Thematic Bible




Thematic Bible



It is not for kings, Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine or for rulers [to desire] beer. Otherwise, they will drink, forget what is decreed, and pervert justice for all the oppressed.

"When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, take possession of it, live in it, and say, 'We want to appoint a king over us like all the nations around us,' you are to appoint over you the king the Lord your God chooses. Appoint a king from your brothers. You are not to set a foreigner over you, or one who is not of your people. However, he must not acquire many horses for himself or send the people back to Egypt to acquire many horses, for the Lord has told you, 'You are never to go back that way again.' read more.
He must not acquire many wives for himself so that his heart won't go astray. He must not acquire very large amounts of silver and gold for himself. When he is seated on his royal throne, he is to write a copy of this instruction for himself on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. It is to remain with him, and he is to read from it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to observe all the words of this instruction, and to do these statutes.

"This is what the Lord God says: If the prince gives a gift to each of his sons as their inheritance, it will belong to his sons. It will become their property by inheritance. But if he gives a gift from his inheritance to one of his servants, it will belong to that servant until the year of freedom, when it will revert to the prince. His inheritance belongs only to his sons; it is theirs. The prince must not take any of the people's inheritance, evicting them from their property. He is to provide an inheritance for his sons from his own property, so that none of My people will be displaced from his own property."


You are to make the purchase from your neighbor based on the number of years since the last Jubilee. He is to sell to you based on the number of [remaining] harvest years. You are to increase its price in proportion to a greater amount of years, and decrease its price in proportion to a lesser amount of years, because what he is selling to you is a number of harvests.

If he consecrates his field during the Year of Jubilee, the price will stand according to your valuation. But if he consecrates his field after the Jubilee, the priest will calculate the price for him in proportion to the years left until the [next] Year of Jubilee, so that your valuation will be reduced. If the one who consecrated the field decides to redeem it, he must add a fifth to the valuation price, and the field will transfer back to him. read more.
But if he does not redeem the field or if he has sold it to another man, it is no longer redeemable. When the field is released in the Jubilee, it will be holy to the Lord like a field permanently set apart; it becomes the priest's property. "If a person consecrates to the Lord a field he has purchased that is not part of his inherited landholding, then the priest will calculate for him the amount of the valuation up to the Year of Jubilee, and the person will pay the valuation on that day as a holy offering to the Lord. In the Year of Jubilee the field will return to the one he bought it from, the original owner.

When the Jubilee comes for the Israelites, their inheritance will be added to that of the tribe into which they marry, and their inheritance will be taken away from the inheritance of our ancestral tribe.”

"The land is not to be permanently sold because it is Mine, and you are only foreigners and temporary residents on My land. You are to allow the redemption of any land you occupy. If your brother becomes destitute and sells part of his property, his nearest relative may come and redeem what his brother has sold. read more.
If a man has no family redeemer, but he prospers and obtains enough to redeem his land, he may calculate the years since its sale, repay the balance to the man he sold it to, and return to his property. But if he cannot obtain enough to repay him, what he sold will remain in the possession of its purchaser until the Year of Jubilee. It is to be released at the Jubilee, so that he may return to his property. "If a man sells a residence in a walled city, his right of redemption will last until a year has passed after its sale; his right of redemption will last a year. If it is not redeemed by the end of a full year, then the house in the walled city is permanently transferred to its purchaser throughout his generations. It is not to be released on the Jubilee. But houses in villages that have no walls around them are to be classified as open fields. The right to redeem [such] houses stays in effect, and they are to be released at the Jubilee. "Concerning the Levitical cities, the Levites always have the right to redeem houses in the cities they possess. Whatever [property] one of the Levites can redeem-a house sold in a city they possess-must be released at the Jubilee, because the houses in the Levitical cities are their possession among the Israelites.

'Watch! Hanamel, the son of your uncle Shallum, is coming to you to say: Buy my field in Anathoth for yourself, for you own the right of redemption to buy it.' "Then my cousin Hanamel [came] to the guard's courtyard as the Lord had said and urged me, 'Please buy my field in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for you own the right of inheritance and redemption. Buy it for yourself.' Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord. So I bought the field in Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel, and I weighed out to him the money-17 shekels of silver. read more.
I recorded it on a scroll, sealed it, called in witnesses, and weighed out the silver on a scale. I took the purchase agreement-the sealed copy with its terms and conditions and the open copy- and gave the purchase agreement to Baruch son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah. [I did this] in the sight of my cousin Hanamel, the witnesses who were signing the purchase agreement, and all the Judeans sitting in the guard's courtyard. "I instructed Baruch in their sight, 'This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Take these scrolls-this purchase agreement with the sealed copy and this open copy-and put them in an earthen storage jar so they will last a long time. For this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Houses, fields, and vineyards will again be bought in this land.' "After I had given the purchase agreement to Baruch, son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord:

Yet You, Lord God, have said to me: Buy the field with silver and call in witnesses—even though the city has been handed over to the Chaldeans!”

Fields will be purchased with silver, the transaction written on a scroll and sealed, and witnesses will be called on in the land of Benjamin, in the areas surrounding Jerusalem, and in Judah’s cities—the cities of the hill country, the cities of the Judean foothills, and the cities of the Negev—because I will restore their fortunes.”

This is the Lord’s declaration.

The prince must not take any of the people’s inheritance, evicting them from their property. He is to provide an inheritance for his sons from his own property, so that none of My people will be displaced from his own property.”