For six years you shall work the land
harvesting crops, spreading fruits to dry
such a bounty the land has given you
but she belongs to only One
this you shall know, when the fields turn quiet and the trees grow heavy
living in the seventh year.
Pull down the fences, knock down the walls
all who are hungry, let them come and eat!
There are no partitions, we are one nation in the land
this shall become apparent, as the poor enter to pick their fill
as the farmers look up and smile
from their books of study,
living in the seventh year.
When the seventh year is up – a reset
annul all debts, wipe clean every loan
they shall not be held in perpetuity
to cripple the poor
in our society we walk upright
this is what it means to be
living in the seventh year.
Neither private wealth nor public welfare
slip through the net of Shmita
and just as Shabbat safeguards our people
does the Shmita safeguard our land,
So even in the six years, we are always
living in the seventh year.
