Leviticus 19:10 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Leviticus 19:10
And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God.
to effect thoroughly · verb, piel imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular
vineyard
וְכַרְמְךָ֙ve.khar.me.Kha
H3754
a garden or vineyard · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
gather
תְלַקֵּ֑טte.la.Ket
H3950
properly · verb, piel imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular
grape
וּפֶ֥רֶטu.Fe.ret
H6528
a stray or single berry · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular construct
vineyard
כַּרְמְךָ֖kar.me.Kha
H3754
a garden or vineyard · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
leave
תַּעֲזֹ֣בta.'a.Zo
H5800
to loosen · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular
poor
לֶֽעָנִ֤יle.'a.Ni
H6041
depressed · preposition with the article + adjective, masculine singular absolute
stranger
וְלַגֵּר֙ve.la.Ger
H1616
properly · conjunction + preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
LORD
יְהוָ֥הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
God
אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם'e.lo.hei.Khem
H430
gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine plural
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Leviticus 25:6 And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you; for thee, and for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy s…
Isaiah 17:6 Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or fi…
Isaiah 24:13 When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning grapes…
Judges 8:2 And he said unto them, What have I done now in comparison of you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Ab…
Jeremiah 49:9 If grapegatherers come to thee, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? if thieves by night, they will destroy till they have enough.
Obadiah 1:5 If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night, (how art thou cut off!) would they not have stolen till they had enough? if the grapegatherers…
Micah 7:1 Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grapegleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat: my soul…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Leviticus 19:1-10
Moses is ordered to deliver the summary of the laws to all the congregation of the children of Israel (Lev 19:2); not to Aaron and his sons only, but to all the people, for they were all concerned to know their duty. Even in the darker ages of the law, that religion could not be of God which boasted of ignorance as its mother. Moses must make known God's statutes to all the congregation, and proclaim them through the camp. These laws, it is probable, he delivered himself to as many of the people as could be within hearing at once, and so by degrees at several times to them all. Many of the precepts here given they had received before, but it was requisite that they should be repeated, that t…
And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field--The right of the poor in Israel to glean after reapers, as well as to the unreaped corners of the field, was secured by a positive statute; and this, in addition to other enactments connected with the ceremonial law, formed a beneficial provision for their support. At the same time, proprietors were not obliged to admit them into the field until the grain had been carried off the field; and they seem also to have been left at liberty to choose the poor whom they deemed the most deserving or needful (Rut 2:2, Rut 2:8). This was the earliest law for the benefit of the poor that we read of in the cod…
When ye reap the harvest - Liberty for the poor to glean both the corn-fields and vineyards was a Divine institution among the Jews; for the whole of the Mosaic dispensation, like the Christian, breathed love to God and benevolence to man. The poor in Judea were to live by gleanings from the corn-fields and vine yards. To the honor of the public and charitable spirit of the English, this merciful law is in general as much attended to as if it had been incorporated with the Gospel.
Dictionary and topics
Agriculture — Tilling the ground (Gen. 2:15; 4:2, 3, 12) and rearing cattle were the chief employments in ancient times. The Egyptians excelled in agriculture. And after the Israelites entered into the possession…
Alms — Not found in the Old Testament, but repeatedly in the New. The Mosaic legislation (Lev. 25:35; Deut. 15:7) tended to promote a spirit of charity, and to prevent the occurrence of destitution among…
Beg — That the poor existed among the Hebrews we have abundant evidence (Ex. 23:11; Deut. 15:11), but there is no mention of beggars properly so called in the Old Testament. The poor were provided for by…
Beggar, Begging — The poor among the Hebrews were much favored. They were allowed to glean in the fields, and to gather whatever the land produced in the year in which it was not tilled (Leviticus 19:10; 25:5,6;…
Law of Moses — Is the whole body of the Mosaic legislation (1 Kings 2:3; 2 Kings 23:25; Ezra 3:2). It is called by way of eminence simply “the Law” (Heb. Torah, Deut. 1:5; 4:8, 44; 17:18, 19; 27:3, 8). As a written…
Poor — The Mosaic legislation regarding the poor is specially important. (1.) They had the right of gleaning the fields (Lev. 19:9, 10; Deut. 24:19, 21). (2.) In the sabbatical year they were to have their…
Agriculture · LAWS CONCERNING — LAWS CONCERNING
Gleaning · Laws concerning — Laws concerning
Harvest, The · Legal provision for the poor during — Legal provision for the poor during
Hospitality · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Poor · DUTY TO — DUTY TO
John Gill on Leviticus 19:10
And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard,.... Or cut off the little clusters which are, as Aben Ezra observes, like an infant, as the word signifies, infant clusters, which were small in comparison of the large ones, as infants are to men; those which had but a grape or two, or very few upon them, were not to be cut off, but left for the poor: and Gersom says, if the whole vine consisted of such clusters, it all belonged to the poor:
neither shall thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; every particular single grape; these were such as were left on the vine after the large clusters were gathered, and a man upon viewing it again might not gather such as had only a single grape or two upon them…
Leviticus 19:9, 10
9. And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest.
9. Quum messueritis messem regionis vestrae, non finies metere angulum agri tui, et collectionem messis tuae non colliges.
10. And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the Lord your God.
10. Et vineam tuam non racemabis, neque grana vineae tuae colliges: pauperi et peregrino relinques ea: ego Jehova Deus vester.
Keil & Delitzsch on Leviticus 19:9-18
Laws concerning the conduct towards one's neighbour, which should flow from unselfish love, especially with regard to the poor and distressed.
Lev 19:9-10
In reaping the field, "thou shalt not finish to reap the edge of thy field," i.e., not reap the field to the extreme edge; "neither shalt thou hold a gathering up (gleaning) of thy harvest," i.e., not gather together the ears left upon the field in the reaping. In the vineyard and olive-plantation, also, they were not to have any gleaning, or gather up what was strewn about (peret signifies the grapes and olives that had fallen off), but to leave them for the distressed and the foreigner, that he might also share in the harvest and gatheri…
do not harvest. . . . Leave them for the poor: Israel’s covenant with God included a social structure that created a leveling effect and resisted social divisions. Families were required to provide for family members who faced difficulties. Widows and orphans (Exod 22:22), the poor, and foreigners (Lev 19:10) were considered members of Israel’s extended family. The poor were not only given special consideration in the offering system (5:7-13), but positive steps were taken to make sure they had food to eat.
Rashi on Leviticus 19:10
לא תעולל AND THOU SHALT NOT GLEAN [THY VINE YARD] — (עלל is a verb connected with the noun עולל "young, tender, not developed"; cf. Samuel 15:3: עולל ויונק) thus לא תעולל means, thou shalt not take the tender grapes of it. They can be recognized as such from the description given in Mishna Peah 7:4 (cf. also Sifra, Kedoshim, Chapter 3 3) where it is stated: What are עוללות? Clusters which have neither כתף, “arms" nor נטף, "drippings".
ופרט כרמך [NEITHER SHALT THOU COLLECT] THE FALLEN GRAPES OF THY VINE YARD — i. e. the single berries of the grapes which fall to the ground during the grape gathering.
אני ה' אלהיכם I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD — the Judge Who am certain to punish if necessar…
Poor, The · Should: Provided for under the Law — Should: Provided for under the Law
Strangers In Israel · Laws respecting: To have the gleaning of the harvest — Laws respecting: To have the gleaning of the harvest
Vineyards · Laws respecting: The gleaning of, to be left for the poor — Laws respecting: The gleaning of, to be left for the poor
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
