Exodus 23:11
in Exodus 23but in the seventh year you must let it rest and lie fallow, so that the poor among your people may eat from the field and the wild animals may consume what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and olive grove.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
but the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie fallow; that the poor of thy people may eat: and what they leave the beast of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy oliveyard.
KJV
But the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat: and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy oliveyard.
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This verse in Exodus 23
Commentary
5 notes on this verseA commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
But it appears that even then there was a spontaneous produce which the poor were permitted freely to gather for their use, and the beasts driven out fed on the remainder, the owners of fields not being allowed to reap or collect the fruits of the vineyard or oliveyard during the course of this sabbatical year.
This site's exposition
six years thou shalt sow thy land
on Exodus 23:10-11
The seventh year belongs to the land, and the beneficiaries named are the poor of thy people first and then the beasts of the field. This is the arrival of the sabbatical year, which Leviticus 25:1 to 25:7 sets out at length and calls a sabbath of rest unto the land. 2 Chronicles 36:21 looks back on the exile and says the land enjoyed her sabbaths for seventy years, counting up the rests that were never kept.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
But the seventh year thou shall let it rest, and lie still,....
Now this was designed, 1. To show what a plentiful land that was into which God was bringing them--that so numerous a people could have rich maintenance out of the produce of so small a country, without foreign trade, and yet could spare the increase of every seventh year.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
The seventh year thou shalt let it rest - As, every seventh day was a Sabbath day, so every seventh year was to be a Sabbath year. The reasons for this ordinance Calmet gives thus: - “1. To maintain as far as possible an equality of condition among the people, in setting the slaves at liberty, and in permitting all, as children of one family, to have the free and indiscriminate use of whatever the earth produced. “
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
BUT THE SEVENTH YEAR ‘TISHM’TENAH U’N'TASHTAH’ (THOU SHALT LET IT REST AND LIE FALLOW). “ Tishm’tenah — by not tilling it. U’n'tashtah by not eating of its produce after ‘the time of removal.’ 358 See Leviticus:6-7.
2 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
Because the word l’ma’an is like ba’avur (“in order that”), we must explain.
This too. Like many of the previous laws. is mentioned because of that the poor of thy people may eat (v. 11).
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
14 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְהַשְּׁבִיעִ֞ת | vehasheviit | and the seventh [year] | H7637 → | 98 times |
| תִּשְׁמְטֶ֣נָּה | tishmetenah | you will let rest it | H8058 → | |
| וּנְטַשְׁתָּ֗הּ | unetashtah | and you will leave fallow it | H5203 → | |
| וְאָֽכְלוּ֙ | veakhelu | and they will eat | H398 → | 810 times |
| אֶבְיֹנֵ֣י | ʾevyonei | [the] needy [people] of | H34 → | |
| עַמֶּ֔ךָ | ʾamekha | people your | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| וְיִתְרָ֕ם | veyitram | and excess their | H3499 → | |
| תֹּאכַ֖ל | tokhal | it will eat | H398 → | 810 times |
| חַיַּ֣ת | chaiyat | [the] animal[s] of | H2416 → | 498 times |
| הַשָּׂדֶ֑ה | hasadeh | the field | H7704 → | 334 times |
| כֵּֽן־ | ken- | thus | H3651 → | 771 times |
| תַּעֲשֶׂ֥ה | taaseh | you will do | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| לְכַרְמְךָ֖ | lekharmekha | to vineyard your | H3754 → | 92 times |
| לְזֵיתֶֽךָ׃ | lezeitekha | to olive grove your | H2132 → | 38 times |
וְהַשְּׁבִיעִ֞תand the seventh [year]
vehasheviitH7637 →98 times
תִּשְׁמְטֶ֣נָּהyou will let rest it
tishmetenahH8058 →
וּנְטַשְׁתָּ֗הּand you will leave fallow it
unetashtahH5203 →
וְאָֽכְלוּ֙and they will eat
veakheluH398 →810 times
אֶבְיֹנֵ֣י[the] needy [people] of
ʾevyoneiH34 →
עַמֶּ֔ךָpeople your
ʾamekhaH5971 →1873 times
וְיִתְרָ֕םand excess their
veyitramH3499 →
תֹּאכַ֖לit will eat
tokhalH398 →810 times
חַיַּ֣ת[the] animal[s] of
chaiyatH2416 →498 times
הַשָּׂדֶ֑הthe field
hasadehH7704 →334 times
כֵּֽן־thus
ken-H3651 →771 times
תַּעֲשֶׂ֥הyou will do
taasehH6213 →2628 times
לְכַרְמְךָ֖to vineyard your
lekharmekhaH3754 →92 times
לְזֵיתֶֽךָ׃to olive grove your
lezeitekhaH2132 →38 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Leviticus 25:20Now you may wonder, ‘What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not sow or gather our produce?’
it leads to
- Luke 12:29
And do not be concerned about what you will eat or drink. Do not worry about it.
- Leviticus 25:4
But in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of complete rest for the land—a Sabbath to the LORD. You are not to sow your field or prune your vineyard.
- Philippians 4:6
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
- Numbers 11:13
Where can I get meat for all these people? For they keep crying out to me, ‘Give us meat to eat!’
- Psalms 78:19–20
They spoke against God, saying, “Can God really prepare a table in the wilderness?
- Luke 12:29
Through
Leviticus 25:22While you are sowing in the eighth year, you will be eating from the previous harvest, until the ninth year’s harvest comes in.
it leads to
- Leviticus 26:10
You will still be eating the old supply of grain when you need to clear it out to make room for the new.
- 2 Kings 19:29
And this will be a sign to you, O Hezekiah: This year you will eat what grows on its own, and in the second year what springs from the same. But in the third…
- Isaiah 37:30
And this will be a sign to you, O Hezekiah: This year you will eat what grows on its own, and in the second year what springs from the same. But in the third…
- Leviticus 26:10
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Exodus
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.