Should the Jubilee be counted 1–49 or 1–50?

I know similar questions have been asked on this topic, but my question is a bit more semantic in nature. Relative to the answers this is generating, I feel that I must have inadequately articulated my question, so I’m editing it to ensure the correct question is being understood and answered. The question in its simplest form is whether the Jubilee was *counted* in 49-year increments or 50-year increments, but not *whether* it was 49 or 50 years. In other words, what I am hoping to discover is *not* how Jubilees were reckoned, but how the cycle was *counted*. And this is germane to Ezekiel 1:1–2. > Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the > fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of > Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. In the > fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin's > captivity [...] (Ezek. 1:1–2) In consideration of all the contemporary kings of both Judah and Babylon, the year of the captivity, and when the city was destroyed, this reference to the “thirtieth year” can be to no other epoch than the Jubilee cycle. The Jubilee cycle overlapped the Sabbatical year cycle. The specific instruction for the Jubilee was to count seven Sabbatical cycles, equaling 49 years, and then hallow the 50th year. If the Jubilee is in the 1st year of the new cycle (49 years, and then the 50th year following it), it results in two consecutive years where no sowing or reaping of the land was permitted. Since provisions for one fallow year are provided, one would certainly expect provisions for *two* fallow years to be addressed. But no such provision is provided, negating this as their likely method. To remain in lock-step with the Sabbatical cycles, it has to overlap the 49th year rather than the first. So, the 49th year is also the 50th inclusive year from the previous Jubilee. This keeps the Jubilee synchronized with the Sabbatical cycle, and prevents two consecutive fallow years of no sowing or reaping. In which case, year 49 is the 49th year of the Sabbatical year cycle count, the 50th year inclusively from the previous Jubilee, and the 1st year of the new inclusive count towards the next Jubilee. So, the seventh Sabbatical year is year 49, 50, and 1 simultaneously. Ergo, I am not asking how Jubilees are reckoned. I do understand the intricacies of the cycle. What I want to know is whether they were counting 49 years or 50. When Ezekiel says that it was the thirtieth year, did he mean that it was the thirtieth year of a forty-nine-year count, or the thirtieth year of a fifty-year count? If he’s counting 50 years from the actual year of the Jubilees to the next Jubilee, then the 30th year of that count is going to be different by one year compared to counting 49 years from the first year of the new Sabbatical year cycle. The answer to this question also affects where the Jubilees following and preceding should fall. If the 30th year is incorrectly displaced, it affects where the upcoming Jubilee falls. And counting backwards, we don’t know if we should be counting back to year 1, which is year 49, or if we should be counting back to year 1, which is year 1 of the first Sabbatical cycle. SO! I’m asking for logical arguments on whether they were doing a 49-year count, and reckoning the 50th year inclusively from the previous Jubilee on the 49th year, or if they were doing an actual 50-year count from Jubilee to Jubilee, using the Jubilee cycle as an epoch. Scripturally, it would seem that a 49-year count is correct, per Leviticus 25:8–10. Just count 49 years, and hallow the 50th year (inclusive, from Jubilee to Jubilee). > 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 jubile 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 jubile > unto you — (Lev. 25:8–10) | Sabbatical Yr. | Running Cnt. | Jubilee Yr. | | --- | --- | --- | | 7 | 49 | 50/1 | | 1 | 1 | 2 | | 2 | 2 | 3 | | 3 | 3 | 4 | | 4 | 4 | 5 | | 5 | 5 | 6 | | 6 | 6 | 7 | | 7 | 7 | 8 | | 1 | 8 | 9 | | 2 | 9 | 10 | | 3 | 10 | 11 | | 4 | 11 | 12 | | 5 | 12 | 13 | | 6 | 13 | 14 | | 7 | 14 | 15 | | 1 | 15 | 16 | | 2 | 16 | 17 | | 3 | 17 | 18 | | 4 | 18 | 19 | | 5 | 19 | 20 | | 6 | 20 | 21 | | 7 | 21 | 22 | | 1 | 22 | 23 | | 2 | 23 | 24 | | 3 | 24 | 25 | | 4 | 25 | 26 | | 5 | 26 | 27 | | 6 | 27 | 28 | | 7 | 28 | 29 | | 1 | 29 | **30** | | 2 | **30** | 31 | | 3 | 31 | 32 | | 4 | 32 | 33 | | 5 | 33 | 34 | | 6 | 34 | 35 | | 7 | 35 | 36 | | 1 | 36 | 37 | | 2 | 37 | 38 | | 3 | 38 | 39 | | 4 | 39 | 40 | | 5 | 40 | 41 | | 6 | 41 | 42 | | 7 | 42 | 43 | | 1 | 43 | 44 | | 2 | 44 | 45 | | 3 | 45 | 46 | | 4 | 46 | 47 | | 5 | 47 | 48 | | 6 | 48 | 49 | | 7 | 49 | 50/1 | While Ezekiel's "thirtieth year" may be a fixed point, determining precisely when the Jubilee occurred is directly relative to whether he's in the thirtieth year of a forty-nine-year count, or a fifty-year count. I would say that we can simply use the other surrounding context, but there are debates over whether Ezekiel is counting reigns, years of captivity, years from the destruction of Jerusalem, etc., from Nisan to Nisan or Tishri to Tishri. Depending on which counting method you use in that particular regard, it alters the results. This question also applies retrospectively to the reign of Josiah. It is alleged that the Talmud (bArak. 12a–b, 33a, bMeg. 14b) puts the start of a Jubilee in the eighteenth year of Josiah (personally, I think the text suggests that it was *not* the Jubilee, but that's another problem for another day). Whether the count is forty-nine years with the fiftieth merely reckoned as such from Jubilee to Jubilee, or whether it's a literal fifty-year count, directly affects where the Jubilee would have fallen in the reign of Josiah. Soooooo, any thoughts?