Leviticus 25:30

And if it be not redeemed within the space of a full year,.... Either by the seller or any man of kin to him:

then the house that is in the walled city shall be established for ever to him that bought it, throughout his generation; after twelve months were elapsed it was not redeemable by any, but to be held by the purchaser and his heirs for ever:

it shall not go out in the jubilee; from the purchaser or his heirs, to the seller or his heirs; for houses were not like lands, the gift of God, and held under him, but were built by men, and were their absolute property, and therefore they could dispose of them, and they that bought them could hold them after the above mentioned time; nor was there any danger of confounding tribes and families by retaining them: this law was made to encourage persons to settle in walled towns, to make and keep them populous, and to make owners of them careful not to sell them: the Jewish canon is this; when the day of the twelfth month is come, and it (the house) is not redeemed, it is absolutely his, whether he bought it or whether it was given him, as it is said, Lev 25:30; and if in the beginning of the day of the twelfth month he (the purchaser) hides himself, that it may be confirmed to him or be his absolutely; Hillel, the elder, ordered that he (the seller) should put his money in the chamber (belonging to the sanhedrim) and break open the door, and go in; and when he would, he (the purchaser) might come, and take his money (i); but otherwise, if he suffers this time to pass it is irredeemable, nor will the year of jubilee help him: the Jews except the city of Jerusalem from this law, because, they say, that does not belong to any tribe (k).

(i) Misn. Eracin, c. 9. sect. 4. (k) T. Bab. Bava Kama, fol. 82. 2.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Lev 25:30 And if it be not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house that [is] in the walled city shall be established for ever to him that bought it throughout his generations: it shall not go out in the jubile.

Ver. 30. And if it be not redeemed.] This would make the owners the better husbands, and keep the houses in better repair.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That is, forever, read verse 23.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

(30) if it be not redeemed within the space of a full year.—That is, either by the vendor or his son. According to the interpretation which obtained during the second Temple, the phrase “full year” is here used for the benefit of the seller, inasmuch as it gives him the advantage of an intercalary year, when he has an additional month, up to the last day of which he could still effect the redemption. Moreover, as the purchaser sometimes concealed himself towards the end of the year, in order to prevent the seller from redeeming his house, it was enacted that the original proprietor should hand over the redemption money to the public authorities when the purchaser could not be found, break open the doors, and take possession of the house; and if the purchaser died during the year, the vendor could redeem it from his heir.

It shall not go out in the jubile.—If the vendor, however, failed to redeem the house within the prescribed period, it was not to be subject to the laws of jubile like the land, but is to remain for ever the property of the purchaser.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Not go out - Because most of the houses in cities were occupied by artificers and traders whose wealth did not consist in lands.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The reason is from the great difference between such houses and lands. The reasons before alleged for lands do not hold in such houses; there was no danger of confusion in tribes or families by the alienation of houses. The seller also had a greater propriety in houses than in lands, as not coming to him by God’s mere gift, but being commonly built by the owner’s cost and diligence, and therefore had a fuller power to dispose of them. Besides, God would hereby encourage persons to buy and possess houses in such places, which frequency and fulness of inhabitants in cities was a great strength, honour, and advantage to the whole land.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

It shall not go out - The reasons before alledged for lands do not hold in such houses; there was no danger of confusion in tribes or families by the alienation of houses. The seller also had a greater propriety in houses than in lands, as being commonly built by the owner's cost and diligence, and therefore had a fuller power to dispose of them. Besides, God would hereby encourage persons to buy and possess houses in such places, as frequency and fulness of inhabitants in cities, was a great strength, honour and advantage to the whole land.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

redeemed

Heb. "goel," Redemp. (Kinsman type). (See Scofield "Isa 59:20").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

וקם הבית...לצמתת (THEN THE HOUSE… SHALL BE ESTABLISHED ABSOLUTELY [TO HIM THAT OBTAINED IT] — i. e. it leaves the control of the vendor for ever and stands under the exclusive control of the purchaser.

אשר לא חמה — We read the text as though it were written לו (i. e. tradition tells us to do so). Our Rabbis, of blessed memory, said (Arakhin 32a): We do so to intimate that the law applies to a city even if at the present it has not a rampart (אשר לא חמה) since previous to now it had one (אשר לו חמה). It is true that עיר is a feminine noun and the preposition referring to it should have been written לה (not לו), yet because Scripture was bound to write לא in the text for the reason given, the Massora (the traditional Scriptural text without vowels) replaced it by לו (instead of לה), because the sound of the one applies also to the other (they sound similar).

לא יצא ביובל IT SHALL NOT GO OUT IN THE JUBILEE — Rabbi Saphra said, “if the Jubilee happened to fall during that year (the first year of its sale), it shall nevertheless not go out” (Arakhin 31b).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.