Leviticus 19:10
in Leviticus 19You must not strip your vineyard bare or gather its fallen grapes. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the LORD your God.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather the fallen fruit of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am Jehovah your God.
KJV
And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the Lord your God.
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This verse in Leviticus 19
Commentary
7 notes on this verseDuring the harvest, [the law] forbids owners to gather up the bits which fall from the sheaves and similarly advises that in harvesting something should be left behind unreaped. By this it gives excellent teaching to owners in the practice of generous sharing by leaving some of their property for those in need and providing the poor with a chance for food.
This site's exposition
When you reap the harvest of your land
on Leviticus 19:9-10
The edges of the field and the fallen grapes are left "for the poor and the foreigner", who gather them themselves. Ruth 2 runs on this arrangement when a Moabite widow gleans behind the reapers of Boaz.
This site's exposition
gather its fallen grapes
Albert Barnes widens the terms, taking the grapes as fallen fruit of any kind and the vineyard as any fruit garden. He explains the foreigner as one who could own no land in Israel, and so had no harvest of his own.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
Do you see how the law proclaims simultaneously the justice and goodness of God, who provides food unstintingly for all? Again, in the grape harvest the harvesters are forbidden to go back and cut anything that has been left over or to collect fallen grapes. The same rules are applied to olive gatherers. In fact the principle of tithing crops and flocks was an education in honoring the divine. We are not to be totally absorbed by profit but to share humanely with the neighbor as well.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
15 Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour. 16 Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour: I am the L ORD .
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:97%@v15-16
And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
See Deu 24:19-21. “Grape” signifies fallen fruit of any kind; and “vineyard” a fruit garden of any kind. Compare Deu 23:24. The poor - is the poor Israelite - “the stranger” is properly the foreigner, who could possess no land of his own in the land of Israel.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
לא תגנבו YE SHALL NOT STEAL — This is a warning addressed to him who steals money (the property of his fellow-man), but the law “Thou shalt not steal" which is contained in the Ten Commandments is a warning addressed to him who steals a human being.
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. 4 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְכַרְמְךָ֙ | vekharmekha | and vineyard your | H3754 → | 92 times |
| לֹ֣א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תְעוֹלֵ֔ל | teolel | you will glean | H5953 → | |
| וּפֶ֥רֶט | uferet | and [the] fallen grape[s] of | H6528 → | |
| כַּרְמְךָ֖ | karmekha | vineyard your | H3754 → | 92 times |
| לֹ֣א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תְלַקֵּ֑ט | telaket | you will gather | H3950 → | 37 times |
| לֶֽעָנִ֤י | leani | for the poor [person] | H6041 → | |
| וְלַגֵּר֙ | velager | and for the sojourner | H1616 → | 92 times |
| תַּעֲזֹ֣ב | taazo | you will leave | H5800 → | 215 times |
| אֹתָ֔ם | ʾotam | <obj.> them | H853 → | 10935 times |
| אֲנִ֖י | ʾani | I | H589 → | 874 times |
| יְהוָ֥ה | yahweh | [am] Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם׃ | ʾeloheikhem | God your | H430 → | 2601 times |
וְכַרְמְךָ֙and vineyard your
vekharmekhaH3754 →92 times
לֹ֣אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
תְעוֹלֵ֔לyou will glean
teolelH5953 →
וּפֶ֥רֶטand [the] fallen grape[s] of
uferetH6528 →
כַּרְמְךָ֖vineyard your
karmekhaH3754 →92 times
לֹ֣אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
תְלַקֵּ֑טyou will gather
telaketH3950 →37 times
לֶֽעָנִ֤יfor the poor [person]
leaniH6041 →
וְלַגֵּר֙and for the sojourner
velagerH1616 →92 times
תַּעֲזֹ֣בyou will leave
taazoH5800 →215 times
אֹתָ֔ם<obj.> them
ʾotamH853 →10935 times
אֲנִ֖יI
ʾaniH589 →874 times
יְהוָ֥ה[am] Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם׃God your
ʾeloheikhemH430 →2601 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
Isaiah 17:6Yet gleanings will remain, like an olive tree that has been beaten—two or three berries atop the tree, four or five on its fruitful branches,” declares the LORD, the God of Israel.
it leads to
- Isaiah 24:13
So will it be on the earth and among the nations, like a harvested olive tree, like a gleaning after a grape harvest.
- Deuteronomy 4:27
Then the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the LORD will drive you.
- Romans 9:27
Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the Israelites is like the sand of the sea, only the remnant will be saved.
- Judges 8:2
But Gideon answered them, “Now what have I accomplished compared to you? Are not the gleanings of Ephraim better than the grape harvest of Abiezer?
- Isaiah 24:13
Through
Isaiah 24:13So will it be on the earth and among the nations, like a harvested olive tree, like a gleaning after a grape harvest.
it leads to
- Isaiah 1:9
Unless the LORD of Hosts had left us a few survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have resembled Gomorrah.
- Isaiah 1:9
Through
Jeremiah 49:9If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave some gleanings? Were thieves to come in the night, would they not steal only what they wanted?
it leads to
- Obadiah 1:5–6
“If thieves came to you, if robbers by night—oh, how you will be ruined—would they not steal only what they wanted? If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave some gleanings?
- Obadiah 1:5–6
Through
Leviticus 25:6Whatever the land yields during the Sabbath year shall be food for you—for yourself, your manservant and maidservant, the hired hand or foreigner who stays with you,
it leads to
- Acts 4:34–35
There were no needy ones among them, because those who owned lands or houses would sell their property, bring the proceeds from the sales,
- Exodus 23:11
but 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.…
- Acts 4:34–35
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies15
About Leviticus
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata Book 2; 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.