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. Do the same with your vineyard and olive grove.

Berean Standard Bible

Follow its threads on the canvas →

Study note

Setting — Moses addresses Israel at Sinai, prescribing agricultural law between the six-year sowing cycle and the weekly Sabbath rest. The command applies specifically to field, vineyard, and olive grove cultivation.

The words — תּשְׁמֵט (tish.me.te) translates literally as "you will let rest," paired with נְטַשְׁתָּהּ (ne.tash.ta.h) meaning "you will leave fallow." These verbs establish a mandatory cessation of cultivation during the seventh year.

The thread — The seventh-year land rest recurs in Leviticus 25:2 as the foundational Sabbath year statute and in Leviticus 26:34 as the land's required rest during Israel's exile. Leviticus 25:11 further extends this fallow principle to the fiftieth Jubilee year.

Why it lands — The text commands landowners to forgo harvest in the seventh year so the poor and wild animals may consume the uncultivated yield. It requires readers to subordinate agricultural profit to the provision of vulnerable humans and non-human creatures.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

וְהַשְּׁבִיעִ֞תve./ha./she.vi.'Itand/ the/ seventh [year]תִּשְׁמְטֶ֣נָּהtish.me.Te./nahyou will let rest/ it וּנְטַשְׁתָּ֗הּu./ne.tash.Ta/hand/ you will leave fallow/ it וְאָֽכְלוּ֙ve./'a.khe.Luand/ they will eat אֶבְיֹנֵ֣י'ev.yo.Nei[the] needy [people] of עַמֶּ֔ךָ'a.Me./khapeople/ your וְיִתְרָ֕םve./yit.Ra/mand/ excess/ their תֹּאכַ֖לto.Khalit will eat חַיַּ֣תchai.Yat[the] animal[s] of הַשָּׂדֶ֑הha./sa.Dehthe/ field כֵּֽן־ken-thus תַּעֲשֶׂ֥הta.'a.Sehyou will do לְכַרְמְךָ֖le./khar.me./Khato/ vineyard/ your לְזֵיתֶֽךָ׃le./zei.Te./khato/ olive grove/ your

King James Version

But the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat: and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy oliveyard.

Cross-references

Leviticus 25:2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you, the land itself must observe a Sabbath to the LORD.
Leviticus 25:11 The fiftieth year will be a Jubilee for you; you are not to sow the land or reap its aftergrowth or harvest the untended vines.
Leviticus 26:34 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.
Leviticus 25:20 Now you may wonder, ‘What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not sow or gather our produce?’
Leviticus 25:22 While you are sowing in the eighth year, you will be eating from the previous harvest, until the ninth year’s harvest comes in.