Exodus 23:10 "For six years you are to sow your fields and harvest the crops,

◄ Exodus 23:10 ►

Parallel Verses

New International Version
"For six years you are to sow your fields and harvest the crops,

English Standard Version
“For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield,

New American Standard Bible
"You shall sow your land for six years and gather in its yield,

King James Bible
And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof:

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Sow your land for six years and gather its produce.

International Standard Version
"You are to sow your land and gather its crops for six years,

American Standard Version
And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the increase thereof:

Douay-Rheims Bible
Six years thou shalt sow thy ground, and shalt gather the corn thereof.

Darby Bible Translation
And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and gather in its produce;

Young's Literal Translation
'And six years thou dost sow thy land, and hast gathered its increase;

Cross References

Exodus 23:11
But the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie still; that the poor of your people may eat: and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner you shall deal with your vineyard, and with your olive grove.

Leviticus 25:1
And the LORD spoke to Moses in mount Sinai, saying,

Leviticus 25:3
Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof;

Numbers 16:14
Moreover you have not brought us into a land that flows with milk and honey, or given us inheritance of fields and vineyards: will you put out the eyes of these men? we will not come up.

Nehemiah 10:31
And if the people of the land bring ware or any victuals on the sabbath day to sell, that we would not buy it of them on the sabbath, or on the holy day: and that we would leave the seventh year, and the exaction of every debt.

Jump to Previous

Crops Fields Fruits Gather Gathered Harvest Increase Produce Seed Six Sow Thereof Yield

Jump to Next

Crops Fields Fruits Gather Gathered Harvest Increase Produce Seed Six Sow Thereof Yield

Commentaries

Matthew Henry's Commentary

23:10-19 Every seventh year the land was to rest. They must not plough or sow it; what the earth produced of itself, should be eaten, and not laid up. This law seems to have been intended to teach dependence on Providence, and God's faithfulness in sending the larger increase while they kept his appointments. It was also typical of the heavenly rest, when all earthly labours, cares, and interests shall cease for ever. All respect to the gods of the heathen is strictly forbidden. Since idolatry was a sin to which the Israelites leaned, they must blot out the remembrance of the gods of the heathen. Solemn religious attendance on God, in the place which he should choose, is strictly required. They must come together before the Lord. What a good Master do we serve, who has made it our duty to rejoice before him! Let us devote with pleasure to the service of God that portion of our time which he requires, and count his sabbaths and ordinances to be a feast unto our souls. They were not to come empty-handed; so now, we must not come to worship God empty-hearted; our souls must be filled with holy desires toward him, and dedications of ourselves to him; for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

10. six years thou shalt sow thy land—intermitting the cultivation of the land every seventh year. But it appears that even then there was a spontaneous produce which the poor were permitted freely to gather for their use, and the beasts driven out fed on the remainder, the owners of fields not being allowed to reap or collect the fruits of the vineyard or oliveyard during the course of this sabbatical year. This was a regulation subservient to many excellent purposes; for, besides inculcating the general lesson of dependence on Providence, and of confidence in His faithfulness to His promise respecting the triple increase on the sixth year (Le 25:20, 21), it gave the Israelites a practical proof that they held their properties of the Lord as His tenants, and must conform to His rules on pain of forfeiting the lease of them.