What Does Leviticus 27:20 Mean in the King James?

And if he will not redeem the field, or if he have sold the field to another man, it shall not be redeemed any more.

Leviticus 27:20 · KJV

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

Once the field passes to another, the right to redeem it closes.

THE MEANING

This verse sets a boundary: when the field is sold to another, it passes beyond the former holder’s right to redeem. The ending is absolute, the field cannot be redeemed any more.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The belief that a right to reclaim something remains open indefinitely meets a limit here: this transfer closes that path.

THE ROOT

יִגְאַל

yig’al

GROWS FROM

גאל

To reclaim or redeem, especially by acting as a near relative.

The verse uses the same root twice: first for the person who might redeem the field, then for the field that might be redeemed. The Hebrew connects the claim and the recovery; when the field passes to another, that path of reclaiming is closed.

ALSO GROWS

go’el: Kinsman-redeemer

גֹּאֵל

This branch names the relative who acts to reclaim what belongs within the family’s claim; it reveals the relational force carried by “redeem.”

ge’ullah: Redemption or the right of reclamation

גְּאֻלָּה

This branch names the recovery or claim itself, making the verse’s finality sharper: the field’s status has moved beyond that right.

THE PATTERN

Redemption is a concrete act that changes what can be claimed or what one belongs to.

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.

Leviticus 25:25 · KJVHere the kin’s act of redeeming restores property that has been sold while the right of reclamation remains open.

And the kinsman said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar mine own inheritance: redeem thou my right to thyself; for I cannot redeem it.

Ruth 4:6 · KJVThe kinsman names the limit of his own claim and yields the right of redemption to another.

In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

Ephesians 1:7 · KJVRedemption here also names an enacted change, described as release from sins through a stated means.

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.

Leviticus 25:25 · KJV

Both verses use ⁨גאל⁩ (ga’al), “to redeem or reclaim,” for property that has been sold. Leviticus 25:25 shows the kin’s path to recover it; Leviticus 27:20 marks the point at which that path is closed.

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