The Blessing of Obedience

If Israel keeps the LORD’s statutes and judgments, they will dwell securely in the land, and the land will yield enough fruit for them to eat fully and live in safety.

Y¹⁸ou are to keep My statutes and carefully observe My judgments, so that you may dwell securely in the land. ¹⁹Then the land will yield its fruit, so that you can eat your fill and dwell in safety in the land.

The chapter anticipates the question of food during the unsown year and answers it with promise: the LORD will bless the sixth year with enough produce for three years, covering the gap until the next harvest arrives.

²⁰Now you may wonder, ‘What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not sow or gather our produce?’ ²¹But I will send My blessing upon you in the sixth year, so that the land will yield a crop sufficient for three years. ²²While you are sowing in the eighth year, you will be eating from the previous harvest, until the ninth year’s harvest comes in.