“ ‘If an alien or temporary resident with you becomes rich, and your brother beside him has grown poor, and sells himself to the stranger or foreigner living among you, or to a member of the stranger’s family, after he is sold he may be redeemed. One of his brothers may redeem him; or his uncle, or his uncle’s son, may redeem him, or any who is a close relative to him of his family may redeem him; or if he has grown rich, he may redeem himself.
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Leviticus 25:47-49 sits inside this longer paragraph.
“ ‘If an alien or temporary resident with you becomes rich, and your brother beside him has grown poor, and sells himself to the stranger or foreigner living among you, or to a member of the stranger’s family, after he is sold he may be redeemed. One of his brothers may redeem him; or his uncle, or his uncle’s son, may redeem him, or any who is a close relative to him of his family may redeem him; or if he has grown rich, he may redeem himself. He shall reckon with him who bought him from the year that he sold himself to him to the Year of Jubilee. 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. If there are yet many years, according to them he shall give back the price of his redemption out of the money that he was bought for. If there remain but a few years to the year of jubilee, then he shall reckon with him; according to his years of service he shall give back the price of his redemption. 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 redeemed by these means, then he shall be released in the Year of Jubilee: he and his children with him. For to me the children of Israel are servants; they are my servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.
Parallel Translations
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“ ‘If an alien or temporary resident with you becomes rich, and your brother beside him has grown poor, and sells himself to the stranger or foreigner living among you, or to a member of the stranger’s family,
after he is sold he may be redeemed. One of his brothers may redeem him;
or his uncle, or his uncle’s son, may redeem him, or any who is a close relative to him of his family may redeem him; or if he has grown rich, he may redeem himself.
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And if a sojourner or stranger wax rich by thee, and thy brother that dwelleth by him wax poor, and sell himself unto the stranger or sojourner by thee, or to the stock of the stranger’s family:
After that 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 nigh of kin unto him of his family may redeem him; or if he be able, he may redeem himself.
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And if a stranger who is a settler with thee be waxen rich, and thy brother be waxen poor beside him, and sell himself unto the stranger who is a settler with thee, or to the offshoot of a stranger's family,
after that he is sold he may be redeemed; one of his brethren may redeem him;
or his uncle, or his uncle's son, may redeem him, or any that is nigh of kin unto him of his family may redeem him; or if he be waxen rich, he may redeem himself.
Cross-references (10)
- Leviticus 25:26 (vv47, 49) If a man has no one to redeem it, and he becomes prosperous and finds sufficient means to redeem it,
- Nehemiah 5:5 (v48) Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers, our children as their children. Behold, we bring our sons and our daughters into bondage…
- Hebrews 2:11-13 (v48) For both he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying,…
- Leviticus 25:25 (v48) “ ‘If your brother becomes poor, and sells some of his possessions, then his kinsman who is next to him shall come, and redeem that which…
- Leviticus 25:35 (v48) “ ‘If your brother has become poor, and his hand can’t support himself among you, then you shall uphold him. He shall live with you like an…
Show all 9 cross-references
- 1 Samuel 2:7-8 (v47) Yahweh makes poor and makes rich. He brings low, he also lifts up. He raises up the poor out of the dust. He lifts up the needy from the…
- Nehemiah 5:8 (v48) I said to them, “We, after our ability, have redeemed our brothers the Jews that were sold to the nations; and would you even sell your…
- Galatians 4:4-5 (v48) But when the fullness of the time came, God sent out his Son, born to a woman, born under the law, that he might redeem those who were…
- James 2:5 (v47) Listen, my beloved brothers. Didn’t God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom which he…
9 distinct cross-references across this passage (10 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (15 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv47, 49 Hebrew, his hand take hold.
Hebrew, his hand take hold.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On v47 The stock, Heb. root, i.e. one of the root…
The stock, Heb. root, i.e. one of the root or stock. So the word root is elsewhere used for the branch or progeny growing from it, as Num 13:28; 2Ch 22:10. He seems to note one of a foreign race and country, transplanted into the land of Israel, and there having taken root amongst the people of God; yet even such a one, though he hath some privilege by it, yet he shall not have power to keep a Hebrew servant from the benefit of redemption.
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 On vv47–49 And if a sojourner or stranger wax rich by…
And if a sojourner or stranger wax rich by thee,.... An uncircumcised one, as the Targums, a proselyte of the gate, who by living among and trading with the Israelites, might grow rich and wealthy in money, at least so as to be able to purchase an Hebrew servant, though not his lands, which he might not buy:
and thy brother that dwelleth by him wax poor; comes into low circumstances, and is reduced to great poverty, even extreme poverty; for only in such a case might he sell himself to an Israelite, and much less to a stranger, if this was not the case. Jarchi suggests, as in the phrase, "by thee", points at the cause or occasion of the sojourner or stranger becoming rich, his nearness unto, or cleaving to all Israelite; and so here the phrase, "by him", directs to the cause or occasion of the Israelite's becoming poor, his being near and cleaving to the sojourner or stranger: but they seem rather to be used, to show the reason of the poor Israelite falling into the hands of a rich sojourner; they being near neighbours to one another, and having a familiarity, the following bargain is struck between them:
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and sell himself unto the stranger or sojourner thee; the uncircumcised sojourner, as the Targum of Jonathan:
or to the stock of a stranger's family; or "root" (a), one that sprung from a family, originally proselytes; which some understand of one, who though he be descended from such a family, was now rooted among the people of God, and incorporated into the commonwealth of Israel; and yet such an one could not detain an Hebrew servant longer than the year of jubilee: but the Jewish writers generally interpret it of an idolater (b).
(a) "radici", Vatablus, Piscator. (b) Targum Onk. Jon. Jarchi & Ben Melech, in loc. Kimchi in Sepher Shorash, rad.
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 On v47 The flock - Hebrew. root, that is, one of…
The flock - Hebrew. root, that is, one of the root or flock. So the word root is elsewhere used for the branch or progeny growing from it. He seems to note one of a foreign race and country, transplanted into the land of Israel, and there having taken root amongst the people of God, yet even such an one, though he hath some privilege by it, shall not have power to keep an Hebrew servant from the benefit of redemption.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v47 Lev 25:47. The stock of the strangers — Hebrew,…
Lev 25:47. The stock of the strangers — Hebrew, root, that is, one of the root or stock. So the word root is elsewhere used for the branch or progeny growing from it. He seems to denote one of a foreign race and country, transplanted into the land of Israel, and there having taken root among the people of God; yet even such a one, though he hath some privilege by it, shall not have power to keep a Hebrew servant from the benefit of redemption.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v47 A sojourner or stranger - Rather, a foreigner who…
A sojourner or stranger - Rather, a foreigner who has settled among you. See Lev 16:29, note; Exo 20:10, note.
Lev 25:54
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In these years - More properly, by one of these means. The extreme period of servitude in this case was six years, as when the master was a Hebrew Exo 21:2.
Looking at the law of the Jubilee from a simply practical point of view, its operation must have tended to remedy those evils which are always growing up in the ordinary conditions of human society. It prevented the permanent accumulation of land in the hands of a few, and periodically raised those whom fault or misfortune had sunk into poverty to a position of competency. It must also have tended to keep alive family feeling, and helped to preserve the family genealogies.
But in its more special character, as a law given by Yahweh to His special people, it was a standing lesson to those who would rightly regard it, on the terms upon which the enjoyment of the land of promise had been conferred upon them. All the land belonged to Yahweh as its supreme Lord, every Israelite as His vassal belonged to Him. The voice of the Jubilee horns, twice in every century, proclaimed the equitable and beneficent social order appointed for the people; they sounded that acceptable year of Yahweh which was to bring comfort to all that mourned, in which the slavery of sin was to be abolished, and the true liberty of God’s children was to be proclaimed Luk 2:25; Isa 61:2; Luk 4:19; Act 3:21; Rom 8:19-23; 1Pe 1:3-4.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv47, 49 Stranger, or Gentile, who engages at least to keep…
Stranger, or Gentile, who engages at least to keep the precepts given to Noe. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv47–49 THE HEBREW SERVANT AND THE FOREIGN MASTER, Lev_25:47-55.
THE HEBREW SERVANT AND THE FOREIGN MASTER, Lev_25:47-55.
47. If a stranger wax rich — For his rights, see Lev_23:22, note. The ancient Hebrew master did not have a monopoly of money-making. His servant, “the stranger,” often amassed wealth. Foreigners and servants among them were in a much more privileged condition than they are at present in the same country under Mohammedan rule. A resident foreigner was allowed to purchase any pauper Hebrew who, in his distress, offered himself for sale. But no Christian or Jew in any land beneath the scepter of Islam is allowed to own a slave of any nationality, much less a Mohammedan. The latter only can enjoy the luxury of slave-holding, with the exception of some who are permitted to hold as slaves non-Mohammedan negroes.
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Stock of the stranger’s family — His heirs. The person sold might become a fixture of the household.
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 On vv47–48 47–55. The case of Israelites who are slaves of…
47–55. The case of Israelites who are slaves of resident foreigners (H but with a large admixture of P)
Such a person might be redeemed, or, if he acquired the means, might redeem himself, the price of redemption to be calculated according to the number of years intervening before the Jubile, as in the case of the redemption of land (Lev_25:27). In any case the bondage was limited by the law of the Jubile.
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 On vv47–49 (47) And if a sojourner or stranger wax rich…
(47) And if a sojourner or stranger wax rich by thee.—Better, And if the hand of a stranger, and that a sojourner, attain riches by thee, that is, a stranger who has become a sojourner, or who has taken up his abode among the Israelites, and become prosperous by trading. Such a one had only to submit to the seven commandments given to Noah, and hence had not joined the Jewish religion. For this reason the Chaldee Version translates it, “And if the hand of an uncircumcised sojourner with thee wax strong.”
And thy brother that dwelleth by him wax poor.—Better, and thy brother by him wax poor, that is, the Israelite who traded with him is unfortunate in business, and is reduced to poverty.
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And sell himself unto the stranger or sojourner by thee.—Better, and sells himself unto the stranger-sojourner by thee. The two terms as before describe the same person—the stranger who has become a sojourner. Hence the Chaldee Version translates it, “and sells himself to the uncircumcised stranger who is with thee.”
Or to the stock of the stranger’s family.—That is, the offshoot or descendant of a foreign family.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On v47 Vers. 47-55. Rules are laid down for the case…
Vers. 47-55. Rules are laid down for the case of an Israelite who has sold himself for a slave to a non-Israelite. In this case he is not set free at the end of six years, as he would be if his master were a countryman, but in other respects his treatment is to be like that of the man with an Israelite master. He may be redeemed by the value of his work down to the jubilee being paid by himself or his kinsman; he is to be set free when the jubilee comes at any rate; he is to be treated kindly while continuing in his master"s service, and his countrymen are to see that no over-severity is used.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v48
Leviticus
THE KINSMAN REDEEMER
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Lev 25:48.
There are several of the institutions and precepts of the Mosaic legislation which, though not prophetic, nor typical, have yet remarkable correspondences with lofty Christian truth. They may be used as symbols, if only we remember that we are diverting them from their original purpose.
How singularly these words lend themselves to the statement of the very central truths of Christianity-a slavery which is not necessarily perpetual and a redemption effected by a kinsman!
That institution of the ‘Goel’ is of a very remarkable kind, and throws great light on Christian verities. I wish, in dealing with it, to guard against any idea that it was meant to be prophetic or typical.
I. The kinsman redeemer under the old law.
The strength of the family tie in the Israelitish polity was great. The family was the unit-hence there were certain duties devolving on the nearest male relative. These, so far as we are at present concerned, were three.
{a} The redemption of a slave. The Mosaic legislation about slavery was very remarkable. It did not nominally prohibit it, but it fenced it round and modified it, so as to make it another thing.
Israelites were allowed to hold Gentile slaves, but under careful restrictions. Israelites were allowed to sell themselves as slaves. If the sale was to Israelites, the slavery was ended in six years or at the jubilee, whichever period came first-unless the slave had his ear bored to the doorpost to intimate his contentment in service {Exo 21:5 - - Exo 21:6}. This is not slavery in our sense of the word, but only a six years’ engagement. If sold to a heathen in Israel, then the Goel had to redeem him; and the reason for this was that all Israelites belonged to God.
{b} The redemption of an inheritance.
This was the task of the kinsman-goel. The land belonged to the tribe. Pauperism was thus kept off. There could be no ‘submerged tenth.’ The theocratic reason was, ‘the land shall not be sold at all for ever for it is Mine!’
{c} The avenging of murder. Blood feuds were thus checked, though not abolished. The remarkable institution of ‘cities of refuge’ gave opportunity for deliberate investigation into each case. If wilful murder was proved, the murderer was given up to the Goel for retribution; if death had been by misadventure, the slayer was kept in the city of refuge till the high-priest’s decease.
This is the germ of the figure of the Redeemer-Kinsman in later Scripture. Notice how higher ideas began to gather round the office. The prophets felt that in some way God was their ‘Goel.’ In Isaiah the application of the name to Him is frequent and, we might almost say, habitual. So in Psa 49:7, ‘None can be Goel to his brother’; Psa 49:15, ‘God will be Goel to my soul from the power of the grave.’
Job 19:25, ‘I know that my Goel liveth. . . .’
II. Our Kinsman-Redeemer.
The New Testament metaphor of ‘Redemption’ or buying back with a ransom is distinctly drawn from the Hebrew Goel’s office.
Christ is the Kinsman. The brotherhood of Christ with us was voluntarily assumed, and was for the purpose of redeeming His brethren.
He is the Kinsman-Redeemer from slavery,-a slavery which is voluntary. The soul is self-delivered to evil and sin; but blessed be God! this slavery is terminable. The kinship of Christ was needful for our redemption. ‘It behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren.’ He thus gave His life a ‘ransom’ for many. Note the objective value of His atonement, and its subjective power as setting us free.
He is the Kinsman-Redeemer of our inheritance. God is the inheritance here. The manhood of Jesus brings God back to us for our-{1} Knowledge; {2} Love; {3} Possession. Heaven is our inheritance hereafter. His manhood secures it for us. ‘I go to prepare a place for you.’ ‘An inheritance incorruptible.’ ‘The redemption of the purchased possession.’
The Kinsman-Avenger of blood. It is only in a modified sense that we can transfer this part of the Goel’s office to Jesus. The old Kinsman-Avenger of blood avenged it by shedding the shedder’s blood in retribution. But that was not the kind of vindication {for Goel means also Vindicator} for which Job looked when he used the expression. Resurrection to the vision of God was to come to him ‘at the last,’ by the standing of his Goel on the earth, and that was to be the true avenging of his death, and his vindication. The great murderer Death is to die, and his victims are to be wrested from him, and their death be proved to be the means of their fuller life. ‘Precious shall their blood be in His sight,’ and when their slayer is slain they will live for ever, partakers of their Kinsman-Redeemer’s glory, because they had been partakers of His death, and His blood had been precious in their sight. Let us cling to our Kinsman-Redeemer in all our life that He may give us freedom and an inheritance among His brethren, and, closing our eyes in death, we may commend our spirits to the ‘Angel that redeemed us from all evil,’ and be sure that He will ‘redeem’ our ‘souls from the power of the grave.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv48–49 Heb. "goel," Redemp. (Kinsman type). (See Scofield "Isa 59:20").
redeemed
Heb. "goel," Redemp. (Kinsman type). (See Scofield "Isa 59:20").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv47, 49 after your fellow Israelite has been bought, he may…
after your fellow Israelite has been bought, he may be bought back. Someone in his family may redeem him
This can be stated in active form. AT: "after the foreigner buys your fellow Israelite, someone in the Israelite's family may buy him back" (See: Active or Passive)
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translationWords
redeem
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v47 25:47-55 An Israelite who sold himself or a family…
25:47-55 An Israelite who sold himself or a family member to a foreigner in Israel retained the right to buy himself or the family member back. If he could not find the resources to do that, he was not released during the seventh year (cp. Exod 21:2) but had to await the Year of Jubilee. During his service to the foreigner, the Israelite slave was to enjoy the status of a hired servant and not be treated like a slave (Lev 25:53). The people of Israel belonged to God; they were not to be sold as permanent slaves to anyone else.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.