Thematic Bible




Thematic Bible



[It is] not for the kings, O Lemuel; drinking wine [is] not for the kings, nor [is] strong drink for rulers. Or else he will drink and forget what has been decreed, and he will pervert the rights of all the {afflicted}.

"When you have come to that land that Yahweh your God [is] giving to you and you have taken possession of it and you have settled in it, and you say, 'I will set over me a king like all the nations that [are] around me,' indeed, you may set a king over you whom Yahweh your God will choose, from the midst of your countrymen you must set a king over you; you are not allowed to appoint over you a man, a foreigner, who [is] not your countryman. Except, he may {not make numerous} for himself horses, and he may not allow the people to [to go] to Egypt {in order to increase horses}, for Yahweh has said to you that {you may never return}. read more.
And he must not {acquire many} wives for himself, so that his heart [would] turn aside; and {he must not accumulate silver and gold for himself excessively}. "{And then} {when he is sitting} on the throne of his kingdom, then he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll {before} the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to revere Yahweh your God by {diligently observing} all the word of this law and these rules,

Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "If the prince gives a gift to any [one] from [among] his sons, it [is] his inheritance [and] it will belong to his sons; it is their possession as an inheritance. And if he give a gift from his inheritance to one from [among] his servants, then it will belong to him until the year of release, and [then] it will return to the prince. His inheritance [with respect to] his sons will be only for them. But the prince shall not take from the inheritance of the people to rob them, [separating them] from their property; from his [own] property he shall bestow an inheritance on his sons, so that my people will not be driven away, any one, from his property."


You must buy from your fellow citizen according to [the] number of years after the Jubilee; he must sell to you according to [the] number of years of yield. You must increase its price {according to a greater number of years}, but you must decrease its price {according to a lesser number of years}, because he is selling [its] yields to you.

If he consecrates his field from the Year of Jubilee, it shall stand as your proper value. But if he consecrates his field after the Jubilee, then the priest shall calculate the money for him {according to the number of years} that are left over until the Year of Jubilee; and it shall be deducted from your proper value. And if he indeed redeems the field that is consecrated, then he shall add a fifth of your proper value's money onto it, and it shall stand for him. read more.
And if he does not redeem the field and if he sells the field to another man, it may not be redeemed again, and the field shall be a holy object for Yahweh when it goes out in the Jubilee, like a devoted field; {it shall be the priest's property}. " 'And if he consecrates for Yahweh his acquired field that [is] not the field of his [inherited] possession, then the priest shall calculate for him the {amount} of your proper value until the year of the Jubilee, and he shall give your proper value on that day [as] a holy object for Yahweh. In the Year of the Jubilee the field shall return to the one who bought it from him, to the one whose property the land [is].

When the Jubilee of the {Israelites} {comes}, it will be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they belong; and their inheritance will disappear from the tribe of our father."

" 'But the land must not be sold in perpetuity, because the land [is] mine, because you [are] aliens and temporary residents with me. And in all your property's land you must provide redemption for the land. " 'When your brother becomes poor and he sells part of his property, then {his nearest redeemer} shall come, and he shall redeem the thing sold by his brother. read more.
But if a man {does not have} a redeemer, then {he prospers} and he finds enough for his redemption, then he shall calculate the years of its selling, and he shall refund the balance to the man to whom he sold [it], and he shall return to his property. But if his hand does not find enough to refund to him, then {what he has sold} shall be in the buyer's hand until the Year of Jubilee; and it shall go out [of the buyer's hand] in the Jubilee, and he shall return to his property. " 'And if a man sells {a residential house in a walled city}, then it shall be his redemption until completing {a year after his selling}; its redemption {shall last} {a year}. But if it is not redeemed {before a full year has passed}, then the house that [is] {in the walled city} shall belong to the buyer in perpetuity throughout his generations; it shall not go out [of the buyer's hand] in the Jubilee. However, village houses that have no surrounding wall shall be considered {open country}; [there] is redemption for it, and in the Jubilee it shall go out [of the buyer's hand]. " 'As for the cities of the Levites, [that is], the houses in their property's cities, it shall be {a lasting redemption} for the Levites. And whatever [anyone] redeems from the Levites then must go out [of the buyer's hand] in the Jubilee, [including] a house's selling {in his city's property}, because the houses in the cities of the Levites [are] their property in the midst of the {Israelites}.

'Look, Hanamel, the son of Shallum, your uncle, [is] going to come to you, {saying}, "Buy for yourself my field that [is] at Anathoth, for {you have} the right of redemption to buy [it]." ' Then Hanamel, the son of my uncle, came to me, to the courtyard of the guard {according to} the word of Yahweh, and he said to me, 'Please buy my field that [is] at Anathoth, that [is] in the land of Benjamin, for to you [is] the claim of possession, and to you the redemption; buy [it] for yourself.' Then I knew that this [was] the word of Yahweh. And I bought the field from Hanamel, the son of my uncle, that [was] at Anathoth. And I weighed out to him the money, seventeen silver shekels. read more.
And I signed on the letter and sealed [it], and I called witnesses as witness, and I weighed out the money on a set of scales. Then I took the deed of the purchase, the sealed [copy containing] the commandments and the rules, together with the [one] that was open. And I gave the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, {in the presence of} Hanamel, [the son of] my uncle, and {in the presence of} the witnesses who signed the deed of the purchase, {in the presence of} the Judeans who were sitting in the courtyard of the guard. And I commanded Baruch {in their presence}, {saying}, 'Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, "Take these deeds, this deed of the purchase, the sealed one, and this opened deed, and you must put them in an {earthenware jar} so that they may be kept preserved many days." For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: "Houses and fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land." ' And I prayed to Yahweh--after giving my deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah--{saying},

Yet you have said to me, Lord Yahweh, "Buy for yourself the field with the money, and call witnesses as witness," though the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans.'"

They will buy fields with money, and they will sign the deeds, and they will seal [them], and they will call witnesses as witness in the land of Benjamin, and in the surroundings of Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the hill country, and in the cities of the Shephelah, and in the cities of the Negev, for I will restore their fortunes,' {declares} Yahweh."

But the prince shall not take from the inheritance of the people to rob them, [separating them] from their property; from his [own] property he shall bestow an inheritance on his sons, so that my people will not be driven away, any one, from his property."