What Does Leviticus 25:29 Mean in the King James?
And if a man sell a dwelling house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold; within a full year may he redeem it.
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
The house can be reclaimed, but its right of return has a one-year boundary.
THE MEANING
A dwelling sold in a walled city remains redeemable for one full year after the sale. Recovery is possible, but the opening has a defined end.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that the chance to recover what is lost remains open forever: here, the right to redeem ends with the year.
THE ROOT
גְּאֻלָּתוֹ
ge'ullato
GROWS FROM
גאל
g-ʾ-l
To reclaim or redeem; elsewhere in this word family, to act as a near kinsman who reclaims what has passed out of a relative’s hands.
“redeem” in this verse is ge'ullato. The verse’s word for redemption belongs to the same family as the kinsman-redeemer: recovery is a claim to reclaim what has passed away, not simply a vague hope of getting it back. Here that claim has a clear boundary, the first full year after the sale.
ALSO GROWS
go'el: Near kinsman who redeems or reclaims.
גֹּאֵל
In Leviticus 25:25, a near kinsman may reclaim land a relative has sold; the shared root shows the family resemblance between that act and redeeming this house.
ge'ullah: Redemption or the act of reclaiming.
גְּאֻלָּה
This noun names the recovery itself, making the verse’s one-year limit a boundary on a real act of return.
THE PATTERN
Redemption reclaims what has been surrendered, bound, or endangered.
Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments:He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence: and precious shall their blood be in his sight.And I thought to advertise thee, saying, Buy it before the inhabitants, and before the elders of my people. If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it: but if thou wilt not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know: for there is none to redeem it beside thee; and I am after thee. And he said, I will redeem it.THE THREAD
If thy brother be waxen poor, and hath sold away some of his possession, and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother sold.Both verses use the גאל (g-ʾ-l) word family for reclaiming what has been sold. The earlier verse names the near kinsman who may redeem land; this one gives the house’s seller one full year to reclaim it.
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