Imamat 25:10

25:10 So you must consecrate the fiftieth year, ¹  and you must proclaim a release ²  in the land for all its inhabitants. That year will be your jubilee; ³  each one of you must return ⁴  to his property and each one of you must return to his clan.

Imamat 25:39-41

25:39 “‘If your brother becomes impoverished with regard to you so that he sells himself to you, you must not subject him to slave service. ⁵  25:40 He must be with you as a hired worker, as a resident foreigner; ⁶  he must serve with you until the year of jubilee, 25:41 but then ⁷  he may go free, ⁸  he and his children with him, and may return to his family and to the property of his ancestors. ⁹ 

[25:10]  ¹ tn Heb “the year of the fifty years,” or perhaps “the year, fifty years” (GKC 435 §134.o, note 2).

[25:10]  ² tn Cf. KJV, ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV “liberty”; TEV, CEV “freedom.” The characteristics of this “release” are detailed in the following verses. For substantial summaries and bibliography on the biblical and ancient Near Eastern material regarding such a “release” see J. E. Hartley, Leviticus (WBC), 427-34, and B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 270-74.

[25:10]  ³ tn Heb “A jubilee that shall be to you.” Although there has been some significant debate about the original meaning of the Hebrew word translated “jubilee” (יוֹבֵל, yovel; see the summary in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 434), the term most likely means “ram” and can refer also to a “ram’s horn.” The fiftieth year would, therefore, be called the “jubilee” because of the associated sounding of the “ram’s horn” (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 172, and the literature cited there).

[25:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “you [plural] shall return, a man.”

[25:39]  ⁵ tn Heb “you shall not serve against him service of a slave.” A distinction is being made here between the status of slave and indentured servant.

[25:40]  ⁶ tn See the note on Lev 25:6 above.

[25:41]  ⁷ tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have adversative force here.

[25:41]  ⁸ tn Heb “may go out from you.”

[25:41]  ⁹ tn Heb “fathers.”