the probable influence of Persia. At all events,
from this time Hebrew literature shows the gradual development of an
angelic hierarchy.

[51] The comparison of the earlier prophetic writings with the exilic
prophecies, and with the later writings, such as Jonah, Ecclesiastes, &c.,
will illustrate this change.

[52] Ezekiel's vision of the valley of dry bones is the earliest
appearance of this thought in any writing of whose date we are certain.

[53] And thou shalt-number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times
seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto
thee forty and nine years. Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the
jubilee to sound on the tenth _day_ of the seventh month, in the day of
atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. And ye
shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout _all_ the
land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and
ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every
man unto his family. A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be unto you: ye
shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather
_the grapes_ in it of the vine undressed. For it _is_ the jubilee; it
shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the
field. In the year of this jubilee ye shall return every man unto his
possession. And if thou sell ought unto thy neighbor, or buyest _ought_ of
thy neighbor's hand, ye shall not oppress one another: According to the
number of years after the jubilee thou shalt buy of thy neighbor, _and_
according unto the number of years of the fruits he shall sell unto thee:
According to the multitude of years thou shalt increase the price thereof,
and according to the fewness of years thou shalt diminish the price of it:
for _according_ to the number _of the years_ of the fruits doth he sell
unto thee. Ye shall not therefore oppress one another; but thou shalt fear
thy God: for I _am_ the Lord your God.

* * * * *

The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land _is_ mine; for ye _are_
strangers and sojourners with me. And in all the land of your possession
ye shall grant a redemption for the land.

* * * * *

And if thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee; then thou
shalt relieve him: _yea, though he be_ a stranger, or a sojourner; that he
may live wi