But in the fifth year you may eat its fruit; thus your harvest will be increased. I am the LORD your God.
Parallel translations
- WEB In the fifth year you shall eat its fruit, that it may yield its increase to you. I am Yahweh your God.
- KJV And in the fifth year shall ye eat of the fruit thereof, that it may yield unto you the increase thereof: I am the LORD your God.
- NKJV And in the fifth year you may eat its fruit, that it may yield to you its increase: I am the Lord your God.
- NASB But in the fifth year you shall eat its fruit, so that its yield may increase for you; I am the Lord your God.
- NLT Finally, in the fifth year you may eat the fruit. If you follow this pattern, your harvest will increase. I am the Lord your God.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
In the fifth year after planting, Israel could finally eat the tree's fruit, having honored God with the firstfruits the year before. It teaches that patient obedience leads to blessing.
Overview
This concludes the law of the orchard (vv. 23-25): the first three years' fruit was forbidden, the fourth year's was holy to the Lord, and only in the fifth year could it be eaten freely. Honoring God first secures His promise that the trees would 'yield their increase.' The recurring 'I am Yahweh your God' grounds the whole law in covenant relationship, anticipating the principle that those who seek God's kingdom first receive all good things added to them (Matt. 6:33).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Hag 1:9–11You expected much, but behold, it amounted to little. And what you brought home, I blew away. Why? declares the LORD of Hosts. Because My house still lies in ruins, while each of you is busy with his own house.
- Prov 3:9–10Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your harvest;
- Eccl 11:1–2Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again.
- Lev 26:3–4If you follow My statutes and carefully keep My commandments,
- Hag 2:18–19Consider carefully from this day forward—from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, the day the foundation of the LORD’s temple was laid—consider carefully:
- Mal 3:8–10Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you ask, ‘How do we rob You?’ In tithes and offerings.
- Hag 1:4–6“Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Every sacrifice, every priest, and every day of atonement points beyond itself to the one perfect offering and the great High Priest who, by his own blood, makes the unclean holy once for all.
How Leviticus 19:25 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.