But the field of the pasture lands of their cities may not be sold, for it is their perpetual possession.
Parallel Translations
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But the field of the pasture lands of their cities may not be sold, for it is their perpetual possession.
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But the field of the suburbs of their cities may not be sold; for it is their perpetual possession.
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But the fields of the open land about their cities may not be sold; for that is their perpetual possession.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Commandments (2)
The laws of the Torah, each cited and shown as a primary source.
Cross-references (3)
Passages linked to Leviticus 25:34 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Leviticus 25:23 “ ‘The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine; for you are strangers and live as foreigners with me.
- Acts 4:36-37 Joses, who by the apostles was also called Barnabas (which is, being interpreted, Son of Encouragement), a Levite, a man of Cyprus by race, having a field, sold it and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
- Numbers 35:2-5 “Command the children of Israel to give to the Levites cities to dwell in out of their inheritance. You shall give pasture lands for the cities around them to the Levites. They shall have the cities to dwell in. Their pasture lands shall be for their livestock, and for their possessions, and for all their animals. “The pasture lands of the cities, which you shall give to the Levites, shall be from the wall of the city and outward one thousand cubits around it. You shall measure outside of the city for the east side two thousand cubits, and for the south side two thousand cubits, and for the west side two thousand cubits, and for the north side two thousand cubits, the city being in the middle. This shall be the pasture lands of their cities.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Where the Levites kept their cattle.
Where the Levites kept their cattle.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Lev 25:34 But the field of the suburbs of…
Lev 25:34 But the field of the suburbs of their cities may not be sold; for it [is] their perpetual possession.
Ver. 34. May not be sold.] This law lasted but during the paedagogy: for Joses, a Levite, sold his land, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet. {Act 4:36-37}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain the suburbs of the cities, See Poole "Num 35:4".
Of
the suburbs of the cities, See Poole "Num 35:4".
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May not be sold; not sold at all, partly because it was of absolute necessity for them for the keeping of their cattle, and partly because these were no enclosures, but common fields, in which all the Levites that lived in such a city had an interest, and therefore no particular Levite could dispose of his part in it. Some conceive that this law was altered in ensuing ages, which they gather from Jer 32:7,8; Ac 4:36,37. But those examples do not prove it. That sale of Jeremiah’s was made by a particular dispensation and command of God, and that in a time when the Levites, as well as the people, were to be destroyed or dispersed, and carried into captivity, and therefore could receive no considerable injury by it; and besides, this sale was only made formally and for signification, as it is explained, Lev 25:14,15. And for the land sold by Barnabas a Levite, Ac 4, as it was at a time when the Jewish church was dissolved, and their state upon the brink of utter ruin, so it is not evident that it was such suburb land, which would have yielded but a small price, but it might be other land, either such as he might have in right of his wife, or such as he might have purchased. For though the Levites in general had no other share of land beside this allotted them by God, yet it is conceived that particular Levites might purchase lands to themselves.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain But the field of the suburbs of their cities…
But the field of the suburbs of their cities may not be sold,.... The suburbs to the cities of the Levites reached two thousand cubits on every side of their cities, Num 35:5; in which they had fields to keep their cattle in, and these belonged to them in common; every Levite had not a particular field to himself as his own property, and which is the reason why it might not be sold, nor might they agree together to sell it, for then they would have nothing to keep their cattle in: the Jewish writers generally understand this of changing their fields, suburbs, and cities: hence they say, in the Misnah, they do not make a field a suburb, nor a suburb a field, nor a suburb a city, nor a city a suburb; upon which Maimonides (o) says, all agree that the Levites may not change a city, or suburb, or field which are theirs, because of what is said, Lev 25:34; and the wise men, of blessed memory, say, the meaning of it is, it shall not be changed, for they do not change anything from what it was before:
for it is their perpetual possession: and therefore never to be alienated from them, or be sold to another, or changed and put to another use; such care was taken of the ministers of the sanctuary, and of their maintenance and support, under the former dispensation; and suggests that they should continue in their stations without any alteration, as ministers of the Gospel should, who ought to give up themselves to the ministry of the word, and prayer, and not entangle themselves with the affairs of life.
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(o) In Misn. Eracin, c. 9. sect. 8.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain May not be sold - Not sold at all,…
May not be sold - Not sold at all, partly, because it was of absolute necessity for them for the keeping of their cattle, and partly because these were no enclosures, but common fields, in which all the Levites that lived in such a city had an interest, and therefore no particular Levite could dispose of his part in it.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Lev 25:34-35. The field of the suburbs (namely, of…
Lev 25:34-35. The field of the suburbs (namely, of the cities of the Levites) may not be sold — Not at all; partly, because it was of absolute necessity for them for the keeping of their cattle, and partly because these were no enclosures, but common fields, in which all the Levites that lived in such a city had an interest, and therefore no particular Levite could dispose of his part in it. A sojourner — Understand it of proselytes only, for of other strangers they were permitted to take usury, Deu 23:20.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 34. The field of the suburbs — The extent…
34. The field of the suburbs — The extent of these is given in Num_35:4-5, which see.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 34. The law concerning houses in Levitical cities is…
34. The law concerning houses in Levitical cities is not to apply to land outside the walls.
suburbs] rather, as R.V. mg., pasture lands, probably referring to common land belonging to the inhabitants of the adjacent city. The original word seems from its derivation to mean lit. land on to which cattle were driven.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (34) But the field of the suburbs of their…
(34) But the field of the suburbs of their cities may not be sold.—The Levitical cities had both suburbs or commons for their cattle, &c, and fields which they cultivated (Num_35:4-5). These outlying fields, which were beyond the suburbs, they are here forbidden to sell. According to the authorities during the second Temple the expression “to sell” here used is to be taken in a wider sense as including diverting any part of it from its original purpose. Hence they say it forbids the Levites not only to sell the field, but to convert it into a suburb, and vice versâ. What is field must always remain field, what is suburb must remain suburb, and what is city must continue to be city.
For it is their perpetual possession.—The estates belong to the whole tribe to all futurity, and the present occupiers have to transmit them intact to their successors. Hence no present owner, or all of them combined, have a right to dispose of any portion of the estates, or materially to alter it. They must hand these estates down to their successors as they receive them from their predecessors.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.