וְסָפַרְתָּ לְךָ בַע שַׁבְּתֹת שָׁנִים שֶׁבַע שָׁנִים שֶׁבַע פְּעָמִים וְהָיוּ לְךָ יְמֵי בַע שַׁבְּתֹת הַשָּׁנִים תֵּשַׁע וְאַרְבָּעִים שָׁנָה׃ וְהַעֲבַרְתָּ שֹׁופַר תְּרוּעָה בַּחֹדֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִעִי בֶּעָשֹׂור לַחֹדֶשׁ בְּיֹום הַכִּפֻּרִים תַּעֲבִירוּ שֹׁופָר בְּכָל־אַרְצְכֶם׃ וְקִדַּשְׁתֶּם אֵת שְׁנַת הַחֲמִשִּׁים שָׁנָה וּקְרָאתֶם דְּרֹור בָּאָרֶץ לְכָל־יֹשְׁבֶיהָ יֹובֵל הִוא תִּהְיֶה לָכֶם וְשַׁבְתֶּם אִישׁ אֶל־אֲחֻזָּתֹו וְאִישׁ אֶל־מִשְׁפַּחְתֹּו תָּשֻׁבוּ׃
8 You shall count off seven weeks of years - seven times seven years - so that the period of seven weeks of years gives you a total of forty-nine years. 9 Then you shall sound the horn loud; in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month - the Day of Atonement - you shall have the horn sounded throughout your land 10 and you shall hallow the fiftieth year. You shall proclaim release throughout the land for all of its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you: each of you shall return to his holding and each of you shall return to his family.
Suggested Discussion Questions:
What is being commanded by this text?
How does this marking out of time echo other traditional ways the bible marks out time?
What connections might there be between the weekly Sabbath, the Shmitta (Sabbatical) cycle every seven years and the Yovel (Jubilee) taking place after 49 years?
What did "proclaim release throughout the land" mean in biblical times?
How might we apply this concept today?
How does this idea challenge how we understand the passing of time compared with Wetsern notions of linear progress?
Time Period: Biblical (early ancestors to 165 BCE)