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Friday, September 12th, 2025
the Week of Proper 18 / Ordinary 23
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Read the Bible

Douay-Rheims Bible

Leviticus 25:20

But if you say: What shall we eat the seventh year, if we sow not, nor gather our fruits?

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Agriculture;   Blessing;   Jubilee;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Feast of Sabbatical Year, the;   Seed;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Jubilee;   Poor;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Sabbatical year;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Jubilee, Year of;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Sabbatical Year;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Festivals;   Leviticus;   Number Systems and Number Symbolism;   Pentateuch;   Year of Jubilee;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Canon of the Old Testament;   Congregation, Assembly;   Crimes and Punishments;   Deuteronomy;   Hexateuch;   Holiness;   Law;   Leviticus;   Poverty;   Priests and Levites;   Sabbatical Year;   Sanctification, Sanctify;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Feasts;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Jubilee;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Jubilee, the Year of;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Weeks;   Year;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Sabbath and Feasts;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Agrarian Laws;   Jubilee Year;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Restraints on Alienation;   Sidra;  

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
If you shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? Behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase;
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:
Lexham English Bible
And if you should say, "What shall we eat in the seventh year, if we do not sow and we do not gather its yield?"
New Century Version
"‘But you might ask, "If we don't plant seeds or gather crops, what will we eat the seventh year?"
New English Translation
If you say, ‘What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not sow and gather our produce?'
Amplified Bible
'And if you say, "What are we going to eat in the seventh year if we do not sow [seed] or gather in our crops?"
New American Standard Bible
'But if you say, "What are we going to eat in the seventh year if we do not sow nor gather in our produce?"
Geneva Bible (1587)
And if ye shall say, What shall we eate the seuenth yeere, for we shall not sowe, nor gather in our increase?
Legacy Standard Bible
But if you say, "What are we going to eat on the seventh year if we do not sow or gather in our produce?"
Contemporary English Version
Don't ever worry about what you will eat during the seventh year when you are forbidden to plant or harvest.
Complete Jewish Bible
"‘If you ask, "If we aren't allowed to sow seed or harvest what our land produces, what are we going to eat the seventh year?"
Darby Translation
And if ye say, What shall we eat in the seventh year? behold, we may not sow, nor gather in our produce;
Easy-to-Read Version
"But maybe you will say, ‘If we don't plant seeds or gather our crops, we will not have anything to eat during the seventh year.'
English Standard Version
And if you say, ‘What shall we eat in the seventh year, if we may not sow or gather in our crop?'
George Lamsa Translation
And if you shall say, What shall we eat in the seventh year? For we shall not sow, nor gather in the produce thereof;
Good News Translation
But someone may ask what there will be to eat during the seventh year, when no fields are planted and no crops gathered.
Christian Standard Bible®
If you wonder: ‘What will we eat in the seventh year if we don’t sow or gather our produce?’
Literal Translation
And when you say, What shall we eat in the seventh year; for, lo, we may not sow nor gather our increase?
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And yf ye wolde saye: What shall we eate in the seuenth yeare, in as moch as we shal not sowe, ner gather in oure increase?
American Standard Version
And if ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase;
Bible in Basic English
And if you say, Where will our food come from in the seventh year, when we may not put in seed, or get in the increase
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And yf ye shall say, what shall we eate the seuenth yere? for we shall not sowe, nor gather in our increase:
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And if ye shall say: 'What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, we may not sow, nor gather in our increase';
King James Version (1611)
And if ye shall say, What shall we eate the seuenth yeere? Behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase:
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And if ye should say, What shall we eat in this seventh year, if we do not sow nor gather in our fruits?
English Revised Version
And if ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase:
Berean Standard Bible
Now you may wonder, 'What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not sow or gather our produce?'
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
That if ye seien, what schulen we ete in the seuenthe yeer, if we sowen not, nether gaderen oure fruytis?
Young's Literal Translation
`And when ye say, What do we eat in the seventh year, lo, we do not sow, nor gather our increase?
Update Bible Version
And if you shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? Look, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase;
Webster's Bible Translation
And if ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, we shall not sow nor gather in our increase:
World English Bible
If you shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? Behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase;
New King James Version
"And if you say, "What shall we eat in the seventh year, since we shall not sow nor gather in our produce?"
New Living Translation
But you might ask, ‘What will we eat during the seventh year, since we are not allowed to plant or harvest crops that year?'
New Life Bible
If you say, "What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not plant seeds or gather in the food of our field?"
New Revised Standard
Should you ask, "What shall we eat in the seventh year, if we may not sow or gather in our crop?"
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And since ye may say, What shall we eat in the seventh year? Lo! we are not to sow, neither are we to gather our increase!
Revised Standard Version
And if you say, 'What shall we eat in the seventh year, if we may not sow or gather in our crop?'
New American Standard Bible (1995)
'But if you say, "What are we going to eat on the seventh year if we do not sow or gather in our crops?"

Contextual Overview

8 Thou shalt also number to thee seven weeks of years: that is to say, seven times seven, which together make forty-nine years. 9 And thou shalt sound the trumpet in the seventh month, the tenth day of the month, in the time of the expiation in all your land. 10 And thou shalt sanctify the fiftieth year, and shalt proclaim remission to all the inhabitants of thy land: for it is the year of jubilee. Every man shall return to his possession, and every one shall go back to his former family: 11 Because it is the jubilee and the fiftieth year. You shall not sow, nor reap the things that grow in the field of their own accord, neither shall you gather the firstfruits of the vines, 12 Because of the sanctification of the jubilee. But as they grow you shall presently eat them. 13 In the year of the jubilee all shall return to their possessions. 14 When thou shalt sell any thing to thy neighbour, or shalt buy of him: grieve not thy brother. But thou shalt buy of him according to the number of years from the jubilee. 15 And he shall sell to thee according to the computation of the fruits. 16 The more years remain after the jubilee, the more shall the price increase: and the less time is counted, so much the less shall the purchase cost. For he shall sell to thee the time of the fruits. 17 Do not afflict your countrymen: but let every one fear his God. Because I am the Lord your God.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Numbers 11:4, Numbers 11:13, 2 Kings 6:15-17, 2 Kings 7:2, 2 Chronicles 25:9, Psalms 78:19, Psalms 78:20, Isaiah 1:2, Matthew 6:25-34, Matthew 8:26, Luke 12:29, Philippians 4:6, Hebrews 13:5, Hebrews 13:6

Reciprocal: Exodus 23:11 - the seventh Leviticus 25:4 - General 2 Kings 19:29 - Ye shall eat Isaiah 37:30 - Ye shall Matthew 6:31 - What shall we eat Matthew 6:33 - and all

Cross-References

Genesis 22:23
And Bathuel, of whom was born Rebecca: these eight did Melcha bear to Nachor, Abraham’s brother.
Genesis 24:67
Who brought her into the tent of Sara his mother, and took her to wife: and he loved her so much, that it moderated the sorrow which was occasioned by his mother’s death.
Genesis 25:5
And Abraham gave all his possessions to Isaac:
Genesis 25:6
And to the children of the concubines he gave gifts, and separated them from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, to the east country.
Genesis 31:18
And he took all his substance, and flocks, and whatsoever he had gotten in Mesopotamia, and went forward to Isaac, his father, to the land of Chanaan.
Genesis 31:20
And Jacob would not confess to his father in law that he was flying away.
Genesis 31:24
And he saw in a dream God, saying to him: Take heed thou speak not any thing harshly against Jacob.
Genesis 35:9
And God appeared again to Jacob, after he returned from Mesopotamia of Syria, and he blessed him,
Deuteronomy 26:5
And thou shalt speak thus in the sight of the Lord thy God: The Syrian pursued my father, who went down into Egypt, and sojourned there in a very small number, and grew into a nation great and strong and of an infinite multitude.
Luke 4:27
And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet: and none of them was cleansed but Naaman the Syrian.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And ye shall say, what shall ye eat the seventh year?.... Such as are of little faith, disbelieve the promise, and distrust the providence of God, and take thought for tomorrow, and indulge an anxiety of mind how they shall be provided with food in the sabbatical year ordered to be observed, in which there were to be no tillage of land, nor pruning of trees:

behold, we shall not sow; that being forbidden:

nor gather in our increase; neither the barley, nor the wheat, nor the grapes, nor olives, nor figs, into their houses and barns, to lay up for stores, as in other years; though they might go out and gather in for present use in common with others: now if any should put the above question, as it was very likely some would, in such a view of things, the answer to it follows.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Leviticus 25:20. What shall we eat the seventh year? — A very natural question, which could only be laid at rest by the sovereign promise in the next verse: I will COMMAND my BLESSING upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for THREE YEARS. Leviticus 25:2; Leviticus 25:2.


 
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