Tsemithuth (H6783) means perpetuity or permanence — something that is irrevocable, cut off from reversal. It appears only twice in the OT (Lev 25:23, 30), specifically in the context of land sale laws in the Jubilee legislation.
The prohibition of tsemithuth land sale in Leviticus 25 is one of the most socially radical laws in the ancient world. God declares: 'The land must not be sold permanently (tsemithuth), because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants.' This law expressed: (1) God's ultimate ownership of all things, (2) human stewardship rather than absolute property rights, (3) economic mercy for the poor. No family could lose its ancestral land forever — Jubilee would restore it.
Tsemithuth derives from tsamath (to cut off, destroy permanently). The Jubilee system was designed precisely to prevent permanent dispossession. God built a reset mechanism into Israel's economic code — a foreshadowing of the eschatological restoration of all things. Scholars see in this law a direct challenge to the economic systems of Israel's neighbors, where the wealthy could accumulate land permanently.