Leviticus 19:23-25

The Produce of Fruit Trees

19:23 “‘When you enter the land and plant any fruit tree, ¹  you must consider its fruit to be forbidden. ²  Three years it will be forbidden to you; ³  it must not be eaten. 19:24 In the fourth year all its fruit will be holy, praise offerings ⁴  to the Lord. 19:25 Then in the fifth year you may eat its fruit to add its produce to your harvest. ⁵  I am the Lord your God.

Leviticus 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 ⁶  to the Lord. 25:3 Six years you may sow your field, and six years you may prune your vineyard and gather the produce, ⁷ 

Genesis 4:4-5

4:4 But Abel brought ⁸  some of the firstborn of his flock – even the fattest ⁹  of them. And the Lord was pleased with ¹⁰  Abel and his offering, 4:5 but with Cain and his offering he was not pleased. ¹¹  So Cain became very angry, ¹²  and his expression was downcast. ¹³ 

Joshua 5:11-12

5:11 They ate some of the produce of the land the day after the Passover, including unleavened bread and roasted grain. ¹⁴  5:12 The manna stopped appearing the day they ate ¹⁵  some of the produce of the land; the Israelites never ate manna again. ¹⁶ 

[19:23]  ¹ tn Heb “tree of food”; KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV “trees for food.”

[19:23]  ² tn Heb “you shall circumcise its fruit [as] its foreskin,” taking the fruit to be that which is to be removed and, therefore, forbidden. Since the fruit is uncircumcised it is forbidden (see J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 306, and esp. B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 131-32).

[19:23]  ³ tn Heb “it shall be to you uncircumcised.”

[19:24]  ⁴ tn See B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 132, where the translation reads “set aside for jubilation”; a special celebration before the Lord.

[19:25]  ⁵ tn Heb “to add to you its produce.” The rendering here assumes that the point of this clause is simply that finally being allowed to eat the fruit in the fifth year adds the fruit of the tree to their harvest. Some take the verb to be from אָסַף (’asaf, “to gather”) rather than יָסַף (yasaf, “to add; to increase”), rendering the verse, “to gather to you the produce” (E. S. Gerstenberger, Leviticus [OTL], 260, and see the versions referenced in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 306). Others take it to mean that by following the regulations given previously they will honor the Lord so that the Lord will cause the trees to increase the amount of fruit they would normally produce (Hartley, 303, 306; cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[25:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “the land shall rest a Sabbath.”

[25:3]  ⁷ 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).

[4:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “But Abel brought, also he….” The disjunctive clause (conjunction + subject + verb) stresses the contrast between Cain’s offering and Abel’s.

[4:4]  ⁹ tn Two prepositional phrases are used to qualify the kind of sacrifice that Abel brought: “from the firstborn” and “from the fattest of them.” These also could be interpreted as a hendiadys: “from the fattest of the firstborn of the flock.” Another option is to understand the second prepositional phrase as referring to the fat portions of the sacrificial sheep. In this case one may translate, “some of the firstborn of his flock, even some of their fat portions” (cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV).

[4:4]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew verb שָׁעָה (sha’ah) simply means “to gaze at, to have regard for, to look on with favor [or “with devotion”].” The text does not indicate how this was communicated, but it indicates that Cain and Abel knew immediately. Either there was some manifestation of divine pleasure given to Abel and withheld from Cain (fire consuming the sacrifice?), or there was an inner awareness of divine response.

[4:5]  ¹¹ sn The Letter to the Hebrews explains the difference between the brothers as one of faith – Abel by faith offered a better sacrifice. Cain’s offering as well as his reaction to God’s displeasure did not reflect faith. See further B. K. Waltke, “Cain and His Offering,” WTJ 48 (1986): 363-72.

[4:5]  ¹² tn Heb “and it was hot to Cain.” This Hebrew idiom means that Cain “burned” with anger.

[4:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “And his face fell.” The idiom means that the inner anger is reflected in Cain’s facial expression. The fallen or downcast face expresses anger, dejection, or depression. Conversely, in Num 6 the high priestly blessing speaks of the Lord lifting up his face and giving peace.

[5:11]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew text adds, “on this same day.” This is somewhat redundant in English and has not been translated.

[5:12]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the day after, when they ate.” The present translation assumes this means the day after the Passover, though it is possible it refers to the day after they began eating the land’s produce.

[5:12]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and the sons of Israel had no more manna.”