Leviticus 25:4
in Leviticus 25But 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.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
but in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath unto Jehovah: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.
KJV
But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the Lord: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.
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This verse in Leviticus 25
Commentary
8 notes on this verseSo do we now understand how the law educates us in piety, sharing, justice and humanity? Well? Does it not enjoin that the land lie fallow through the seventh year and invites the poor not to be afraid to use any crops that grow by God's grace, nature acting as farmer for any who will?
This site's exposition
Six years thou shalt sow thy field
on Leviticus 25:3-5
Six years of sowing and pruning, and a seventh with neither. The phrase used of the weekly rest at Leviticus 23:3, a sabbath of rest, is used here of a year, so the week that governs a man is laid on his field. What comes up on its own that year is left standing, which means the owner keeps his hands off a crop he did nothing to plant.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
And hence the Jews collect that vulgar tradition that after the world has stood six thousand years (a thousand years being to God as one day) it shall cease, and the eternal sabbath shall succeed--a weak foundation on which to build the fixing of that day and hour which it is God's prerogative to know.
But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land,....
In this God expected from them extraordinary instances of faith and obedience, and they might expect from God extraordinary instances of power and goodness in providing for them,
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
A sabbath of rest - See Lev 23:3 note. The express prohibition of sowing and reaping, and of pruning and gathering, affords a presumption in favor of the sabbatical year beginning, like the year of Jubilee Lev 25:9, in the first month of the civil year Lev 23:24, the seventh of the sacred year, when the land was cleared of the crops of the preceding year.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
It lay entirely fallow, and its spontaneous produce was the common property of the poor and the stranger, the cattle and game. This year of rest was to invigorate the productive powers of the land, as the weekly Sabbath was a refreshment to men and cattle.
1 more voice on this verse
Modern Voices1 voice
A commentator
Jonathan CahnChrist in Prophecy interview: Jonathan Cahn on the Shemitah (Lamb & Lion Ministries) (2015)
proposed
The message of the Shemitah is this — that all your blessings come from God. If you go away from God, the blessings will be removed.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וּבַשָּׁנָ֣ה | uvashanah | and in the year | H8141 → | 877 times |
| הַשְּׁבִיעִ֗ת | hasheviit | <the> seventh | H7637 → | 98 times |
| שַׁבַּ֤ת | shabat | a sabbath of | H7676 → | 110 times |
| שַׁבָּתוֹן֙ | shabaton | sabbath observance | H7677 → | 11 times |
| יִהְיֶ֣ה | yihyeh | it will belong | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| לָאָ֔רֶץ | laaretz | to the land | H776 → | 2504 times |
| שַׁבָּ֖ת | shabat | a sabbath | H7676 → | 110 times |
| לַיהוָ֑ה | layahweh | to Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| שָֽׂדְךָ֙ | sadekha | field your | H7704 → | 334 times |
| לֹ֣א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תִזְרָ֔ע | tizra' | you will sow | H2232 → | 56 times |
| וְכַרְמְךָ֖ | vekharmekha | and vineyard your | H3754 → | 92 times |
| לֹ֥א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תִזְמֹֽר׃ | tizmor | you will prune | H2168 → |
וּבַשָּׁנָ֣הand in the year
uvashanahH8141 →877 times
הַשְּׁבִיעִ֗ת<the> seventh
hasheviitH7637 →98 times
שַׁבַּ֤תa sabbath of
shabatH7676 →110 times
שַׁבָּתוֹן֙sabbath observance
shabatonH7677 →11 times
יִהְיֶ֣הit will belong
yihyehH1961 →3559 times
לָאָ֔רֶץto the land
laaretzH776 →2504 times
שַׁבָּ֖תa sabbath
shabatH7676 →110 times
לַיהוָ֑הto Yahweh
layahwehH3068 →6520 times
שָֽׂדְךָ֙field your
sadekhaH7704 →334 times
לֹ֣אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
תִזְרָ֔עyou will sow
tizra'H2232 →56 times
וְכַרְמְךָ֖and vineyard your
vekharmekhaH3754 →92 times
לֹ֥אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
תִזְמֹֽר׃you will prune
tizmorH2168 →
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
2 Chronicles 36:21So the land enjoyed its Sabbath rest all the days of the desolation, until seventy years were completed, in fulfillment of the word of the LORD through Jeremiah.
it leads to
- Leviticus 26:34–35
Then the land shall enjoy its Sabbaths all the days it lies desolate, while you are in the land of your enemies. At that time the land will rest and enjoy its Sabbaths.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 29:10
For this is what the LORD says: “When Babylon’s seventy years are complete, I will attend to you and confirm My promise to restore you to this place.
- Jeremiah 25:11–12
And this whole land will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.
- Zechariah 1:12
Then the angel of the LORD said, “How long, O LORD of Hosts, will You withhold mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with which You have been angry these seventy years?”
- Daniel 9:2
in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the sacred books, according to the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years.
- Leviticus 26:34–35
Through
Leviticus 26:43For the land will be abandoned by them, and it will enjoy its Sabbaths by lying desolate without them. And they will pay the penalty for their iniquity, because they rejected My ordinances and…
it leads to
- Leviticus 26:15
and if you reject My statutes, despise My ordinances, and neglect to carry out all My commandments, and so break My covenant,
- Romans 8:7
because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.
- 2 Chronicles 33:12
And in his distress, Manasseh sought the favor of the LORD his God and earnestly humbled himself before the God of his fathers.
- Leviticus 26:15
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies5
On this verse
About Leviticus
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata Book 2; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Jonathan Cahn, Christ in Prophecy interview: Jonathan Cahn on the Shemitah (Lamb & Lion Ministries) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.