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3 [1] SIX YEARS THOU SHALT SOW THY FIELD. Such is the way of Scripture to state [i.e., it is not a *command* that is expressed here, but it is merely the style of Scripture], just as it says, *Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work;* *Six days thou shalt do thy work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest*. According to the way of our Rabbis [the verse is to be interpreted as follows: “*Six years thou shalt sow thy field* — but not in the seventh year — this being a negative commandment which is derived from a positive commandment, and carries the force of a positive commandment.” Thus he who sows [his field] in the seventh year violates this positive commandment, and also the negative commandment [expressed in the verse, *thou shalt not sow thy field*]. A homiletic exposition of the Rabbis is as follows: “Rabbi Yishmael says: When Israel does the will of G-d, it has to observe only one year of rest [of the soil] in a seven-year cycle, as it is said, *Six years thou shalt sow thy field*. But if the people do not do the will of G-d, they have to make four ‘years of rest’ of the soil in one seven-year cycle. How so? He plows for one year and cannot sow until the next year, again he plows for one year and cannot sow until the next year. Thus there are four ‘years of rest’ in one seven-year cycle.”
Version: Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976
Source: https://www.nli.org.il/he/books/NNL_ALEPH002108945/NLI
License: CC-BY