What Does Leviticus 25:10 Mean?
And you shall set apart the fiftieth year, and proclaim a free flowing through all the land to all who settle in it. It shall be a ram's horn year for you, and you shall turn back each to his holding, and each to his family you shall turn back.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
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 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.
“turn back” in this verse is veshavtem. 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.
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 word of the release. Every one whose hand has lent to his neighbor shall let it fall, and he shall not press it from his neighbor or from his brother, for it is called the LORD's release.The breath of the Lord LORD is upon me, for the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the bowed ones; he has sent me to bind up the broken of heart, to proclaim flowing freedom to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are chained.The breath of the LORD is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the emptied. He has sent me to heal the shattered in heart, to herald release to the captives, and the return of sight for the blind, to send the crushed away into release.THE THREAD
Then the LORD your God will turn back your captivity, and have compassion upon you, and will turn back and gather you from all the nations where the LORD your God has scattered you.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.
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