旧约 - 利未记(Leviticus)第25章

The LORD said to Moses on Mount Sinai,
"Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a sabbath to the LORD.
For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops.
But in the seventh year the land is to have a sabbath of rest, a sabbath to the LORD. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards.
Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest.
Whatever the land yields during the sabbath year will be food for you--for yourself, your manservant and maidservant, and the hired worker and temporary resident who live among you,
as well as for your livestock and the wild animals in your land. Whatever the land produces may be eaten.
"'Count off seven sabbaths of years--seven times seven years--so that the seven sabbaths of years amount to a period of forty-nine years.
Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement sound the trumpet throughout your land.
Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each one of you is to return to his family property and each to his own clan.
The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; do not sow and do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the untended vines.
For it is a jubilee and is to be holy for you; eat only what is taken directly from the fields.
"'In this Year of Jubilee everyone is to return to his own property.
"'If you sell land to one of your countrymen or buy any from him, do not take advantage of each other.
You are to buy from your countryman on the basis of the number of years since the Jubilee. And he is to sell to you on the basis of the number of years left for harvesting crops.
When the years are many, you are to increase the price, and when the years are few, you are to decrease the price, because what he is really selling you is the number of crops.
Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God. I am the LORD your God.
"'Follow my decrees and be careful to obey my laws, and you will live safely in the land.
Then the land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill and live there in safety.
You may ask, "What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not plant or harvest our crops?"
I will send you such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years.
While you plant during the eighth year, you will eat from the old crop and will continue to eat from it until the harvest of the ninth year comes in.
"'The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants.
Throughout the country that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the redemption of the land.
"'If one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells some of his property, his nearest relative is to come and redeem what his countryman has sold.
If, however, a man has no one to redeem it for him but he himself prospers and acquires sufficient means to redeem it,
he is to determine the value for the years since he sold it and refund the balance to the man to whom he sold it; he can then go back to his own property.
But if he does not acquire the means to repay him, what he sold will remain in the possession of the buyer until the Year of Jubilee. It will be returned in the Jubilee, and he can then go back to his property.
"'If a man sells a house in a walled city, he retains the right of redemption a full year after its sale. During that time he may redeem it.
If it is not redeemed before a full year has passed, the house in the walled city shall belong permanently to the buyer and his descendants. It is not to be returned in the Jubilee.
But houses in villages without walls around them are to be considered as open country. They can be redeemed, and they are to be returned in the Jubilee.
"'The Levites always have the right to redeem their houses in the Levitical towns, which they possess.
So the property of the Levites is redeemable--that is, a house sold in any town they hold--and is to be returned in the Jubilee, because the houses in the towns of the Levites are their property among the Israelites.
But the pastureland belonging to their towns must not be sold; it is their permanent possession.
"'If one of your countrymen becomes poor and is unable to support himself among you, help him as you would an alien or a temporary resident, so he can continue to live among you.
Do not take interest of any kind from him, but fear your God, so that your countryman may continue to live among you.
You must not lend him money at interest or sell him food at a profit.
I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.
"'If one of your countrymen becomes poor among you and sells himself to you, do not make him work as a slave.
He is to be treated as a hired worker or a temporary resident among you; he is to work for you until the Year of Jubilee.
Then he and his children are to be released, and he will go back to his own clan and to the property of his forefathers.
Because the Israelites are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt, they must not be sold as slaves.
Do not rule over them ruthlessly, but fear your God.
"'Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves.
You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property.
You can will them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly.
"'If an alien or a temporary resident among you becomes rich and one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells himself to the alien living among you or to a member of the alien's clan,
he retains the right of redemption after he has sold himself. One of his relatives may redeem him:
An uncle or a cousin or any blood relative in his clan may redeem him. Or if he prospers, he may redeem himself.
He and his buyer are to count the time from the year he sold himself up to the Year of Jubilee. The price for his release is to be based on the rate paid to a hired man for that number of years.
If many years remain, he must pay for his redemption a larger share of the price paid for him.
If only a few years remain until the Year of Jubilee, he is to compute that and pay for his redemption accordingly.
He is to be treated as a man hired from year to year; you must see to it that his owner does not rule over him ruthlessly.
"'Even if he is not redeemed in any of these ways, he and his children are to be released in the Year of Jubilee,
for the Israelites belong to me as servants. They are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.
利未记第廿五章   第 25 章 

  利 25:1-7> 生活的担子是否令你疲累不堪?是时候停下来,休息一下吧…… 

  25:1-7 神规定每第七年要作安息年,在这一年中不耕种土地;为使土地恢复生产能力,这是最佳的方法,同时也是要使百姓记住,神管理一切,供给他们一切所需的。 

  利 25:8-17> 现今生态的失衡,是否源于人类违反了神所定的作息规律呢? 

  25:8-17 以色列人每五十年要过一次禧年。在这一年要取消一切债务,释放所有的奴仆,并且要将所有卖出的土地归还原主。圣经中没有提到以色列人曾履行禧年的事。他们若忠心按时过禧年,社会上就不会有永远的穷人。 

  利 25:23> 拥有的欲望是永远无法满足的,怎样看待自己所拥有的,才合乎神心意? 

  25:23 以色列百姓将来会占领迦南地,但是按照神的计划,只有祂自己才是绝对的主人,地永远属于神。祂要子民避免贪心和贫爱物质。要知道你管理的是神的产业,用这种态度来处理看待你的财产,你就会乐意以所拥有的去帮助别人。如果你把自己当作物主,就很难做到这一点。所以请你把自己当作照管财物的经理人,而不是当作物主。 

  利 25:35-37> 我该怎样帮助贫穷和有需要的人?捐款?探访?做义工?…… 

  25:35-37 神说忽略穷人乃是犯罪。祂不容许百姓中有永远的贫穷。经济基础稳固的家庭要援助穷人,解决他们的食宿。对于帮助贫穷人,我们往往没有伸出援手,这未必是缺少同情心,而是由于困难太大,使人觉得个人力量有限,杯水车薪,不知从何处着手。神并不是要你独力去清除贫穷,在你协助别人的时候,祂也不会要你忽略家庭。不过,祂实在要你在看到贫穷人的时候,尽所能地伸出援手,包括接他到你家里。 

  利 25:35-55> 孤儿寡妇是社会上的不幸,但更不幸的是社会上缺乏关怀…… 

  25:35-55 圣经强调要帮助贫穷无助的人,尤其是孤儿、寡妇与条件较差之人。在以色列的社会中,妇女没有赚钱谋生的机会,所以寡妇孤儿的处境特别凄凉。在农牧社会,严重残疾者极难找到工作,所以神叫百姓借钱给穷人,不可收取丝毫利息。由于没有政府的援助,个人和家庭对他们的帮助,就非常重要。 

  利 25:44> 智与愚、贫与富在神的眼中有什么分别呢? 

  25:44 神为什么许可以色列人买卖奴仆?按照他们的律法,对待奴仆跟别的民族是不一样的。他们把奴仆当作“人”对待,有人的尊严,而不是当作畜牲。例如,他们的奴仆可以和主人一同过宗教节期,一同欢乐,在安息日不用工作。圣经中并没有认同奴隶制度,只是表明它的存在。神的律法有许多对待奴仆的合情合理的条例。──《灵修版圣经注释》