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.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — God addresses Israel through Moses during the Sabbatical and Jubilee cycle instructions, speaking directly to the agricultural community as they prepare to plant in the eighth year. The command functions as a logistical directive for sustaining the population through a transition period.

The words — The verse centers on וּ/זְרַעְתּ֗ם (u./ze.ra'.Tem), meaning "and you will sow," paired with מִן־ הַ/תְּבוּאָ֣ה יָשָׁ֑ן (min- ha./te.vu.'Ah ya.Shan), which literally reads "from the old produce." The preposition מִן־ (min-) explicitly defines the action as drawing sustenance out of the previous harvest rather than consuming the produce itself.

The thread — This pattern of eating from stored grain during a transition appears in Leviticus 26:10 and 2 Kings 19:29 as a recurring provision motif, while Joshua 5:11 records its historical fulfillment when Israel eats the land's produce. The references trace a consistent scriptural theme of God supplying food across agricultural boundaries.

Why it lands — The text requires practical obedience by commanding farmers to sow in the eighth year while relying on stored grain until the ninth year's harvest arrives. It establishes a concrete rhythm of dependence on divine timing rather than conventional agricultural schedules.

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

וּזְרַעְתֶּ֗םu./ze.ra'.Temand/ you will sow אֵ֚ת'et<obj.>הַשָּׁנָ֣הha./sha.Nahthe/ year הַשְּׁמִינִ֔תha./she.mi.Nit<the>/ eighth וַאֲכַלְתֶּ֖םva./'a.khal.Temand/ you will eat מִן־min-from הַתְּבוּאָ֣הha./te.vu.'Ahthe/ produce יָשָׁ֑ןya.Shanold harvest עַ֣ד׀'aduntil הַשָּׁנָ֣הha./sha.Nahthe/ year הַתְּשִׁיעִ֗תha./te.shi.'It<the>/ ninth עַד־'ad-until בּוֹא֙bO'comes תְּב֣וּאָתָ֔הּte.Vu.'a.Ta/hproduce/ its תֹּאכְל֖וּto.khe.Luyou will eat יָשָֽׁן׃ya.Shanold harvest

King James Version

And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat yet of old fruit until the ninth year; until her fruits come in ye shall eat of the old store.

Cross-references

Leviticus 26:10 You will still be eating the old supply of grain when you need to clear it out to make room for the new.
2 Kings 19:29 And this will be a sign to you, O Hezekiah: This year you will eat what grows on its own, and in the second year what springs from the same. But in the third year you will sow and reap; you will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
Joshua 5:11 The day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate unleavened bread and roasted grain from the produce of the land.
Isaiah 37:30 And this will be a sign to you, O Hezekiah: This year you will eat what grows on its own, and in the second year what springs from the same. But in the third year you will sow and reap; you will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.