No man could sell land in perpetuity, but only until the year of jubilee. In that year all land returned to its original owner. This was no hardship to the man who had bought the property and now had to return it, for he had purchased it with a clear understanding that he must return it in the year of jubilee. Thus, if a man sold his property five years before the year of jubilee, he would not receive much for it; for there would be but a few harvests till that year.