God Promises Deliverance

¹But the LORD said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh, for because of My mighty hand he will let the people go; because of My strong hand he will drive them out of his land.”

²God also told Moses, “I am the LORD.

³I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty,but by My name the LORD I did not make Myself known to them.

⁴I also established My covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land where they lived as foreigners.

⁵Furthermore, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered My covenant.

⁶Therefore tell the Israelites: ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians and deliver you from their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.

⁷I will take you as My own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.

⁸And I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the LORD!’”

⁹Moses relayed this message to the Israelites, but on account of their broken spirit and cruel bondage, they did not listen to him.

¹⁰So the LORD said to Moses,

¹¹“Go and tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites go out of his land.”

¹²But in the LORD’s presence Moses replied, “If the Israelites will not listen to me, then why would Pharaoh listen to me, since I am unskilled in speech?”

¹³Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron and gave them a charge concerning both the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt.

Genealogies of Moses and Aaron

¹⁴These were the heads of their fathers’ houses:The sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel, were Hanoch and Pallu, Hezron and Carmi. These were the clans of Reuben.

¹⁵The sons of Simeon were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar,and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman. These were the clans of Simeon.

¹⁶These were the names of the sons of Levi according to their records: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. Levi lived 137 years.

¹⁷The sons of Gershon were Libni and Shimei, by their clans.

¹⁸The sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. Kohath lived 133 years.

¹⁹The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi.These were the clans of the Levites according to their records.

²⁰And Amram married his father’s sister Jochebed, and she bore him Aaron and Moses. Amram lived 137 years.

²¹The sons of Izhar were Korah, Nepheg, and Zichri.

²²The sons of Uzziel were Mishael, Elzaphan,and Sithri.

²³And Aaron married Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab and sister of Nahshon, and she bore him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

²⁴The sons of Korah were Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph.These were the clans of the Korahites.

²⁵Aaron’s son Eleazar married one of the daughters of Putiel, and she bore him Phinehas.These were the heads of the Levite families by their clans.

²⁶It was this Aaron and Moses to whom the LORD said, “Bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt by their divisions.”

²⁷Moses and Aaron were the ones who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt in order to bring the Israelites out of Egypt.

²⁸Now on the day that the LORD spoke to Moses in Egypt,

²⁹He said to him, “I am the LORD; tell Pharaoh king of Egypt everything I say to you.”

³⁰But in the LORD’s presence Moses replied, “Since I am unskilled in speech, why would Pharaoh listen to me?”

Forty-Eight Cities for the Levites

¹Now the family heads of the Levites approached Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the other tribes of Israel

²at Shiloh in the land of Canaan and said to them, “The LORD commanded through Moses that we be given cities in which to live, together with pasturelands for our livestock.”

³So by the command of the LORD, the Israelites gave the Levites these cities and their pasturelands out of their own inheritance:

⁴The first lot came out for the Kohathite clans. The Levites who were descendants of Aaron the priest received thirteen cities by lot from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin.

⁵The remaining descendants of Kohath received ten cities by lot from the tribes of Ephraim, Dan, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

⁶The descendants of Gershon received thirteen cities by lot from the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, and the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.

⁷And the descendants of Merari received twelve cities from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun.

⁸So the Israelites allotted to the Levites these cities, together with their pasturelands, as the LORD had commanded through Moses.

⁹From the tribes of Judah and Simeon, they designated these cities by name

¹⁰to the descendants of Aaron from the Kohathite clans of the Levites, because the first lot fell to them:

¹¹They gave them Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), with its surrounding pasturelands, in the hill country of Judah. (Arba was the father of Anak.)

¹²But they had given the fields and villages around the city to Caleb son of Jephunneh as his possession.

¹³So to the descendants of Aaron the priest they gave these cities, together with their pasturelands: Hebron, a city of refuge for the manslayer, Libnah,

¹⁴Jattir, Eshtemoa,

¹⁵Holon, Debir,

¹⁶Ain, Juttah, and Beth-shemesh—nine cities from these two tribes, together with their pasturelands.

¹⁷And from the tribe of Benjamin they gave them Gibeon, Geba,

¹⁸Anathoth, and Almon—four cities, together with their pasturelands.

¹⁹In all, thirteen cities, together with their pasturelands, were given to the priests, the descendants of Aaron.

²⁰The remaining Kohathite clans of the Levites were allotted these cities:From the tribe of Ephraim

²¹they were given Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim (a city of refuge for the manslayer), Gezer,

²²Kibzaim, and Beth-horon—four cities, together with their pasturelands.

²³From the tribe of Dan they were given Elteke, Gibbethon,

²⁴Aijalon, and Gath-rimmon—four cities, together with their pasturelands.

²⁵And from the half-tribe of Manasseh they were given Taanach and Gath-rimmon—two cities, together with their pasturelands.

²⁶In all, ten cities, together with their pasturelands, were given to the rest of the Kohathite clans.

²⁷This is what the Levite clans of the Gershonites were given:From the half-tribe of Manasseh they were given Golan in Bashan, a city of refuge for the manslayer, and Beeshterah—two cities, together with their pasturelands.

²⁸From the tribe of Issachar they were given Kishion, Daberath,

²⁹Jarmuth, and En-gannim—four cities, together with their pasturelands.

³⁰From the tribe of Asher they were given Mishal, Abdon,

³¹Helkath, and Rehob—four cities, together with their pasturelands.

³²And from the tribe of Naphtali they were given Kedesh in Galilee (a city of refuge for the manslayer), Hammoth-dor, and Kartan—three cities, together with their pasturelands.

³³In all, thirteen cities, together with their pasturelands, were given to the Gershonite clans.

³⁴This is what the Merarite clan (the rest of the Levites) were given:From the tribe of Zebulun they were given Jokneam, Kartah,

³⁵Dimnah, and Nahalal—four cities, together with their pasturelands.

³⁶From the tribe of Reuben they were given Bezer, Jahaz,

³⁷Kedemoth, and Mephaath—four cities, together with their pasturelands.

³⁸And from the tribe of Gad they were given Ramoth in Gilead, a city of refuge for the manslayer, Mahanaim,

³⁹Heshbon, and Jazer—four cities in all, together with their pasturelands.

⁴⁰In all, twelve cities were allotted to the clans of Merari, the remaining Levite clans.

⁴¹For the Levites, then, there were forty-eight cities in all, together with their pasturelands, within the territory of the Israelites.

⁴²Each of these cities had its own surrounding pasturelands; this was true for all the cities.

⁴³Thus the LORD gave Israel all the land He had sworn to give their fathers, and they took possession of it and settled in it.

⁴⁴And the LORD gave them rest on every side, just as He had sworn to their fathers. None of their enemies could stand against them, for the LORD delivered all their enemies into their hand.

⁴⁵Not one of all the LORD’s good promises to the house of Israel had failed; everything was fulfilled.

The Seventh Year

¹Then the LORD said to Moses on Mount Sinai,

²“Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you, the land itself must observe a Sabbath to the LORD.

³For six years you may sow your field and prune your vineyard and gather its crops.

⁴But in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of complete rest for the land—a Sabbath to the LORD.You are not to sow your field or prune your vineyard.

⁵You are not to reap the aftergrowth of your harvest or gather the grapes of your untended vines. The land must have a year of complete rest.

⁶Whatever the land yields during the Sabbath year shall be food for you—for yourself, your manservant and maidservant, the hired hand or foreigner who stays with you,

⁷and for your livestock and the wild animals in your land. All its growth may serve as food.

The Year of Jubilee

⁸And you shall count off seven Sabbaths of years—seven times seven years—so that the seven Sabbaths of years amount to forty-nine years.

⁹Then you are to sound the horn far and wide on the tenth day of the seventh month, the Day of Atonement. You shall sound it throughout your land.

¹⁰So you are to consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty in the land for all its inhabitants. It shall be your Jubilee, when each of you is to return to his property and to his clan.

¹¹The fiftieth year will be a Jubilee for you; you are not to sow the land or reap its aftergrowth or harvest the untended vines.

¹²For it is a Jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You may eat only the crops taken directly from the field.

Return of Property

¹³In this Year of Jubilee, each of you shall return to his own property.

¹⁴If you make a sale to your neighbor or a purchase from him, you must not take advantage of each other.

¹⁵You are to buy from your neighbor according to the number of years since the last Jubilee; he is to sell to you according to the number of harvest years remaining.

¹⁶You shall increase the price in proportion to a greater number of years, or decrease it in proportion to a lesser number of years; for he is selling you a given number of harvests.

¹⁷Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God; for I am the LORD your God.

The Blessing of Obedience

¹⁸You are to keep My statutes and carefully observe My judgments, so that you may dwell securely in the land.

¹⁹Then the land will yield its fruit, so that you can eat your fill and dwell in safety in the land.

²⁰Now you may wonder, ‘What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not sow or gather our produce?’

²¹But I will send My blessing upon you in the sixth year, so that the land will yield a crop sufficient for three years.

²²While you are sowing in the eighth year, you will be eating from the previous harvest, until the ninth year’s harvest comes in.

The Law of Redemption

²³The land must not be sold permanently, because it is Mine, and you are but foreigners and residents with Me.

²⁴Thus for every piece of property you possess, you must provide for the redemption of the land.

²⁵If your brother becomes impoverished and sells some of his property, his nearest of kin may come and redeem what his brother has sold.

²⁶Or if a man has no one to redeem it for him, but he prospers and acquires enough to redeem his land,

²⁷he shall calculate the years since its sale, repay the balance to the man to whom he sold it, and return to his property.

²⁸But if he cannot obtain enough to repay him, what he sold will remain in possession of the buyer until the Year of Jubilee. In the Jubilee, however, it is to be released, so that he may return to his property.

²⁹If a man sells a house in a walled city, he retains his right of redemption until a full year after its sale; during that year it may be redeemed.

³⁰If it is not redeemed by the end of a full year, then the house in the walled city is permanently transferred to its buyer and his descendants. It is not to be released in the Jubilee.

³¹But houses in villages with no walls around them are to be considered as open fields. They may be redeemed, and they shall be released in the Jubilee.

³²As for the cities of the Levites, the Levites always have the right to redeem their houses in the cities they possess.

³³So whatever belongs to the Levites may be redeemed—a house sold in a city they possess—and must be released in the Jubilee, because the houses in the cities of the Levites are their possession among the Israelites.

³⁴But the open pastureland around their cities may not be sold, for this is their permanent possession.

Redemption of the Poor

³⁵Now if your countryman becomes destitute and cannot support himself among you, then you are to help him as you would a foreigner or stranger, so that he can continue to live among you.

³⁶Do not take any interest or profit from him, but fear your God, that your countryman may live among you.

³⁷You must not lend him your silver at interest or sell him your food for profit.

³⁸I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.

Redemption of Bondmen

³⁹If a countryman among you becomes destitute and sells himself to you, then you must not force him into slave labor.

⁴⁰Let him stay with you as a hired worker or temporary resident; he is to work for you until the Year of Jubilee.

⁴¹Then he and his children are to be released, and he may return to his clan and to the property of his fathers.

⁴²Because the Israelites are My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt, they are not to be sold as slaves.

⁴³You are not to rule over them harshly, but you shall fear your God.

⁴⁴Your menservants and maidservants shall come from the nations around you, from whom you may purchase them.

⁴⁵You may also purchase them from the foreigners residing among you or their clans living among you who are born in your land. These may become your property.

⁴⁶You may leave them to your sons after you to inherit as property; you can make them slaves for life. But as for your brothers, the Israelites, no man may rule harshly over his brother.

Redemption of Servants

⁴⁷If a foreigner residing among you prospers, but your countryman dwelling near him becomes destitute and sells himself to the foreigner or to a member of his clan,

⁴⁸he retains the right of redemption after he has sold himself. One of his brothers may redeem him:

⁴⁹either his uncle or cousin or any close relative from his clan may redeem him. Or if he prospers, he may redeem himself.

⁵⁰He and his purchaser will then count the time from the year he sold himself up to the Year of Jubilee. The price of his sale will be determined by the number of years, based on the daily wages of a hired hand.

⁵¹If many years remain, he must pay for his redemption in proportion to his purchase price.

⁵²If only a few years remain until the Year of Jubilee, he is to calculate and pay his redemption according to his remaining years.

⁵³He shall be treated like a man hired from year to year, but a foreign owner must not rule over him harshly in your sight.

⁵⁴Even if he is not redeemed in any of these ways, he and his children shall be released in the Year of Jubilee.

⁵⁵For the Israelites are My servants. They are My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

The Blessed Fear of the LORD

¹Blessed are all who fear the LORD,who walk in His ways!

²For when you eat the fruit of your labor,blessings and prosperity will be yours.

³Your wife will be like a fruitful vineflourishing within your house,your sons like olive shootssitting around your table.

⁴In this way indeed shall blessing cometo the man who fears the LORD.

⁵May the LORD bless you from Zion,that you may see the prosperity of Jerusalemall the days of your life,

⁶that you may seeyour children’s children.Peace be upon Israel!