Leviticus 25:1-7

The Sabbath Year

1 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses on {Mount Sinai}, saying,
2 "Speak to the {Israelites}, and say to them, 'When you come into the land that I [am about to] give to you, then the land shall observe a Sabbath for Yahweh.
3 Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and you shall gather its yield.
4 But in the seventh year it shall be {a Sabbath of complete rest} for the land--a Sabbath for Yahweh; you must not sow your field, and you must not prune your vineyard.
5 You must not reap your harvest's aftergrowth, and you must not harvest the grapes of your unpruned vines--it shall be {a year of complete rest} for the land.
6 And a Sabbath of the land shall be for food for you: for you and for your slave and for your slave woman and for your hired worker and for your temporary residents who are dwelling as aliens with you;
7 and all its yield shall be for your domestic animal and for the wild animal, which [are] in your land to eat.

Leviticus 25:1-7 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO LEVITICUS 25

In this chapter the Israelites are directed, when come into the land of Canaan, to observe every seventh year as a sabbatical year, in which there was to be no tillage of the land, and yet there would be a sufficiency for man and beast, Le 25:1-7; and every fiftieth year as a year of jubilee, in which also there was to be no tillage of the land, and every man was to return to his possession or estate, which had been sold to another any time before this, Le 25:8-17; and a promise of safety and plenty in the seventh year is made to encourage the observance of it, Le 25:18-22; and several laws and rules are delivered out concerning the sale of lands, the redemption of them, and their return to their original owner in the year of jubilee, Le 25:23-28; and the sale of houses, and the redemption of them, and the difference between those in walled cities and those in villages, with respect thereunto, Le 25:29-31; and also concerning the houses of the cities of the Levites, and the fields of the suburbs of them, Le 25:32-34; to which are added some instructions about relieving decayed, persons, and lending and giving to them, without taking usury of them, Le 25:34-38; and other laws concerning the release of such Israelites as had sold themselves for servants to the Israelites, in the year of jubilee, since none but Heathens were to be bondmen and bondmaids for ever, Le 25:39-46; and of such who were sold to proselytes, Le 25:47-55.

Footnotes 16

  • [a]. Or "And"
  • [b]. Literally "the mountain of Sinai"
  • [c]. Literally "sons/children of Israel"
  • [d]. Plural
  • [e]. Plural
  • [f]. Or "and"
  • [g]. Singular throughout this verse
  • [h]. Or "And"
  • [i]. Literally "a Sabbath of 'Sabbathation.'" "Sabbathation" is not a real word, but it is devised as an attempt to convey the sounds of the related nouns in the Hebrew phrase
  • [j]. Singular throughout this verse
  • [k]. Singular throughout this verse
  • [l]. Literally "a year of a rest period"
  • [m]. Plural
  • [n]. Singular here and through the rest of this verse
  • [o]. Collective singular; Hebrew "temporary resident"
  • [p]. Singular throughout this verse
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.