Which Bible book and verse inspired the inscription on the Liberty Bell?

Leviticus 25:10 inspired the inscription on the Liberty Bell.

The bell bears the words “Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land Unto All the Inhabitants Thereof,” followed by the biblical reference Leviticus XXV, X. The verse comes from the Old Testament’s description of the Jubilee year, when liberty was proclaimed and ancestral land was returned.

Pennsylvania’s colonial assembly ordered the bell in 1751 for the State House in Philadelphia. The inscription was chosen before the American Revolution, so the bell was not originally made as a symbol of independence. Its later association with abolitionists, suffrage activists, and other reform movements broadened its meaning.

The Liberty Bell’s famous crack developed after years of use, and the bell was recast twice in Philadelphia before its best-known form emerged. It was later moved from Independence Hall and is now displayed in the Liberty Bell Center. The biblical reference connects the object to a much older idea of public liberty.