REDEMPTION OF LAND. The legal process by which land was kept in a family. The Heb. term is גָּאַל֒, H1457, to pay back, avenge.

Technically, all land in Israel which had been sold reverted to the original family during the Jubilee year. Leviticus 25:25-28 provides that the person himself or his next of kin may buy the land back before the Jubilee, however. Examples of this process may be found in Ruth 4:4-6 and Jeremiah 32:6-15.