomes , and sells some of his possessions, then his kinsman who is next to him shall come, and that which his brother has sold. If a man has no one to it, and he becomes prosperous and finds sufficient means to it, 27then let him reckon the years since its sale, and restore the surplus to the man to whom he sold it; and he shall return to his property. But if he isn't able to get it back for himself, then what he has sold shall in the hand of him who has bought it until the . In the it shall be released, and he shall return to his property. 29"'If a man sells a dwelling house in a walled city, then he may it within a whole year after it has been sold. For a full year he shall have the right of . 30If it isn't within the space of a full year, then the house that is in the walled city shall be made sure in perpetuity to him who bought it, throughout his generations. It shall not be released in the . But the houses of the villages which have no wall around them shall be accounted for with the fields of the country: they may be , and they shall be released in the . "'Nevertheless, in the cities of the , the may the houses in the cities of their possession at any time. The may the house that was sold, and the city of his possession, and it shall be released in the ; for the houses of the cities of the are their possession among the . But the field of the pasture lands of their cities may not be sold, for it is their perpetual possession. "'If your brother has become , and his hand can't support himself among you, then you shall uphold him. He shall live with you like an alien and a temporary resident. Take no interest from him or profit; but fear your , that your brother may live among you. 37You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit. I am your , who brought you out of the land of , to give you the land of , and to be your . "'If your brother has grown among you, and sells himself to you, you shall not make him to as a . As a hired servant, and as a temporary resident, he shall be with you; he shall with you until the . Then he shall go out from you, he and his children with him, and shall return to his own family, and to the possession of his fathers. For they are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of . They shall not be sold as . You shall not him with harshness, but shall fear your . "'As for your male and your female , whom you may have from the nations that are around you, from them you may buy male and female . Moreover, of the children of the aliens who live among you, of them you may buy, and of their families who are with you, which they have conceived in your land; and they will be your property. You may make them an for your children after you, to hold for a possession. Of them you may take your , but over your brothers the you shall not rule, one over another, with harshness. "'If an alien or temporary resident with you becomes rich, and your brother beside him has grown , and sells himself to the or living among you, or to a member of the family, after he is sold he may be . One of his brothers may him; or his uncle, or his uncle's son, may him, or any who is a close relative to him of his family may him; or if he has grown rich, he may himself. He shall reckon with him who bought him from the year that he sold himself to him to the . The price of his sale shall be according to the number of years; he shall be with him according to the time of a hired servant. 51If there are yet many years, according to them he shall give back the price of his out of the money that he was bought for. 52If there but years to the , then he shall reckon with him; according to his years of he shall give back the price of his . As a servant hired year by year shall he be with him. He shall not rule with harshness over him in your sight. If he isn't by these means, then he shall be released in the : he and his children with him. For to me the are servants; they are my servants whom I brought out of the land of . I am your .
A public domain modern English translation, free to read and share. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · Egypt and Sinai, 1450 BC to 1200 BC ›
Israel in and then out of Egypt, at a period when Egypt was an imperial power that also controlled Canaan. The nation is formed as a people with a law before it has any land.
- Egypt
- The New Kingdom at its imperial peak, with a professional army, a chariot corps, and control reaching up through Canaan. Ramesses II reigns for sixty-six years and covers the country in monuments to himself. Egyptian power in this period is the reason Canaan is garrisoned rather than free.
- The Hittites
- The other superpower, in what is now Turkey, and Egypt's rival for the Levant. The two fight the largest chariot battle of the ancient world at Kadesh, then sign a treaty whose text survives from both sides. Hittite treaty form, with its historical prologue, stipulations, witnesses, blessings, and curses, is the shape the Sinai covenant takes, which is one of the stronger arguments for the antiquity of that material.
- The Aegean
- Mycenaean Greece: warrior kings in stone citadels at Mycenae and Pylos, keeping palace accounts in Linear B. The world of the Trojan War stories, whatever lies behind them.
- Further afield
- The Shang dynasty in China is casting extraordinary bronzes and writing questions to its ancestors on ox bones. In Mesoamerica the Olmec are beginning the first civilisation of the Americas.