Leviticus 25:20

Now you may wonder, ‘What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not sow or gather our produce?’

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — God addresses the Israelites as He outlines the agricultural regulations for the sabbatical year. The verse records a hypothetical question the community will raise before observing the seventh-year land rest.

The words — תֹאמְר֔וּ (to.me.Ru) translates to "you will say," introducing the phrase מַה־ נֹּאכַ֤ל (mah- no.Khal) for "what will we eat." These terms frame the practical anxiety regarding food supply during the mandated fallow period.

The thread — The question arises directly from the agricultural pause commanded in Leviticus 25:4. Comparable anxieties about daily provision appear in Luke 12:29 and Numbers 11:4.

Why it lands — The text demands that readers confront the logistical reality of trusting divine provision before accepting a command that halts normal agricultural cycles. It requires acknowledging human concern before stating the subsequent promise of supply.

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

וְכִ֣יve./Khiand/ if תֹאמְר֔וּto.me.Ruyou will say מַה־mah-what?נֹּאכַ֤֖לno.Khalwill we eat בַּשָּׁנָ֣הba./sha.Nahin the/ year הַשְּׁבִיעִ֑תha./she.vi.'It<the>/ seventh הֵ֚ןhenhere!לֹ֣אlo'not נִזְרָ֔עniz.Ra'we will sow וְלֹ֥אve./Lo'and/ not נֶאֱסֹ֖ףne.'e.Sofwe will gather אֶת־'et-<obj.>תְּבוּאָתֵֽנוּ׃te.vu.'a.Te./nuproduce/ our

King James Version

And if ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase:

Cross-references

Leviticus 25:4 But 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.
Luke 12:29 And do not be concerned about what you will eat or drink. Do not worry about it.
Numbers 11:4 Meanwhile, the rabble among them had a strong craving for other food, and again the Israelites wept and said, “Who will feed us meat?
Numbers 11:13 Where can I get meat for all these people? For they keep crying out to me, ‘Give us meat to eat!’
2 Kings 6:15 When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early in the morning, behold, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. So he asked Elisha, “Oh, my master, what are we to do?”
2 Chronicles 25:9 Amaziah asked the man of God, “What should I do about the hundred talents I have given to the troops of Israel?” And the man of God replied, “The LORD is able to give you much more than this.”
Psalms 78:19 They spoke against God, saying, “Can God really prepare a table in the wilderness?
Isaiah 1:2 Listen, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the LORD has spoken: “I have raised children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against Me.
Matthew 6:25 Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?
Matthew 8:26 “You of little faith,” Jesus replied, “why are you so afraid?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it was perfectly calm.