Leviticus 25:13

Old Testament Law (Torah) ASV (1901)

What does Leviticus 25:13 say?

The American Standard Version records this verse as: “In this year of jubilee ye shall return every man unto his possession.” Read the surrounding verses and the named sources below before drawing broader conclusions.

The verse

In this year of jubilee ye shall return every man unto his possession.
Leviticus 25:13 — American Standard Version

Context — Leviticus 25

American Standard Version (1901) — public domain. Click any verse for its study page.
13In this year of jubilee ye shall return every man unto his possession.

What do historical commentaries say?

John Gill's Exposition
John Gill (1697–1771) · Exposition of the Old and New Testament · 18th-century historical commentary
“In the year of this jubilee, etc.] In the beginning of it, as Aben Ezra, though not on the first day of Tisri, but the tenth day, the day of atonement, when the trumpet was blown: ye shall return every man unto his possession; which is repeated from (<032510>Leviticus 25:10); the reason of which, the Jews say, is to include gifts, and which, according to them, are like sales, and returned in the year of “jubilee”; that is, if a man gave his estate in possession to another, he returned to it, in the year of jubilee, equally as if he had sold it; and therefore they observe the same phrase is twice used by Moses, to include gifts f869: but perhaps the truer reason is, because this was a special…”
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Jamieson, Fausset & Brown
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible · 19th-century historical commentary
“ye shall return every man unto his possession, &c.--Inheritances, from whatever cause, and how frequently soever they had been alienated, came back into the hands of the original proprietors. This law of entail, by which the right heir could never be excluded, was a provision of great wisdom for preserving families and tribes perfectly distinct, and their genealogies faithfully recorded, in order that all might have evidence to establish their right to the ancestral property. Hence the tribe and family of Christ were readily discovered at his birth.”
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Barnes' Notes
Albert Barnes (1798–1870) · Notes on the Whole Bible · 19th-century historical commentary
“The land was to be divided by lot among the families of the Israelites when the possession of it was obtained. Numbers 26:52-56; Numbers 33:54, etc. At the end of every seventh sabbatical cycle of years, in the year of Jubilee, each field or estate that might have been alienated was to be restored to the family to which it had been originally allotted. Leviticus 25:8 Seven sabbaths of years - seven weeks of years. Leviticus 25:9 Cause the trumpet of the jubile to sound - Rather, cause the sound of the cornet to go through (the land). The word jubile does not occur in this verse in the Hebrew. The trumpet is the shofar שׁפר shôphār, i. e. the cornet (rendered “shawm” in the Prayer-Book…”
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Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge
R. A. Torrey and contributors · The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge · Cross-reference reference work
“Lev 25:10, Lev 27:17-24; Num 36:4 Leviticus 25:14”
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Related study paths

Sources and verification