Now you may wonder, ‘What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not sow or gather our produce?’
Parallel translations
- WEB If you said, “What shall we eat the seventh year? Behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase”;
- KJV And if ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase:
- NKJV ‘And if you say, “What shall we eat in the seventh year, since we shall not sow nor gather in our produce?”
- NASB But if you say, “What are we going to eat in the seventh year if we do not sow nor gather in our produce?”
- NLT But you might ask, ‘What will we eat during the seventh year, since we are not allowed to plant or harvest crops that year?’
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
God anticipated Israel's anxious question about what they would eat in the seventh year. He addressed their fear of obedience head-on.
Overview
The LORD voiced the natural worry of a people told not to plant or harvest in the Sabbath year. By raising the question himself, God showed he understood and would answer their fears. This tender anticipation of human anxiety mirrors Jesus' call not to be anxious about food but to trust the Father's provision (Matthew 6:31-33).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Lev 25:4But 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 12:29And do not be concerned about what you will eat or drink. Do not worry about it.
- 2 Kgs 6:15–17When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early in the morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. So he asked Elisha, “Oh, my master, what are we to do?”
- 2 Chr 25:9Amaziah asked the man of God, “What should I do about the hundred talents I have given to the army of Israel?” And the man of God replied, “The LORD is able to give you much more than this.”
- Isa 1:2Listen, 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.
- Matt 6:25–34Therefore 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?
- Num 11:4Meanwhile, the rabble among them had a strong craving for other food, and again the Israelites wept and said, “Who will feed us meat?
- Num 11:13Where can I get meat for all these people? For they keep crying out to me, ‘Give us meat to eat!’
- Phil 4:6Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
- Heb 13:5–6Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for God has said: “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.”
- Ps 78:19–20They spoke against God, saying, “Can God really prepare a table in the wilderness?
- Matt 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.
- 2 Kgs 7:2But the officer on whose arm the king leaned answered the man of God, “Look, even if the LORD were to make windows in heaven, could this really happen?” “You will see it with your own eyes,” replied Elisha, “but you will not eat any of it.”
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 25:20 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.