• Leviticus 25:1-7
    And the LORD spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall keep a sabbath to the LORD. Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather its fruit; but in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath to the LORD. You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard. What grows of its own accord of your harvest you shall not reap, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine, for it is a year of rest for the land. 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, for your livestock and the beasts that are in your land—all its produce shall be for food.
     
  • Exodus 23:10-11
    “Six years you shall sow your land and gather in its produce, but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave, the beasts of the field may eat. In like manner you shall do with your vineyard and your olive grove.
     
  • Deuteronomy 15:1-6
    “At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release of debts. And this is the form of the release: Every creditor who has lent anything to his neighbor shall release it; he shall not require it of his neighbor or his brother, because it is called the LORD’s release. Of a foreigner you may require it; but you shall give up your claim to what is owed by your brother, except when there may be no poor among you; for the LORD will greatly bless you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance— only if you carefully obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe with care all these commandments which I command you today. For the LORD your God will bless you just as He promised you; you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow; you shall reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over you.
     
  • Leviticus 25:20-22
    ‘And if you say, “What shall we eat in the seventh year, since we shall not sow nor gather in our produce?” Then I will command My blessing on you in the sixth year, and it will bring forth produce enough for three years. And you shall sow in the eighth year, and eat old produce until the ninth year; until its produce comes in, you shall eat of the old harvest.
     
  • Leviticus 26:31-35
    I will lay your cities waste and bring your sanctuaries to desolation, and I will not smell the fragrance of your sweet aromas. I will bring the land to desolation, and your enemies who dwell in it shall be astonished at it. I will scatter you among the nations and draw out a sword after you;your land shall be desolate and your cities waste. Then the land shall enjoy its sabbaths as long as it lies desolate and you are in your enemies’ land;then the land shall rest and enjoy its sabbaths. As long as it lies desolate it shall rest—for the time it did not rest on your sabbaths when you dwelt in it.
     
  • 2 Chronicles 36:20-21
    And those who escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon, where they became servants to him and his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths. As long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.
     
For more scripture references, please see Bible verses for Sabbath, Land


Resources

How Do the Land Sabbath and Jubilee Years Work (Leviticus 25)?

Bible Questions & Answers

After seven cycles of sabbatical years, a total of 49 years, the fiftieth year was proclaimed a jubilee. The land was to rest from cultivation.


The Fourth Commandment (Part Two): Christ's Attitude Toward the Sabbath

'Personal' from John W. Ritenbaugh

In the Gospels, questions about the Sabbath center on how to keep it, not whether it should be kept. The way Jesus approached the Sabbath gives us an example.


The Shemitah: God's Year of Release

Sermonette by David C. Grabbe

Because we have spurned God's years of release, we have reaped a whirlwind of curses, including crop failure and devastating stock market crashes.


The Year of Release

Sermonette by John W. Ritenbaugh (1932-2023)

The land Sabbath is a type of the weekly Sabbath, wherein the land is given time to regenerate, and all debts (and grudges) are forgiven and slaves set free.


Lessons From a Sandpile

Commentary by David C. Grabbe

Inspired by a sandpile, physicists developed a computer model to simulated the critical juncture when a single grain of sand would cause an avalanche.


The Farm

CGG Weekly by James Kelley

What could the earth be like if man worked in harmony with God's instructions on this matter? What will the earth look like in the Kingdom of God?


Prosperity

Feast of Tabernacles Sermon by John O. Reid

We still suffer the consequences of Israel's request to have a king like other nations and to adopt political and economic systems like every other nation.


When Is the Year of Release (Shemitah)?

Sermon by David C. Grabbe

The anchor point of both the Shemitah and Jubilee is the Day of Atonement. Deuteronomy should be read at the Feast just after the year of release begins.



For more resources, please see the library topic for Sabbath, Land