Imamat 23:3

The Weekly Sabbath

23:3 “‘Six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there must be a Sabbath of complete rest, ¹  a holy assembly. You must not do any work; it is a Sabbath to the Lord in all the places where you live.

Imamat 25:2-3

25:2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When you enter the land that I am giving you, the land must observe a Sabbath ²  to the Lord. 25:3 Six years you may sow your field, and six years you may prune your vineyard and gather the produce, ³ 

[23:3]  ¹ tn This is a superlative expression, emphasizing the full and all inclusive rest of the Sabbath and certain festival times throughout the chapter (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 155). Cf. ASV “a sabbath of solemn rest.”

[25:2]  ² tn Heb “the land shall rest a Sabbath.”

[25:3]  ³ tn Heb “its produce,” but the feminine pronoun “its” probably refers to the “land” (a feminine noun in Hebrew; cf. v. 2), not the “field” or the “vineyard,” both of which are normally masculine nouns (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 170).