Leviticus 23:22
in Leviticus 23When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap all the way to the edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the foreign resident. I am the LORD your God.’”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them for the poor, and for the sojourner: I am Jehovah your God.
KJV
And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am the Lord your God.
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This verse in Leviticus 23
Commentary
6 notes on this verseAnd it is observable, that though the present business is only concerning the worship of God, yet he makes a kind of excursion to repeat a former law of providing for the poor, to shew that our devotion to God is little esteemed by him if it be not accompanied with acts of charity to men.
This site's exposition
On that same day you are to proclaim a sacred assembly
on Leviticus 23:21-23
After the fiftieth day's sacred assembly, verse 22 sets a farming law inside the calendar. The edges of the field and the gleanings are left for the poor and the foreign resident, repeating Leviticus 19:9 and 19:10.
This site's exposition
Leave them for the poor
John Wesley calls the verse an excursion, a return to a law already given, set in a list of feasts. He reads the placing as a lesson that God sets little value on devotion unaccompanied by charity to men. It sits between the wheat harvest and the seventh month.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
And when ye reap the harvest of your land,....
It also taught them that the joy of harvest should express itself in charity to the poor, who must have their due out of what we have, as well as God his. Those that are truly sensible of the mercy they receive from God will without grudging show mercy to the poor.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Neither shalt thou gather any gleaning - See the note on Lev 19:9.
How the passage was read
On Leviticus 23:1-44On Leviticus 23:1-44
The year Israel keeps
This chapter is the calendar of the whole Jewish year, and every feast in it is still on the calendar today. In order: the weekly Sabbath; Passover and Unleavened Bread in spring (now kept as the seder meal and a week without leavened bread); Firstfruits (the first sheaf of barley waved before God); Weeks, in Hebrew Shavuot, fifty days later (Christians know the Greek name: Pentecost); then in autumn the Day of Trumpets (now Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, announced by the ram's-horn trumpet called a shofar), the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur, the great fast), and Tabernacles, in Hebrew Sukkot, when families still build and eat in leafy backyard booths for a week, remembering the wilderness.
So when the New Testament says Jesus or Paul went up for “the feast,” it means one of these appointments: the same calendar, kept for over three thousand years.
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.
Sources: The Feasts of the LORD (this site's study of all seven) · Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 1:1 (the four new years)
The words behind it
20 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וּֽבְקֻצְרְכֶ֞ם | uvekutzrekhem | and when harvest you | H7114 → | 49 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| קְצִ֣יר | ketzir | [the] harvest of | H7105 → | 54 times |
| אַרְצְכֶ֗ם | ʾartzekhem | land your | H776 → | 2504 times |
| לֹֽא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תְכַלֶּ֞ה | tekhaleh | you will finish | H3615 → | 208 times |
| פְּאַ֤ת | peat | [the] side of | H6285 → | 86 times |
| שָֽׂדְךָ֙ | sadekha | field your | H7704 → | 334 times |
| בְּקֻצְרֶ֔ךָ | bekutzrecha | when harvesting you | H7114 → | 49 times |
| וְלֶ֥קֶט | veleket | and [the] remnant of | H3951 → | |
| קְצִירְךָ֖ | ketzirecha | harvest your | H7105 → | 54 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׃ ס | ʾeloheikhem | God your | H430 → | 2601 times |
וּֽבְקֻצְרְכֶ֞םand when harvest you
uvekutzrekhemH7114 →49 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
קְצִ֣יר[the] harvest of
ketzirH7105 →54 times
אַרְצְכֶ֗םland your
ʾartzekhemH776 →2504 times
לֹֽא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
תְכַלֶּ֞הyou will finish
tekhalehH3615 →208 times
פְּאַ֤ת[the] side of
peatH6285 →86 times
שָֽׂדְךָ֙field your
sadekhaH7704 →334 times
בְּקֻצְרֶ֔ךָwhen harvesting you
bekutzrechaH7114 →49 times
וְלֶ֥קֶטand [the] remnant of
veleketH3951 →
קְצִירְךָ֖harvest your
ketzirechaH7105 →54 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׃ סGod your
ʾeloheikhemH430 →2601 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 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 58:10and if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light will go forth in the darkness, and your night will be like noonday.
it leads to
- Proverbs 11:24–25
One gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds what is right, only to become poor.
- Isaiah 42:16
I will lead the blind by a way they did not know; I will guide them on unfamiliar paths. I will turn darkness into light before them and rough places into level ground. These…
- Psalms 37:6
He will bring forth your righteousness like the dawn, your justice like the noonday sun.
- Isaiah 58:7–8
Isn’t it to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and homeless into your home, to clothe the naked when you see him, and not to turn away from your own…
- Job 11:17
Your life will be brighter than noonday; its darkness will be like the morning.
- Proverbs 11:24–25
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies22
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About Leviticus
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.