BIBLE DICTIONARY
Jubilee, Year of

A name given to every fiftieth year. It got its name from the fact that the beginning of the year was announced by the blowing of a trumpet on the Day of Atonement. In it land that had changed hands, except in non-Levitical walled cities, reverted to the family to which it had belonged at the original settlement, and all bondmen of Israelitish birth were set free (Lev. 25: 8-16, 23-55; Lev. 27: 16-25). We have no record in the O.T. of the observance of any year of jubilee, but the prophets allude to it in various passages.

See Sabbatical Year.