Maimonides
Not to change the character of the open land (about the cities of) the Levites or of their fields*That is, to change the suburbs into town lots, or vice versa, or the fields into either of the two former classes of land. (T.B. Sotah 57b and Maimonides’ Sefer-Ha-Mitzvoth on Prohibition 228)., as it is said, “But the field of the open land of their cities may not be sold” (Lev. 25:34). It has been learnt by tradition that this is a prohibition forbidding any such change.
Leviticus 25:34
- KJV
- But the field of the suburbs of their cities may not be sold; for it is their perpetual possession.
- ASV
- But the field of the suburbs of their cities may not be sold; for it is their perpetual possession.
- WEB
- But the field of the pasture lands of their cities may not be sold, for it is their perpetual possession.
- JPS
- But the fields of the open land about their cities may not be sold; for that is their perpetual possession.