Leviticus 25:1-7
God commands rest not only for people but for the land, calling His people to trust His provision.
1 Yahweh said to Moses in Mount Sinai,
2 “Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall keep a Sabbath to Yahweh.
3 You shall sow your field six years, and you shall prune your vineyard six years, and gather in its fruits;
4 but 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.
5 What grows of itself in your harvest you shall not reap, and you shall not gather the grapes of your undressed vine. It shall be a year of solemn rest for the land.
6 The Sabbath of the land shall be for food for you; for yourself, for your servant, for your maid, for your hired servant, and for your stranger, who lives as a foreigner with you.
7 For your livestock also, and for the animals that are in your land, shall all its increase be for food.
God commands rest not only for people but for the land, calling His people to trust His provision.
This passage institutes the Sabbath year, commanding that the land itself observe a period of rest every seventh year under the LORD’s authority.
Leviticus 25 follows the sacred calendar of Leviticus 23 and the sanctuary/name concerns of Leviticus 24 by extending holiness into Israel’s economic and agricultural life in the land. This passage begins the sabbatical-year legislation and prepares for the Jubilee instructions that follow.
The LORD speaks to Moses at Mount Sinai, giving Israel instructions for life in the land He is giving them. The Israelites who will enter and cultivate the promised land under covenant obligation.
Sabbath for the Land, Jubilee Release, and the LORD's Ownership of Israel
Because the land and the Israelites belong to the LORD, Israel must structure land, labor, debt, poverty, redemption, and release around Sabbath trust, Jubilee restoration, and exodus-shaped mercy.