The biblical book quoted in the Liberty Bell’s inscription is Leviticus.
The bell bears the words “Proclaim LIBERTY Throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants Thereof,” followed by the reference “Lev. XXV. v X.” That citation points to Leviticus, chapter 25, verse 10. The wording refers to the biblical Year of Jubilee, a time associated with liberty and the restoration of property.
The bell was commissioned in 1751 by the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly and cast in London in 1752. It cracked during testing after arriving in Philadelphia, so local founders John Pass and John Stow recast it. Their names and the year 1753 appear on the bell beneath the inscription.
The Liberty Bell was originally the State House Bell, serving Pennsylvania’s colonial government. Its connection with American independence grew later, and abolitionists helped popularize the name “Liberty Bell” in the nineteenth century. It is often said to have rung for the public reading of the Declaration on July 8, 1776, but no contemporary account confirms that story.