You shall not reap … you shall not gather: some translators have been perplexed by the seeming inconsistency between these prohibitions and the statement in verse 7 indicating that the food produced during the rest year could be eaten. “How can you eat what you don’t reap or harvest?” they ask. The solution lies in the fact that these verbs seem to refer to farming and harvesting organized by the owner of the land. But individuals—whether masters, servants or visitors—were still permitted to pick and gather whatever produce they could find.

What grows of itself: even though no new seeds were sown, some grain would be produced from seed that had fallen to the ground during the previous harvest. Both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation may give some readers the impression of some kind of spontaneous plant life. New English Bible makes the meaning clearer with “the crop that grows from fallen grain.”

Undressed vine: that is, a vine that has not been pruned or tended in the normal fashion. The word used here is related to the word for “Nazirite” or “consecrated one” (Num 6), since a part of the vow of a Nazirite involved not cutting the hair. New Jerusalem Bible has “your untrimmed vines” (compare also New Jerusalem Bible).

A year of solemn rest: or “complete rest.” See 16.31 and 23.3 as well as verse 4 above.

Quoted with permission from Péter-Contesse, René and Ellington, John. A Handbook on Leviticus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1990. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .