The Seventh Year

(Exodus 23:10–13, Deuteronomy 15:1–6)

Then the LORD said to Moses on Mount Sinai 2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you, the land itself must observe a Sabbath to the LORD.

3 

For six years you may sow your field and prune your vineyard and gather its crops 4 But 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 5 You are not to reap the aftergrowth of your harvest or gather the grapes of your untended vines The land must have a year of complete rest. 6 Whatever the land yields during the Sabbath year shall be food for you— for yourself, your manservant and maidservant, the hired hand or foreigner who stays with you, 7 and for your livestock and the wild animals in your land. All its growth may serve as food.

8