Leviticus 23: The Sabbath and the yearly feasts

In plain English: Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

In plain English: "Speak to the Israelites and tell them, 'These are Yahweh's set feasts (or: appointed times), which you are to proclaim as holy gatherings (holy convocations). These are my set feasts.

The Hebrew words: "Set feasts" is mo'ed, an appointed time (see Genesis 1:14). "Convocations" is miqra, which the dictionary gives as "something called out, i.e. a public meeting".

How it is translated: In Leviticus this Bible says "meeting" for mo'ed in 41 of the 45 verses that use it, as in "the Tent of Meeting". For miqra it says "convocation" or "convocations" in all 11 verses of Leviticus that use it.

What changes: Read as "appointed times", the feasts are dates set by Yahweh, not only celebrations. Read as "a calling together", a holy convocation is a day when the people are called to meet.

Church tradition: Jewish readers keep these feasts today. Churches differ: many do not keep them as law, some Christian groups do keep them, and many read them as pointing to Christ. Colossians 2:16 and 17 call a feast day and a Sabbath "a shadow of the things to come". Leviticus 23 calls several of these rules "a statute forever" (verse 14, 21, 31 and 41).

In plain English: "'Work may be done for six days, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of complete rest, a holy gathering. You must do no work of any kind. It is a Sabbath to Yahweh wherever you live.

Church tradition: Jewish readers and some churches keep the Sabbath on the seventh day, Saturday. Many churches worship on Sunday, the first day of the week, and churches differ on how this rule applies today. This verse names only "the seventh day".

In plain English: "'These are Yahweh's set feasts, the holy gatherings, which you are to proclaim at their appointed times.

In plain English: In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at evening (literally: between the two evenings), is Yahweh's Passover.

Good to know: Exodus 12:6 and 12:11 tell of the first Passover, kept on the fourteenth day of the first month.

Church tradition: 1 Corinthians 5:7 says, "Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed in our place", and many churches link the Passover with the death of Jesus. Jewish readers keep the Passover today.

In plain English: On the fifteenth day of that same month is Yahweh's feast of unleavened bread (bread made without yeast). For seven days you are to eat unleavened bread.

In plain English: On the first day you are to have a holy gathering. You must do no regular work (literally: work of service).

In plain English: For seven days you are to bring an offering made by fire to Yahweh. On the seventh day there is a holy gathering. You must do no regular work.'"

In plain English: Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

In plain English: "Speak to the Israelites and tell them, 'When you come into the land I am giving you and reap its harvest, you are to bring the priest the sheaf (a bundle of cut grain) of the first fruits of your harvest.

In plain English: He is to wave the sheaf before Yahweh, so that it is accepted for you. The priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath.

Good to know: The text does not say which Sabbath is meant. Jewish tradition reads it as the first day of the feast of unleavened bread, a day of rest (verse 7), so the sheaf is waved on the sixteenth of the month. Other readers, in the past and today, read it as the weekly Sabbath, so the sheaf is always waved on a Sunday. The count of fifty days in verses 15 and 16 starts from this day, so the two readings give different dates.

In plain English: On the day you wave the sheaf, you are to offer a male lamb a year old, without defect, as a burnt offering to Yahweh.

In plain English: Its grain offering is to be two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering made by fire to Yahweh, a pleasing aroma. Its drink offering is to be wine, a quarter of a hin.

In plain English: You must not eat bread, roasted grain, or fresh grain until that very day, until you have brought the offering of your God. This is a rule forever, for all your generations, wherever you live.

In plain English: "'Count from the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven full Sabbaths (or: seven full weeks).

In plain English: Count fifty days, to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then offer a new grain offering to Yahweh.

Good to know: Other books call this the feast of weeks (Exodus 34:22, Deuteronomy 16:10). Its Greek name, Pentecost, means "fiftieth".

Church tradition: Acts 2:1 tells that the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost, and many churches keep Pentecost for that reason. Leviticus 23 speaks only of the harvest feast.

In plain English: From where you live, bring two loaves of bread for a wave offering, made from two tenths of an ephah of fine flour. They are to be baked with yeast, as first fruits to Yahweh.

Good to know: Leviticus 2:11 says no grain offering burned to Yahweh may be made with yeast. These two loaves are baked with yeast, and verse 20 says they go to the priest.

In plain English: With the bread, offer seven male lambs a year old without defect, one young bull, and two rams. They are to be a burnt offering to Yahweh, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering made by fire, a pleasing aroma to Yahweh.

In plain English: Offer one male goat as a sin offering (or: purification offering), and two male lambs a year old as a sacrifice of peace offerings.

In plain English: The priest is to wave them, with the bread of the first fruits, as a wave offering before Yahweh, together with the two lambs. They are holy to Yahweh, for the priest.

In plain English: On that same day you are to make a proclamation: you are to have a holy gathering. You must do no regular work. This is a rule forever, wherever you live, for all your generations.

In plain English: "'When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap all the way to the edges of your field, and do not gather up what is left behind of your harvest. Leave it for the poor and for the foreigner. I am Yahweh your God.'"

Good to know: Leviticus 19:9 and 10 give the same rule about the edges of the field.

In plain English: Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

In plain English: "Speak to the Israelites and say, 'In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you are to have a day of rest, a day of remembrance with trumpet blasts (or: loud shouts), a holy gathering.

The Hebrew word: "Blowing of trumpets" is teru'ah. The dictionary gives it as "clamor, i.e. acclamation of joy or a battle-cry; especially clangor of trumpets". The verse has no word for "trumpet".

How it is translated: This Bible says "shout" or a similar word in 19 of the 33 verses that use it, and "trumpet" in 15 (some verses have both).

What changes: Read as "a day of shouting", the day is remembered with loud shouts, not only with trumpets. Numbers 29:1 calls it "a day of blowing of trumpets".

Church tradition: Jewish readers keep this day as Rosh Hashanah, the new year. Leviticus 23 does not call it a new year.

In plain English: You must do no regular work. You are to bring an offering made by fire to Yahweh.'"

In plain English: Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

In plain English: "But the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement. It is to be a holy gathering for you. You are to afflict (or: humble) yourselves and bring an offering made by fire to Yahweh.

The Hebrew words: "Atonement" is kippurim, which the dictionary gives as "expiation". "Afflict yourselves" is anah with nephesh, literally "afflict your souls". The dictionary gives anah as "to depress". Kippurim comes from kaphar, the word for "make atonement" in verse 28 (see the note on Leviticus 1:4).

How it is translated: This Bible says "atonement" in all 7 verses that use kippurim. In Leviticus it says "afflict" for anah in 3 of 5 verses and "deny" in 2.

Good to know: The text does not say how the people are to afflict themselves. Jewish readers keep the day as a fast, and Acts 27:9 speaks of "the Fast", which many readers take to be this day. Leviticus 16:29 to 31 gives the same day in more detail.

In plain English: You must do no work of any kind on that day, because it is a day of atonement, to make atonement for you before Yahweh your God.

In plain English: Anyone who does not humble himself (or: deny himself) on that day is to be cut off from his people.

In plain English: Anyone who does any work on that day, I will destroy that person from among his people.

In plain English: You must do no work of any kind. This is a rule forever, for all your generations, wherever you live.

In plain English: It is to be a Sabbath of complete rest for you, and you are to humble yourselves. From the evening of the ninth day of the month until the next evening, you are to keep your Sabbath."

In plain English: Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

In plain English: "Speak to the Israelites and say, 'On the fifteenth day of this seventh month begins Yahweh's feast of booths (huts, or: shelters), for seven days.

The Hebrew word: "Booths" is sukkot, the plural of sukkah, which the dictionary gives as "a hut or lair".

How it is translated: This Bible says "booths" or "booth" in 12 of the 29 verses that use the word and "shelter" or "shelters" in 10. Verses 42 and 43 here say "temporary shelters". Older Bibles call it the feast of tabernacles. John 7:2 calls it "the Feast of Booths".

In plain English: On the first day there is to be a holy gathering. You must do no regular work.

In plain English: For seven days you are to bring an offering made by fire to Yahweh. On the eighth day you are to have a holy gathering and bring an offering made by fire to Yahweh. It is a solemn assembly; you must do no regular work.

In plain English: "'These are Yahweh's set feasts, which you are to proclaim as holy gatherings, to bring offerings made by fire to Yahweh: burnt offerings, grain offerings, sacrifices, and drink offerings, each on its own day.

In plain English: These are besides Yahweh's Sabbaths, and besides your gifts, all your vows, and all your freewill offerings that you give to Yahweh.

In plain English: "'So on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the crops of the land, you are to keep Yahweh's feast for seven days. The first day is to be a day of rest, and the eighth day is to be a day of rest.

In plain English: On the first day you are to take fruit from fine (literally: splendid) trees, palm branches, branches of leafy trees, and willows (or: poplars) from the stream, and you are to rejoice before Yahweh your God for seven days.

Good to know: Jewish tradition reads this verse as four kinds of plants that are carried at the feast: the fruit of a citron tree, a palm branch, myrtle, and willow. Nehemiah 8:15 tells of branches gathered to make the shelters. The verse itself names the trees but does not say what is done with them.

In plain English: You are to keep it as a feast to Yahweh for seven days each year. It is a rule forever, for all your generations. Keep it in the seventh month.

In plain English: For seven days you are to live in shelters (booths). Everyone born an Israelite is to live in shelters,

In plain English: so that your descendants will know that I made the Israelites live in shelters when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.'"

In plain English: So Moses told the Israelites about Yahweh's set feasts.