Leviticus 25:23
in Leviticus 25The land must not be sold permanently, because it is Mine, and you are but foreigners and residents with Me.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And the land shall not be sold in perpetuity; for the land is mine: for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.
KJV
The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.
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This verse in Leviticus 25
Commentary
5 notes on this verseA commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
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.
This site's exposition
The land shall not be sold for ever
on Leviticus 25:23-24
Every property rule in the chapter stands on this sentence. The land is mine, and Israel holds it as strangers and sojourners with its owner, which is the same pair of words the book uses of the resident foreigner living among them. A tenant has nothing to sell in perpetuity, so a right of redemption is granted over the whole territory, and the word redemption occurs here for the first time in Scripture.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
If a man was constrained through poverty to sell his land for the subsistence of his family, yet, if afterwards he was able, he might redeem it before the year of jubilee (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
The land shall not be sold for ever,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
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.
The words behind it
12 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְהָאָ֗רֶץ | vehaaretz | and the land | H776 → | 2504 times |
| לֹ֤א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תִמָּכֵר֙ | timakher | it will be sold | H4376 → | 80 times |
| לִצְמִתֻ֔ת | litzmitut | to perpetuity | H6783 → | |
| כִּי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| לִ֖י | li | [belongs] to <the> me | ||
| הָאָ֑רֶץ | haaretz | the land | H776 → | 2504 times |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| גֵרִ֧ים | gerim | [are] sojourners | H1616 → | 92 times |
| וְתוֹשָׁבִ֛ים | vetoshavim | and resident aliens | H8453 → | 14 times |
| אַתֶּ֖ם | ʾatem | you | H859 → | 1094 times |
| עִמָּדִֽי׃ | ʾimadi | with me | H5978 → |
וְהָאָ֗רֶץand the land
vehaaretzH776 →2504 times
לֹ֤אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
תִמָּכֵר֙it will be sold
timakherH4376 →80 times
לִצְמִתֻ֔תto perpetuity
litzmitutH6783 →
כִּי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
לִ֖י[belongs] to <the> me
li
הָאָ֑רֶץthe land
haaretzH776 →2504 times
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
גֵרִ֧ים[are] sojourners
gerimH1616 →92 times
וְתוֹשָׁבִ֛יםand resident aliens
vetoshavimH8453 →14 times
אַתֶּ֖םyou
ʾatemH859 →1094 times
עִמָּדִֽי׃with me
ʾimadiH5978 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 24:1The earth is the LORD’s, and the fullness thereof, the world and all who dwell therein.
it leads to
- Psalms 89:11
The heavens are Yours, and also the earth. The earth and its fullness You founded.
- 1 Corinthians 10:26
for, “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.”
- 1 Chronicles 29:11
Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the splendor and the majesty, for everything in heaven and on earth belongs to You. Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom,…
- Job 41:11
Who has given to Me that I should repay him? Everything under heaven is Mine.
- Deuteronomy 10:14
Behold, to the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, and the earth and everything in it.
- Psalms 89:11
Through
1 Peter 2:11Beloved, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from the desires of the flesh, which war against your soul.
it leads to
- Hebrews 11:13
All these people died in faith, without having received the things they were promised. However, they saw them and welcomed them from afar. And they acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 1 John 2:15–17
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
- Galatians 5:24
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
- Hebrews 11:13
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies5
On this verse
About Leviticus
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Andrew Bonar, A Commentary on Leviticus; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.