Leviticus 25 · Verse 23

Leviticus 25:23

The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.
Leviticus 25:23, King James Version

Leviticus 25:23 in other translations

BSBThe land must not be sold permanently, because it is Mine, and you are but foreigners and residents with Me.
WEB“‘The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine; for you are strangers and live as foreigners with me.
ASVAnd the land shall not be sold in perpetuity; for the land is mine: for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.
YLT‘And the land is not sold--to extinction, for the land is Mine, for sojourners and settlers are ye with Me;
DARBYAnd the land shall not be sold for ever; for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.
BBENo exchange of land may be for ever, for the land is mine, and you are as my guests, living with me for a time.
WebsterThe land shall not be sold for ever; for the land is mine, for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.

What does Leviticus 25:23 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Leviticus 25:23-28
23-28. The land shall not be sold for ever--or, "be quite cut off," as the Margin better renders it. The land was God's, and, in prosecution of an important design, He gave it to the people of His choice, dividing it among their tribes and families--who, however, held it of Him merely as tenants-at-will and had no right or power of disposing of it to strangers. In necessitous circumstances, individuals might effect a temporary sale. But they possessed the right of redeeming it, at any time, on payment of an adequate compensation to the present holder; and by the enactments of the Jubilee they recovered it free--so that the land was rendered inalienable. (See an exception to this law, Le 27:20).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 23 The land shall not be sold for ever - the land is mine - As God in a miraculous manner gave them possession of this land, they were therefore to consider themselves merely as tenants to him; and on this ground he, as the great landholder or lord of the soil, prescribes to them all the conditions on which they shall hold it. This one circumstance was peculiarly favorable to their advancement in religion, in righteousness, and true holiness; for feeling that they had nothing which they could call their own upon earth, they must frequently, by this, be put in mind of the necessity of having a permanent dwelling in the heavenly inheritance, and of that preparation without which it could not be possessed.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Leviticus 25:23-34
If the land were not redeemed before the year of jubilee, it then returned to him that sold or mortgaged it. This was a figure of the free grace of God in Christ; by which, and not by any price or merit of our own, we are restored to the favour of God. Houses in walled cities were more the fruits of their own industry than land in the country, which was the direct gift of God's bounty; therefore if a man sold a house in a city, he might redeem it only within a year after the sale. This encouraged strangers and proselytes to come and settle among them.

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Leviticus 25:23 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וְהָאָ֗רֶץve.ha.'A.retzand the landH776
לֹ֤אlo'notH3808
תִמָּכֵר֙ti.ma.Kherit will be soldH4376
לִצְמִתֻ֔תlitz.mi.Tutto perpetuityH6783
כִּי\־ki-forH3588
לִ֖יli[belongs] to <the> me
הָאָ֑רֶץha.'A.retzthe landH776
כִּֽי\־ki-forH3588
גֵרִ֧יםge.Rim[are] sojournersH1616
וְתוֹשָׁבִ֛יםve.to.sha.Vimand resident aliensH8453
אַתֶּ֖ם'a.TemyouH859
עִמָּדִֽי\׃'i.ma.Diwith meH5978

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Leviticus 25:23

  • 1 Peter 2:11

    Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;

  • Ezekiel 48:14

    And they shall not sell of it, neither exchange, nor alienate the firstfruits of the land: for it is holy unto the Lord.

  • Psalms 24:1

    A Psalm of David. The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.

  • Psalms 39:12

    Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.

  • 1 Chronicles 29:15

    For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.

  • Genesis 23:4

    I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a buryingplace with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.

  • Exodus 19:5

    Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:

  • Deuteronomy 32:43

    Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people.

  • Hosea 9:3

    They shall not dwell in the Lord’s land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean things in Assyria.

  • Genesis 47:9

    And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.

  • Joel 2:18

    Then will the Lord be jealous for his land, and pity his people.

  • Psalms 85:1

    To the chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah. Lord, thou hast been favourable unto thy land: thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
The land.
10; 1Ki 21:3; Eze 48:14
for ever. or, to be quite cut off. Heb. for cutting off.for the land.
De 32:43; 2Ch 7:20; Ps 24:1; 85:1; Isa 8:8; Ho 9:3; Joe 2:18; 3:2
for ye are.
Ge 47:9; 1Ch 29:15; Ps 39:12; 119:19; Heb 11:9-13; 1Pe 2:11

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Leviticus 25:22

    And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat yet of old fruit until the ninth year; until her fruits come in ye shall eat of the old store.

  • Leviticus 25:23

    The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.

  • Leviticus 25:24

    And in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption for the land.

Read all of Leviticus 25

Leviticus 25:23 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Y la tierra no se venderá rematadamente, porque la tierra mía es; que vosotros peregrinos y extranjeros sois para conmigo.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Et le pays ne se vendra pas à perpétuité, car le pays est à moi; car vous, vous êtes chez moi comme des étrangers et comme des hôtes.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Und das Land soll nicht für immer verkauft werden, denn mein ist das Land; denn Fremdlinge und Beisassen seid ihr bei mir.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Terra quoque non vendetur in perpetuum, quia mea est, et vos advenæ et coloni mei estis: