Leviticus 25 · Verse 32

Leviticus 25:32

Notwithstanding the cities of the Levites, and the houses of the cities of their possession, may the Levites redeem at any time.

Leviticus 25:32, King James Version

Leviticus 25:32 in other translations

BSB	As for the cities of the Levites, the Levites always have the right to redeem their houses in the cities they possess.
WEB	“‘Nevertheless, in the cities of the Levites, the Levites may redeem the houses in the cities of their possession at any time.
ASV	Nevertheless the cities of the Levites, the houses of the cities of their possession, may the Levites redeem at any time.
YLT	‘As to cities of the Levites--houses of the cities of their possession--redemption age-during is to the Levites;
DARBY	But as to the cities of the Levites, the houses in the cities of their possession, the Levites shall have a perpetual right of redemption.
BBE	But the houses in the towns of the Levites may be got back by the Levites at any time.
Webster	Notwithstanding the cities of the Levites, and the houses of the cities of their possession, may the Levites redeem at any time.

What does Leviticus 25:32 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Leviticus 25:32-34

32-34. Notwithstanding the cities of the Levites, &c.--The Levites, having no possessions but their towns and their houses, the law conferred on them the same privileges that were granted to the lands of the other Israelites. A certain portion of the lands surrounding the Levitical cities was appropriated to them for the pasturage of their cattle and flocks (Nu 35:4, 5). This was a permanent endowment for the support of the ministry and could not be alienated for any time. The Levites, however, were at liberty to make exchanges among themselves; and a priest might sell his house, garden, and right of pasture to another priest, but not to an Israelite of another tribe (Jr 41:7-9).

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

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 32 The cities of the Levites - The law in this and the following verses was also a very wise one. A Levite could not ultimately sell his house: if sold he could redeem it at any time in the interim between the two jubilees; but if not redeemed, it must go out at the following jubilee. And why? "Because Moses framed his laws so much in favor of the priesthood, that they had peculiar privileges?" etc. Just the reverse: they were so far from being peculiarly favored that they had no inheritance in Israel, only their cities, to dwell in: and because their houses in these cities were the whole that they could call their own, therefore these houses could not be ultimately alienated. All that they had to live on besides was from that most precarious source of support, the freewill-offerings of the people, which depended on the prevalence of pure religion in the land.

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…

Read the full comment on Leviticus 25:23-34 →

Leviticus 25:32 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.

וְעָרֵי֙ve.'a.Reiand [the] cities ofH5892

הַלְוִיִּ֔םhal.vi.Yimthe LevitesH3881

בָּתֵּ֖יba.Tei[the] houses ofH1004

עָרֵ֣י'a.Rei[the] cities ofH5892

אֲחֻזָּתָ֑ם'a.chu.za.Tampossession theirH272

גְּאֻלַּ֥תge.'u.Lata right of redemption ofH1353

עוֹלָ֖םo.LamperpetuityH5769

תִּהְיֶ֥הtih.Yehit will belongH1961

לַלְוִיִּֽם\׃lal.vi.Yimto the LevitesH3881

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

Cross references for Leviticus 25:32

Numbers 35:1-8
And the Lord spake unto Moses in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, saying, Command the children of Israel, that they give unto the Levites of the inheritance of their possession cities to dwell in; and ye shall give also unto the Levites suburbs for the cities round about them. And the cities shall they have to dwell in; and the suburbs of them shall be for their cattle, and for their goods, and for all their beasts. And the suburbs of the cities, which ye shall give unto the Levites, shall reach from the wall of the city and outward a thousand cubits round about. …
Joshua 21:1-45
Then came near the heads of the fathers of the Levites unto Eleazar the priest, and unto Joshua the son of Nun, and unto the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel; And they spake unto them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, The Lord commanded by the hand of Moses to give us cities to dwell in, with the suburbs thereof for our cattle. And the children of Israel gave unto the Levites out of their inheritance, at the commandment of the Lord, these cities and their suburbs. And the lot came out for the families of the Kohathites: and the children of Aaron the priest, which were of the Levites, had by lot out of the tribe of Judah, and out of the tribe of Simeon, and out of the tribe of Benjamin, thirteen cities. …

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Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

the cities.As the Levites had no inheritance in Israel, but only cities to dwell in; and consequently the houses in these cities were all they could call their own, therefore they could not be ultimately alienated.
Nu 35:2-8; Jos 21:1-45

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

Context

Leviticus 25:31
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 jubile.
Leviticus 25:32
Notwithstanding the cities of the Levites, and the houses of the cities of their possession, may the Levites redeem at any time.
Leviticus 25:33
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 jubile: for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the children of Israel.

Read all of Leviticus 25

Leviticus 25:32 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Pero en cuanto á las ciudades de los Levitas, siempre podrán redimir los Levitas las casas de las ciudades que poseyeren.
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Et quant aux villes des Lévites et aux maisons des villes de leur possession, les Lévites auront un droit perpétuel de rachat.
German Elberfelder 1871	Und was die Städte der Leviten, die Häuser der Städte ihres Eigentums betrifft, so soll ein ewiges Lösungsrecht für die Leviten sein.
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Ædes Levitarum quæ in urbibus sunt, semper possunt redimi: