- And the Lord spoke unto Moses in Mount Sinai, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them, When you come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a Sabbath unto the Lord. Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof; but in the seventh year shall be a Sabbath of rest unto the land, a Sabbath for the Lord. You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard. That which grows of its own accord of your harvest you shall not reap, neither gather the grapes of your vine undressed, for it is a year of rest unto the land. And the Sabbath of the land shall be food for you — for you, and for your servant, and for your maid, and for your hired servant, and for your stranger that sojourns with you, and for your cattle, and for the beasts that are in your land, shall all the increase thereof be food.
- And you shall number seven Sabbaths of years unto you, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven Sabbaths of years shall be unto you forty-nine years. Then shall you cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month. In the day of atonement shall you make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. And you shall hallow the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout all the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof. It shall be a jubilee unto you. And you shall return every man unto his possession and you shall return every man unto his family. A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be unto you. You shall not sow, neither reap that which grows of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of your vine undressed, for it is the jubilee; it shall be holy unto you. You shall eat the increase thereof out of the field.
- In the year of this jubilee, you shall return every man unto his possession. And if you sell anything unto your neighbor or buy anything of your neighbor’s hand, you shall not oppress one another. According to the number of years after the jubilee you shall buy of your neighbor, and according unto the number of years of the fruits he shall sell unto you. According to the multitude of years you shall increase the price thereof, and according to the fewness of years you shall diminish the price of it; for according to the number of the years of the fruits does he sell unto you. You shall not therefore oppress one another, but you shall fear your God, for I am the Lord your God. Wherefore, you shall do my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them, and you shall dwell in the land in safety. And the land shall yield her fruit, and you shall eat your fill and dwell therein in safety. And if you shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? Behold, we shall not sow nor gather in our increase — then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years. And you shall sow the eighth year, and yet eat of old fruit until the ninth year. Until her fruits come in, you shall eat of the old store.
- The land shall not be sold for ever, for the land is mine, for you are strangers and sojourners with me. And in all the land of your possession, you shall grant a redemption for the land. If your brother has become poor and has sold away some of his possession, and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother sold. And if the man has none to redeem it, and himself is able to redeem it, then let him count the years of the sale thereof, and restore the surplus unto the man to whom he sold it, that he may return unto his possession. But if he be not able to restore it to him, then that which is sold shall remain in the hand of him that has bought it, until the year of jubilee. And in the jubilee it shall go out, and he shall return unto his possession.
- And if a man sell a dwelling house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold. Within a full year he may redeem it. And if it be not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house that is in the walled city shall be established for ever to him that bought it, throughout his generations. It shall not go out in the jubilee. But the houses of the villages which have no wall round about them shall be counted as the fields of the country. They may be redeemed, and they shall go out in the jubilee. Notwithstanding, the cities of the Levites and the houses of the cities of their possession may the Levites redeem at any time. And if a man purchase of the Levites, then the house that was sold and the city of his possession shall go out in the year of jubilee, for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the children of Israel. But the field of the suburbs of their cities may not be sold, for it is their perpetual possession. And if your brother has become poor and fallen in decay with you, then you shall relieve him, yea, though he be a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you. Take no usury of him, or increase, but fear your God, that your brother may live with you. You shall not give him your money upon usury, nor lend him your provisions for increase. I am the Lord your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.
- And if your brother who dwells by you has become poor and is sold unto you, you shall not compel him to serve as a bondservant, but as a hired servant and as a sojourner he shall be with you, and shall serve you unto the year of jubilee. And then shall he depart from you, both he and his children with him, and shall return unto his own family; and unto the possession of his fathers shall he return. For they are my servants whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt. They shall not be sold as bondmen. You shall not rule over him with rigor, but shall fear your God. Both your bondmen and your bondmaids whom you shall have shall be of the heathen that are round about you; of them shall you buy bondmen and bondmaids. Moreover, of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall you buy, and of their families that are with you whom they begot in your land; and they shall be your possession. And you shall take them as an inheritance, for your children after you to inherit them for a possession. They shall be your bondmen for ever. But over your brethren, the children of Israel, you shall not rule one over another with rigor.
- And if a sojourner or stranger wax rich by you, and your brother that dwells by him wax poor and sell himself unto the stranger or sojourner by you, or to the stock of the stranger’s family, after he is sold, he may be redeemed again. One of his brethren may redeem him. Either his uncle or his uncle’s son may redeem him, or any that is near of kin unto him of his family may redeem him; or if he is able, he may redeem himself. And he shall reckon with him that bought him from the year that he was sold to him unto the year of jubilee, and the price of his sale shall be according unto the number of years. It shall be with him according to the time of a hired servant. If there yet be many years behind, according unto them he shall give again the price of his redemption, out of the money that he was bought for. And if there remain but few years unto the year of jubilee, then he shall count with him, and according unto his years he shall give him again the price of his redemption. And as a yearly hired servant shall he be with him. And the other shall not rule with rigor over him in your sight. And if he is not redeemed in these years, then he shall go out in the year of jubilee, both he and his children with him. For unto me the children of Israel are servants. They are my servants whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.
- You shall make yourself no idols, nor engraved image, neither rear yourself up a standing image, neither shall you set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it; for I am the Lord your God. You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary. I am the Lord.
- If you walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them, then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time, and you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land safely. And I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid. And I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land. And you shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. And five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight, and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. For I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you. And you shall eat old store, and bring forth the old because of the new. And I will set my tabernacle among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people. I am the Lord your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their bondmen. And I have broken the bands of your yoke and made you go upright.
- But if you will not listen unto me, and will not do all these commandments, and if you shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that you will not do all my commandments but that you break my covenant, I also will do this unto you: I will even appoint over you terror, wasting disease, and the burning fever that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. And I will set my face against you, and you shall be slain before your enemies. They that hate you shall reign over you, and you shall flee when none pursues you. And if you will not yet for all this listen unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins, and I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your heaven as iron and your earth as brass, and your strength shall be spent in vain. For your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits.
- And if you walk contrary unto me and will not listen unto me, I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins. I will also send wild beasts among you which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your highways shall be desolate.
- And if you will not be reformed by me, by these things, but will walk contrary unto me, then will I also walk contrary unto you and will yet punish you seven times for your sins. And I will bring a sword upon you that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant. And when you are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you, and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. And when I have broken the supply of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver your bread again by weight, and you shall eat and not be satisfied.
- And if you will not for all this listen unto me, but walk contrary unto me, then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury. And I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. And you shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall you eat. And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcasses upon the carcasses of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you. And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savor of your sweet odors. And I will bring the land into desolation, and your enemies who dwell therein shall be astonished at it. And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you, and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste.
- Then shall the land enjoy her Sabbaths as long as it lies desolate and you be in your enemies’ land. Even then shall the land rest and enjoy her Sabbaths. As long as it lies desolate, it shall rest, because it did not rest in your Sabbaths when you dwelled upon it. And upon them that are left alive of you, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies, and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them, and they shall flee as fleeing from a sword, and they shall fall when none pursues. And they shall fall one upon another like before a sword when none pursues. And you shall have no power to stand before your enemies. And you shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up. And they that are left of you shall waste away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands, and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they waste away with them.
- If they shall confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me, and that I also have walked contrary unto them and have brought them into the land of their enemies, if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity, then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember, and I will remember the land. The land also shall be left of them, and shall enjoy her Sabbaths while she lies desolate without them, and they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity even because they despised my judgments and because their soul abhorred my statutes. And yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them to destroy them utterly and to break my covenant with them, for I am the Lord their God. But I will, for their sakes, remember the covenant of their ancestors whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the heathen that I might be their God. I am the Lord.
- These are the statutes, and judgments, and laws which the Lord made between him and the children of Israel in Mount Sinai, by the hand of Moses.
Chapter 13