Leviticus 25:6 kjv

And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you; for thee, and for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy stranger that sojourneth with thee.

Leviticus 25:6 nkjv

And the sabbath produce of the land shall be food for you: for you, your male and female servants, your hired man, and the stranger who dwells with you,

Leviticus 25:6 niv

Whatever the land yields during the sabbath year will be food for you?for yourself, your male and female servants, and the hired worker and temporary resident who live among you,

Leviticus 25:6 esv

The Sabbath of the land shall provide food for you, for yourself and for your male and female slaves and for your hired worker and the sojourner who lives with you,

Leviticus 25:6 nlt

But you may eat whatever the land produces on its own during its Sabbath. This applies to you, your male and female servants, your hired workers, and the temporary residents who live with you.

Leviticus 25 verses

Leviticus 25 6 Meaning

Leviticus 25:6 declares that the spontaneous produce of the land during its Sabbath year is to serve as sustenance for all inhabitants—the landowners themselves, their male and female servants, hired laborers, and resident foreigners. This establishes God's provision and underscores an inclusive distribution, ensuring that everyone in the community, regardless of status or origin, has access to food during this year of agricultural rest. It highlights the divine source of all provision and mandates shared resources.

Leviticus 25 6 Context

Leviticus 25 primarily details the laws concerning the Sabbatical Year (Shemitah) and the Jubilee Year. The chapter begins by commanding that the land of Israel observe a Sabbath every seventh year, similar to how humans observe the weekly Sabbath. During this year, the land was to lie fallow—no sowing, pruning, or harvesting in the usual manner. This divine ordinance was a radical demonstration of faith in God's provision and a powerful declaration of His ultimate ownership of the land (Lev 25:23). It served economic, social, and spiritual purposes: providing rest for the land, preventing soil depletion, facilitating debt release, ensuring liberation for enslaved Hebrews, and most significantly, fostering dependence on God for sustenance rather than solely on human effort. This system contrasted sharply with the land management and economic practices of surrounding pagan nations, who often associated land fertility with their idols or purely human endeavors. It served as a polemic against beliefs that economic prosperity stemmed solely from human labor or local deities like Baal, asserting YHWH's absolute control and generosity. The specific verse 6 expands on the provision from this resting land, illustrating how its natural yield was to be inclusively shared among all members of the community, reinforcing principles of social justice and communal well-being embedded in God's covenant with Israel.

Leviticus 25 6 Word analysis

• And the Sabbath (וְהָיְתָה שַׁבַּת, v'haytah shabbat):
• Sabbath (shabbat): Signifies cessation, rest, or ceasing from labor. Here it refers specifically to the mandated year of rest for the land, mirroring the weekly human Sabbath. It emphasizes divine command and design for the land.
• of the land (הָאָרֶץ, ha'aretz):
• Land (ha'aretz): Refers specifically to the promised land of Israel. It highlights that the entire natural productivity of the earth itself, in its natural, untended state, is designated by God for this purpose. This signifies God's ownership and sovereign care over His creation and His people.
• shall be meat for you (לָכֶם לְאָכְלָה, lachem l'okhlah):
• Meat (לְאָכְלָה, l'okhlah): More accurately translated as "for food" or "for eating." It encompasses any edible produce that grows naturally without cultivation during the Sabbatical year (e.g., grain from fallen seeds, wild fruits).
• for you (lachem): Refers to the collective Israelite community, especially the landowners and heads of households.
• for you, and for your servant, and for your maid, and for your hired servant, and for your stranger that sojourneth with you (לָכֶם וְלְעַבְדְּךָ וְלַאֲמָתֶךָ וְלִשְׂכִירְךָ וּלְתוֹשָׁבְךָ הַגָּר עִמָּךְ):
• for you (lachem): Again emphasizes the primary Israelite householder.
• and for your servant (וְלְעַבְדְּךָ, v'l'avdekha): Refers to a male slave or permanent servant within the household. This shows the master's responsibility for all under his care.
• and for your maid (וְלַאֲמָתֶךָ, v'la'amatekha): Refers to a female slave or permanent maidservant, further emphasizing inclusive household provision.
• and for your hired servant (וְלִשְׂכִירְךָ, v'lisekhirkha): Refers to a temporary wage-earner or laborer, signifying care for even those not permanently part of the household.
• and for your stranger that sojourneth with you (וּלְתוֹשָׁבְךָ הַגָּר עִמָּךְ, u'l'toshavkha haggar immakh): A resident alien or foreigner living within the community. This inclusion is significant, highlighting God's concern for those outside the immediate Israelite lineage and a radical practice of hospitality and charity that extended beyond tribal boundaries. It challenged any ethnocentric tendencies and reinforced the covenant command to love the stranger.

• The Sabbath of the land shall be meat for you: This phrase establishes a direct divine provision during a mandated period of rest. It implies that reliance should be on God's spontaneous generosity rather than human exertion during this unique year, fostering trust and breaking the cycle of constant toil and dependence on personal labor for sustenance.
• for you, and for your servant, and for your maid, and for your hired servant, and for your stranger that sojourneth with you: This extensive list of beneficiaries emphasizes the comprehensive and egalitarian nature of God's provision and the communal responsibility embedded in the Mosaic Law. It covers every tier of society, from the property owner to the most marginalized resident alien, ensuring that the blessing of the Sabbath year is distributed universally, promoting social equity and shared welfare. It prevents hoarding and exemplifies the communal aspect of Israel's covenant with God.

Leviticus 25 6 Bonus section

The command in Leviticus 25:6, embedded within the larger Sabbatical year laws, presented a radical test of faith for ancient Israel. To cease all sowing and harvesting for a full year and depend solely on the land's natural output required an extraordinary level of trust in God's promises of provision (Lev 25:20-22). This spiritual discipline stood in stark contrast to the surrounding pagan cultures, who often engaged in intensive agricultural practices, sometimes accompanied by fertility rites, out of a fear of famine or to appease their deities. The Sabbatical year, including this inclusive sharing of its yield, was a declaration that Israel's well-being came from YHWH, not human industry or pagan gods, thus serving as a direct counter-cultural statement. It served to recalibrate their perspective, reminding them that they were but stewards on God's land (Lev 25:23), fostering humility and collective interdependence. The application of such principles within a faith community today highlights themes of stewardship, social justice, and trust in divine providence over the anxieties of material accumulation, echoing in Christian calls for generosity and care for the needy within the body of Christ.

Leviticus 25 6 Commentary

Leviticus 25:6 illuminates the profound theological and social principles underpinning the Sabbatical year. It conveys God's unwavering promise to provide for His people, even in the absence of conventional agricultural labor, demonstrating His sovereignty over creation and challenging humanity's ingrained reliance on self-effort alone. The verse meticulously outlines an inclusive distribution of this divine bounty, ensuring that sustenance from the land's spontaneous yield benefits not only the Israelite landowner but every person living within their household and community—male and female servants, hired laborers, and resident aliens. This commanded sharing was revolutionary for its time, functioning as a powerful safeguard against poverty, social stratification, and the neglect of the vulnerable. It fostered radical trust in God, social responsibility, and a recognition that the land's resources, and ultimately all resources, belong to Him and are given for the common good. Practically, it taught Israel reliance, generosity, and discouraged individualistic accumulation, forming a foundational ethic for a just society centered on God's provision.