What Does Leviticus 25:10 Mean in the King James?
And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Jubilee defines liberty by where people can return: to what they hold and to whom they belong.
THE MEANING
Freedom reaches the whole land and every inhabitant; it is not complete while people remain cut off from their home or family. The set-apart year makes return to one’s holding and kinship part of release itself. Here, freedom has a visible shape: belonging restored.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that freedom is complete as soon as restraint ends; here, release reaches its full measure when people regain a place and kinship.
THE ROOT
וְשַׁבְתֶּם
veshavtem
GROWS FROM
שוב
shuv
Turn back; return.
The passage repeats this root in both return clauses, binding release to concrete restoration: a person returns to a holding and to kin. The same root also forms הֵשִׁיב (heshiv, bring back or restore), showing that return can mean restoration as well as movement back.
ALSO GROWS
shuv: Turn back; return.
שׁוּב
This is the root named in both return clauses, which lead back to a person’s holding and family.
heshiv: Bring back; restore.
הֵשִׁיב
This causative form reveals the restorative force carried by the passage’s repeated return.
וּקְרָאתֶם
uqeratem
GROWS FROM
קרא
qara
Call out; summon; proclaim.
“proclaim” in this verse is uqeratem. Liberty is called aloud across the land, making its announcement public. The same calling-root forms מִקְרָא (miqra, convocation), linking the proclamation to a summons heard by the community.
ALSO GROWS
qeri'ah: Calling; proclamation; reading.
קְרִיאָה
This noun carries the root’s act of calling, which gives the Jubilee’s liberty a public voice.
miqra: Convocation; something called together.
מִקְרָא
This branch connects the spoken proclamation to a gathering summoned in common.
וְקִדַּשְׁתֶּם
veqiddashtem
GROWS FROM
קדש
qadash
Set apart; mark as distinct.
“hallow” in this verse is veqiddashtem. The year is set apart for a distinct purpose: release and return become its visible practice. The root keeps sacredness connected to a marked-off time whose effects can be seen in people’s restored lives.
ALSO GROWS
qadosh: Set apart; distinct.
קָדוֹשׁ
This form shows the quality carried by the year that is hallowed.
qodesh: Set-apartness; sacredness.
קֹדֶשׁ
This noun links the year’s sacred status to its distinct work of releasing and restoring.
THE PATTERN
Release becomes whole when it relinquishes claims and restores people to their place and kin.
And this is the manner of the release: Every creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbour shall release it; he shall not exact it of his neighbour, or of his brother; because it is called the LORD’s release.The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,THE THREAD
That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee.Deuteronomy uses the same root, שׁוּב (shuv, turn or return), in the language of turning captivity and returning to gather the scattered. Jubilee’s return opens into a wider restoration: release gathers a person back into a people.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us