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The Sabbath Year

25 Then[a] Yahweh spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai,[b] saying, “Speak to the Israelites,[c] and say to them, ‘When you[d] come into the land that I am about to give to you,[e] then[f] the land shall observe a Sabbath for Yahweh. Six years you[g] shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and you shall gather its yield. But[h] in the seventh year it shall be a Sabbath of complete rest[i] for the land—a Sabbath for Yahweh; you[j] must not sow your field, and you must not prune your vineyard. You[k] must not reap your harvest’s aftergrowth, and you must not harvest the grapes of your unpruned vines—it shall be a year of complete rest[l] for the land. And a Sabbath of the land shall be for food for you:[m] for you[n] and for your slave and for your slave woman and for your hired worker and for your temporary residents[o] who are dwelling as aliens with you; and all its yield shall be for your[p] domestic animal and for the wild animal, which are in your land to eat.

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Footnotes

  1. Leviticus 25:1 Or “And”
  2. Leviticus 25:1 Literally “the mountain of Sinai”
  3. Leviticus 25:2 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  4. Leviticus 25:2 Plural
  5. Leviticus 25:2 Plural
  6. Leviticus 25:2 Or “and”
  7. Leviticus 25:3 Singular throughout this verse
  8. Leviticus 25:4 Or “And”
  9. Leviticus 25:4 Literally “a Sabbath of ‘Sabbathation.’” “Sabbathation” is not a real word, but it is devised as an attempt to convey the sounds of the related nouns in the Hebrew phrase
  10. Leviticus 25:4 Singular throughout this verse
  11. Leviticus 25:5 Singular throughout this verse
  12. Leviticus 25:5 Literally “a year of a rest period”
  13. Leviticus 25:6 Plural
  14. Leviticus 25:6 Singular here and through the rest of this verse
  15. Leviticus 25:6 Collective singular; Hebrew “temporary resident”
  16. Leviticus 25:7 Singular throughout this verse

Regulations for the Sabbatical Year

25 The Lord spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai: “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When you enter the land that I am giving you, the land must observe a Sabbath[a] to the Lord. Six years you may sow your field, and six years you may prune your vineyard and gather the produce,[b] but in the seventh year the land must have a Sabbath of complete rest[c]—a Sabbath to the Lord. You must not sow your field or[d] prune your vineyard. You must not gather in the aftergrowth of your harvest and you must not pick the grapes of your unpruned vines;[e] the land must have a year of complete rest. You may have the Sabbath produce[f] of the land to eat—you, your male servant, your female servant, your hired worker, the resident foreigner who stays with you,[g] your cattle, and the wild animals that are in your land—all its produce will be for you[h] to eat.

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Footnotes

  1. Leviticus 25:2 tn Heb “the land shall rest a Sabbath.”
  2. Leviticus 25:3 tn Heb “its produce,” but the feminine pronoun “its” probably refers to the “land” (a feminine noun in Hebrew; cf. v. 2), not the “field” or the “vineyard,” both of which are normally masculine nouns (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 170).
  3. Leviticus 25:4 tn Heb “and in the seventh year a Sabbath of complete rest shall be to the land.” The expression “a Sabbath of complete rest” is superlative, emphasizing the full and all inclusive rest of the seventh year of the sabbatical cycle. Cf. ASV “a sabbath of solemn rest”; NAB “a complete rest.”
  4. Leviticus 25:4 tn Heb “and.” Here the Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) has an alternative sense (“or”).
  5. Leviticus 25:5 tn Heb “consecrated, devoted, forbidden” (נָזִיר, nazir). The same term is used for the “consecration” of the “Nazirite” (and his hair, Num 6:2, 18, etc.), a designation which, in turn, derives from the very same root.
  6. Leviticus 25:6 tn The word “produce” is not in the Hebrew text but is implied; cf. NASB “the sabbath products.”
  7. Leviticus 25:6 tn A “resident who stays” would be a foreign person who was probably residing as another kind of laborer in the household of a landowner (B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 170-71). See v. 35 below.
  8. Leviticus 25:7 tn The words “for you” are implied.