The Sabbath and the Land

¹⁰ “Now ^(A)you shall sow your land for six years and gather in its yield, ¹¹ but in the seventh year you shall let it ^[a]rest and lie uncultivated, so that the needy of your people may eat; and whatever they leave the animal of the field may eat. You are to do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.

¹² “^(B)For six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you shall cease from labor so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female slave, as well as the stranger residing with you, may refresh themselves.

The Sabbatical Year and Year of Jubilee

25 The Lord then spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, ² “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you come into the land which I am going to give you, then the land shall have a Sabbath to the Lord. ³ For ^(A)six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its produce, ⁴ but during ^(B)the seventh year the land shall have a Sabbath rest, a Sabbath to the Lord; you shall not sow your field nor prune your vineyard. ⁵ You shall not reap your harvest’s ^[a]aftergrowth, and you shall not gather your grapes of untrimmed vines; the land shall have a sabbatical year. ^6 (C)All of you shall have the Sabbath produce of the land as food; for yourself, your male and female slaves, and your hired worker and your foreign resident, those who live as strangers among you. ⁷ Even your cattle and the animals that are in your land shall have all its produce to eat.

The Sabbatical Year

15 “^(A)At the end of every seven years you shall ^[a]grant a release of debts. ² And this is the regulation for the release of debts: every creditor is to forgive what he has loaned to his neighbor; he shall not require it of his neighbor and his brother, because the Lord’s release has been proclaimed. ^3 (B)From a foreigner you may require it, but your hand shall ^[b]forgive whatever of yours is with your brother. ⁴ However, there will be no poor among you, since ^(C)the Lord will certainly bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, ⁵ if only you listen obediently to the voice of the Lord your God, to ^[c]follow carefully all this commandment which I am commanding you today. ^6 (D)For the Lord your God will have blessed you just as He has promised you, and you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow; and you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.

⁹ So Moses wrote this Law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi ^(A)who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. ¹⁰ Then Moses commanded them, saying, “At the end of every seven years, at the time of ^(B)the year of the release of debts, at the ^(C)Feast of Booths, ¹¹ when all Israel comes ^(D)to appear before the Lord your God at ^(E)the place which He will choose, ^(F)you shall read this Law before all Israel ^[a]so that they hear it. ¹² Assemble the people, the men, the women, the children, and the stranger who is in your ^[b]town, so that they may hear and ^(G)learn and fear the Lord your God, and be careful to ^[c]follow all the words of this Law. ¹³ And their children, who have not known, will hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as you live on the land ^[d]which you are about to cross the Jordan to ^[e]possess.”