Leviticus 23

The LORD spoke to Moses. He said:

1And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

2"Speak to the people of Israel and say to them: These are the appointed feasts of the LORD, which you are to announce as holy gatherings. These are my feasts.

2Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.

Note"Feasts" here translates a Hebrew word meaning appointed times, fixed dates in the calendar, not banquets, though several involved eating. A "holy gathering" (KJV "holy convocation") was a summons for the people to assemble; the announcement was made publicly so everyone knew the date had arrived.

3Work may be done for six days, but the seventh day is a sabbath of complete rest, a holy gathering. You are to do no work on it. Wherever you live, it is a sabbath to the LORD.

3Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.

NoteThe sabbath is the seventh day of the week, from a Hebrew verb meaning to stop or cease. "Wherever you live" marks it out from the other feasts: it needed no sanctuary and no priest, so it was kept in every household rather than at one central place.

4These are the feasts of the LORD, the holy gatherings, which you are to announce at their appointed times.

4These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.

5On the fourteenth day of the first month, in the evening, is the LORD's Passover.

5In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD’s passover.

NoteThe first month is the spring month later called Nisan (earlier Abib), falling in March or April. Passover takes its English name from the account in Exodus of the night in Egypt when Israelite houses were passed over. The Israelite day ran from sunset to sunset, so "in the evening" is the beginning of the fourteenth day's close and the start of the fifteenth, which is why the seven-day feast in the next verse begins on the fifteenth.

6On the fifteenth day of that same month is the LORD's Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days you must eat bread made without yeast.

6And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.

NoteBread without yeast is flat and quick to make, since it needs no time to rise. Exodus connects it with leaving Egypt in haste. Yeast was kept going from batch to batch as a lump of old sour dough, so "removing the yeast" meant throwing out that starter and beginning again.

7On the first day you are to hold a holy gathering. You are to do no ordinary work on it.

7In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.

Note"Ordinary work" (KJV "servile work") translates a phrase meaning laborious or occupational work, the tasks of one's trade. It is a narrower ban than the total prohibition on "any work" that applies to the weekly sabbath and to the Day of Atonement in verse 28.

8For seven days you are to present an offering made by fire to the LORD. On the seventh day there is a holy gathering. You are to do no ordinary work on it."

8But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.

NoteAn "offering made by fire" is one burned on the altar rather than eaten. The chapter names the offering type without giving the quantities; those are set out in Numbers 28–29.

9The LORD spoke to Moses. He said:

9And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

10"Speak to the people of Israel and say to them: When you come into the land that I am giving you, and you harvest its crops, bring a bundle of the first grain you cut to the priest.

10Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:

NoteFirstfruits are the earliest part of a crop to ripen, presented before any of the rest is used. The harvest here is barley, the first grain to ripen in spring. A "sheaf" is a bundle of cut stalks, tied together as reapers worked.

11He is to lift the bundle up and wave it before the LORD, so that it will be accepted for you. The priest is to wave it on the day after the sabbath.

11And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.

NoteThe wave offering was a ritual gesture of presentation, the offering was lifted and moved before the altar to mark it as handed over to God. Which sabbath "the day after the sabbath" means was disputed already in ancient times: some read it as the weekly sabbath falling in the festival week, others as the festival day of verse 7 itself, and the two readings put the count of verse 15 on different dates.

12On the day you wave the bundle, you are to offer a male lamb a year old with no flaw in it, as a burnt offering to the LORD.

12And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the LORD.

NoteA burnt offering was burned whole on the altar; none of it was eaten. "With no flaw in it" means physically unblemished, animals with defects were disqualified.

13Its grain offering is to be two tenths of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering made by fire to the LORD, a pleasing smell. Its drink offering is to be a quarter hin of wine.

13And the meat offering thereof shall be two tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the LORD for a sweet savour: and the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of an hin.

Note"Two tenths" means two tenths of an ephah, the standard dry measure; the unit is left unstated in the Hebrew. That is roughly four liters, about seven pints of flour. A hin was a liquid measure of about three and a half liters, so a quarter hin is close to a liter, or a pint and a half. The KJV's "meat offering" means a food offering of grain, in 1611 "meat" meant food in general, not flesh.

14You are not to eat bread, or roasted grain, or fresh grain, until that very day, the day you bring this offering to your God. This is a lasting rule for all your generations, wherever you live.

14And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

NoteThe rule bars eating any of the new crop until the offering has been made. "Roasted grain" is fresh grain parched over a fire, a common field food at harvest time; "fresh grain" is grain eaten straight from the ear.

15From the day after the sabbath, the day you brought the bundle of the wave offering, you are to count seven full weeks.

15And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete:

16You are to count fifty days, up to the day after the seventh week. Then you are to present an offering of new grain to the LORD.

16Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD.

NoteSeven weeks plus a day gives fifty; this festival was known as the Feast of Weeks, and Greek-speaking Jews called it Pentecost, from their word for fiftieth. It falls at the wheat harvest, seven weeks after the barley offering of verse 10.

17From your homes you are to bring two loaves to be waved, each made from two tenths of fine flour. They are to be baked with yeast, as firstfruits to the LORD.

17Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD.

NoteBaked with yeast is unusual: grain offerings burned on the altar were normally unleavened (Leviticus 2:11). These loaves were waved and given to the priests to eat rather than burned, and represent ordinary bread as households actually baked it.

18With the bread you are to offer seven lambs a year old with no flaw in them, one young bull, and two rams. They are to be a burnt offering to the LORD, along with their grain offerings and their drink offerings, an offering made by fire, a pleasing smell to the LORD.

18And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt offering unto the LORD, with their meat offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savour unto the LORD.

19Then you are to sacrifice one male goat as a sin offering, and two lambs a year old as a sacrifice of peace offerings.

19Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings.

NoteA sin offering (also translated purification offering) dealt with impurity and unintentional wrongdoing. A peace offering, or fellowship offering, was shared out and eaten, part burned, part to the priests, the rest to the worshipers.

20The priest is to wave them, together with the bread of the firstfruits, as a wave offering before the LORD, along with the two lambs. They are holy to the LORD, and they belong to the priest.

20And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest.

NoteThe priests had no farmland of their own, so fixed portions of the offerings were their livelihood. "Holy to the LORD" marks the food as set apart, which is why only priests could eat it.

21On that same day you are to make an announcement, so that it will be a holy gathering for you. You are to do no ordinary work on it. This is a lasting rule wherever you live, for all your generations.

21And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.

22When you harvest the crops of your land, you are not to harvest right up to the corners of your field, and you are not to pick up what is left behind by the harvesters. Leave it for the poor and for the foreigner living among you. I am the LORD your God."

22And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am the LORD your God.

NoteGleaning: harvesters were to leave the field edges uncut and not go back for stalks they had dropped, so that people with no land could gather food by working the leftovers themselves. "The foreigner living among you" means a resident outsider without tribal land rights. The book of Ruth turns on this practice. The law appears here, in the middle of the harvest festivals, rather than with the other agricultural laws.

23The LORD spoke to Moses. He said:

23And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

24"Speak to the people of Israel and say: In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you are to have a day of rest, a memorial marked by the blowing of trumpets, a holy gathering.

24Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.

NoteThe seventh month is the autumn month later called Tishri, falling in September or October. The trumpet is a ram's horn, sounded in loud blasts. The text does not say what the day is a memorial of. In later Judaism this day became Rosh Hashanah, the new year.

25You are to do no ordinary work on it, but you are to present an offering made by fire to the LORD."

25Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

26The LORD spoke to Moses. He said:

26And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

27"On the tenth day of this seventh month there is to be a day of atonement. It is to be a holy gathering for you. You are to humble yourselves and present an offering made by fire to the LORD.

27Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

NoteAtonement is the removal of accumulated impurity and guilt so that the sanctuary and people can remain in God's presence; the full ritual is described in Leviticus 16. "Humble yourselves" translates the KJV's "afflict your souls", a Hebrew phrase for self-denial, understood from early times to mean fasting.

28You are to do no work on that same day, because it is a day of atonement, to make atonement for you before the LORD your God.

28And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the LORD your God.

29Anyone who does not humble himself on that same day is to be cut off from his people.

29For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people.

Note"Cut off from his people" is a fixed legal formula in these laws. Its exact force is disputed: it may mean expulsion from the community, or death, or the ending of a person's family line, the texts do not spell it out.

30And anyone who does any work on that same day, I will destroy that person from among his people.

30And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people.

31You are to do no work of any kind. This is a lasting rule for all your generations, wherever you live.

31Ye shall do no manner of work: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

32It 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."

32It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.

NoteThis fixes the reckoning of the day: it begins at sunset, so the fast starting on the evening of the ninth covers the whole of the tenth day.

33The LORD spoke to Moses. He said:

33And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

34"Speak to the people of Israel and say: On the fifteenth day of this seventh month begins the Feast of Booths to the LORD, and it lasts seven days.

34Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the LORD.

Note"Booths" (KJV "tabernacles") are temporary shelters of branches, of the kind built in fields at harvest time. The festival is known in Hebrew as Sukkot.

35On the first day there is a holy gathering. You are to do no ordinary work on it.

35On the first day shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.

36For seven days you are to present an offering made by fire to the LORD. On the eighth day you are to hold a holy gathering and present an offering made by fire to the LORD. It is a solemn assembly, and you are to do no ordinary work on it.

36Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein.

Note"Solemn assembly" translates a Hebrew word meaning a closing or restraining, a concluding gathering that rounds off the festival. The eighth day stands slightly apart: it follows the seven days rather than belonging to them.

37These are the feasts of the LORD, which you are to announce as holy gatherings, for presenting offerings made by fire to the LORD: a burnt offering, a grain offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, each one on its own day.

37These are the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD, a burnt offering, and a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, every thing upon his day:

NoteA drink offering was wine poured out at the altar alongside the animal and grain offerings.

38These are in addition to the sabbaths of the LORD, and in addition to your gifts, and all your vow offerings, and all the offerings you freely choose to give to the LORD.

38Beside the sabbaths of the LORD, and beside your gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill offerings, which ye give unto the LORD.

NoteGifts, vow offerings and freely given offerings were voluntary, brought when someone chose to, or to fulfill a promise made earlier. The point is that the festival offerings are additional to all of these, not a substitute for them.

39Also, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the crops of the land, you are to hold a feast to the LORD for seven days. The first day is a day of rest, and the eighth day is a day of rest.

39Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath.

NoteThis is the autumn ingathering, when grapes, olives and the late fruit crops were brought in, the end of the agricultural year.

40On the first day you are to take the fruit of fine trees, branches of palm trees, branches from leafy trees, and willows from the streambed. You are to celebrate before the LORD your God for seven days.

40And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days.

NoteThe Hebrew of the first phrase says "fruit of splendid trees," which the KJV renders as boughs; both branches and fruit have been understood. In later Jewish practice these four kinds became the citron and the bound bundle of palm, myrtle and willow carried during the festival. "Willows from the streambed" are trees growing along a wadi, a watercourse dry for much of the year.

41You are to keep it as a feast to the LORD for seven days each year. This is a lasting rule for all your generations. You are to keep it in the seventh month.

41And ye shall keep it a feast unto the LORD seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month.

42You are to live in booths for seven days. Everyone born an Israelite is to live in booths,

42Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths:

NoteLiving in a booth for a week meant leaving a solid house for a makeshift shelter. "Everyone born an Israelite" is the wording of the command; it does not state what was required of resident foreigners.

43so that your descendants will know that I made the people of Israel live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God."

43That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

NoteThe stated reason is the wilderness period after leaving Egypt, when the people had no permanent houses, so the shelters recall that time, not merely the harvest season in which they were built.

44So Moses told the people of Israel about the feasts of the LORD.

44And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the LORD.