But if you say, “What are we going to eat in the seventh year if we do not sow nor gather in 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:
- BSB Now you may wonder, ‘What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not sow or gather our produce?’
- NKJV ‘And if you say, “What shall we eat in the seventh year, since we shall 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 solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to Yahweh. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard.
- Luke 12:29Don’t seek what you will eat or what you will drink; neither be anxious.
- 2 Kgs 6:15–17When the servant of the man of God had risen early, and gone out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was around the city. His servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?”
- 2 Chr 25:9Amaziah said to the man of God, “But what shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel?” The man of God answered, “Yahweh is able to give you much more than this.”
- Isa 1:2Hear, heavens, and listen, earth; for Yahweh has spoken: “I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.
- Matt 6:25–34Therefore I tell you, don’t be anxious for your life: what you will eat, or what you will drink; nor yet for your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
- Num 11:4The mixed multitude that was among them lusted exceedingly: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, “Who will give us meat to eat?
- Num 11:13Where could I get meat to give to all this people? For they weep to me, saying, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’
- Phil 4:6In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
- Heb 13:5–6Be free from the love of money, content with such things as you have, for he has said, “I will in no way leave you, neither will I in any way forsake you.”
- Ps 78:19–20Yes, they spoke against God. They said, “Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?
- Matt 8:26He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then he got up, rebuked the wind and the sea, and there was a great calm.
- 2 Kgs 7:2Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, “Behold, if Yahweh made windows in heaven, could this thing be?” He said, “Behold, you will see it with your eyes, but will not eat of it.”
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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.