23 " 'The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you reside in my land as foreigners and strangers.
23 The land shall not be sold for ever:
23 "The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me.
23 "The land cannot be sold permanently because the land is mine and you are foreigners - you're my tenants.
23 'The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me.
23 "The land must never be sold on a permanent basis, for the land belongs to me. You are only foreigners and tenant farmers working for me.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Leviticus 25:23
Commentary on Leviticus 25:23-34
(Read Leviticus 25:23-34)
If the land were not redeemed before the year of jubilee, it then returned to him that sold or mortgaged it. This was a figure of the free grace of God in Christ; by which, and not by any price or merit of our own, we are restored to the favour of God. Houses in walled cities were more the fruits of their own industry than land in the country, which was the direct gift of God's bounty; therefore if a man sold a house in a city, he might redeem it only within a year after the sale. This encouraged strangers and proselytes to come and settle among them.