Leviticus 23
23
Religious Festivals
1The Lord told Moses 2to say to the community of Israel:
I have chosen certain times for you to come together and worship me.
3 #
Ex 20.8-10; 23.12; 31.14,15; 34.21; 35.2; Dt 5.12-14. You have six days when you can do your work, but the seventh day of each week is holy because it belongs to me. No matter where you live, you must rest on the Sabbath and come together for worship. This law will never change.
Passover and the Festival of Thin Bread
(Numbers 28.16-25)
The Lord said:
4-5 #
Ex 12.1-13; Dt 16.1,2. Passover is another time when you must come together to worship me, and it must be celebrated on the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month#23.4,5 first month: Abib (also called Nisan), the first month of the Hebrew calendar, from about mid-March to mid-April. of each year.
6 #
Ex 12.14-20; 23.15; 34.18; Dt 16.3-8. The Festival of Thin Bread begins on the fifteenth day of that same month; it lasts seven days, and during this time you must honor me by eating bread made without yeast. 7On the first day of this festival you must rest from your work and come together for worship. 8Each day of this festival you must offer sacrifices. Then on the final day you must once again rest from your work and come together for worship.
Offering the First Part of the Harvest
9The Lord told Moses 10to say to the community of Israel:
After you enter the land I am giving you, the first bundle of wheat from each crop must be given to me. So bring it to a priest 11on the day after the Sabbath. He will lift it up#23.11 lift it up: See the note at 7.29,30. in dedication to me, and I will accept you. 12You must also offer a sacrifice to please me.#23.12 sacrifice to please me: See the note at 1.1-3. So bring the priest a one-year-old lamb that has nothing wrong with it 13and two kilograms of your finest flour mixed with olive oil. Then he will place these on the bronze altar and send them up in smoke with a smell that pleases me. Together with these, you must bring a liter of wine as a drink offering. 14I am your God, and I forbid you to eat any new grain or anything made from it until you have brought these offerings. This law will never change.
The Harvest Festival
(Numbers 28.26-31)
The Lord said:
15 #
Ex 23.16; 34.22; Dt 16.9-12. Seven weeks after you offer this bundle of grain, each family must bring another offering of new grain. 16Do this exactly 50 days later, which is the day following the seventh Sabbath. 17Bring two loaves of bread to be lifted up#23.17 lifted up: See the note at 7.29,30. in dedication to me. Each loaf is to be made with yeast and with two kilograms of the finest flour from the first part of your harvest.
18At this same time, the entire community of Israel must bring seven lambs that are a year old, a young bull, and two rams. These animals must have nothing wrong with them, and they must be offered as a sacrifice to please me.#23.18 sacrifice to please me: See the note at 1.1-3. You must also offer the proper grain and wine sacrifices with each animal.#23.18 proper grain … animal: See Numbers 15.1-16. 19Offer a goat#23.19 goat: See the note at 1.1-3. as a sacrifice for sin, and two rams a year old as a sacrifice to ask my blessing.#23.19 sacrifice to ask my blessing: See the note at 3.1. 20The priest will lift up#23.20 lift up: See the note at 7.29,30. the rams together with the bread in dedication to me. These offerings are holy and are my gift to the priest. 21This is a day of celebration and worship, a time of rest from your work. You and your descendants must obey this law.
22 #
Lv 19.9,10; Dt 24.19-22. When you harvest your grain, always leave some of it standing around the edges of your fields and don't pick up what falls on the ground. Leave it for the poor and for those foreigners who live among you. I am the Lord your God!
The Festival of Trumpets
(Numbers 29.1-6)
23The Lord told Moses 24-25to say to the people of Israel:
The first day of the seventh month#23.24,25 seventh month: See the note at 16.29. must be a day of complete rest. Then at the sound of the trumpets, you will come together to worship and to offer sacrifices on the altar.
The Great Day of Forgiveness
(Numbers 29.7-11)
26 #
Lv 16.29-34. The Lord God said to Moses:
27The tenth day of the seventh month#23.27 seventh month: See the note at 16.29. is the Great Day of Forgiveness.#23.27 Great Day of Forgiveness: See the note at 16.34. It is a solemn day of worship; everyone must go without eating to show sorrow for their sins, and sacrifices must be burned. 28No one is to work on that day—it is the Great Day of Forgiveness, when sacrifices will be offered to me, so that I will forgive your sins. 29I will destroy anyone who refuses to go without eating. 30-31None of my people are ever to do any work on that day—not now or in the future. And I will wipe out those who do! 32This is a time of complete rest just like the Sabbath, and everyone must go without eating from the evening of the ninth to the evening of the tenth.
The Festival of Shelters
(Numbers 29.12-40)
33 #
Dt 16.13-15. The Lord told Moses 34to say to the community of Israel:
Beginning on the fifteenth day of the seventh month,#23.34 seventh month: See the note at 16.29. and continuing for seven days, everyone must celebrate the Festival of Shelters in honor of me. 35No one is to do any work on the first day of the festival—it is a time when everyone must come together for worship. 36For seven days, sacrifices must be offered on the altar. The eighth day is also to be a day of complete rest, as well as a time of offering sacrifices on the altar and of coming together for worship.
37I have chosen these festivals as times when my people must come together for worship and when animals, grain, and wine are to be offered on the proper days. 38These festivals must be celebrated in addition to the Sabbaths and the times when you offer special gifts or sacrifices to keep a promise or as a voluntary offering.
39Remember to begin the Festival of Shelters on the fifteenth day of the seventh month after you have harvested your crops. Celebrate this festival for seven days in honor of me and don't do any work on the first day or on the day following the festival. 40Pick the best fruit from your trees#23.40 best fruit from your trees: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text. and cut leafy branches to use during the time of this joyous celebration in my honor. 41I command you and all of your descendants to celebrate this festival during the seventh month of each year. 42For seven days every Israelite must live in a shelter, 43so future generations will know that I made their ancestors live in shelters when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.
44This is how Moses instructed the people of Israel to celebrate the Lord's festivals.
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Leviticus 23: CEV
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Leviticus 23
23
1The Lord told Moses, 2“Tell the Israelites that these are my religious festivals, the festivals of the Lord that you are to call as the holy times when we meet together. 3You have six days to work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of complete rest, a holy day of meeting together. Don't do any work. It is the Lord's Sabbath everywhere you live.
4These are the Lord's religious festivals, the holy meetings that you are to announce at their specific times. 5The Lord's Passover starts on the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month. 6The Lord's Festival of Unleavened Bread begins on the fifteenth day of the first month. For seven days the bread you eat must be made without yeast. 7On the first day you are to hold a holy meeting. You must not do any of your usual work. 8For seven days you shall present food offerings to the Lord. There is to be a holy meeting on the seventh day. You must not do any of your usual work.”
9The Lord told Moses, 10“Tell the Israelites that when you enter the land that I'm giving you and you harvest your crops, take a stack of grain from the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest. 11He will wave the stack of grain before the Lord so that it may be accepted on your behalf. The priest is to do this the day following the Sabbath. 12When you wave the stack of grain, you are to present a one-year-old lamb without defects as a burnt offering to the Lord, 13together with its grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of the best flour mixed with olive oil (a food offering to the Lord to be accepted by him) and its drink offering of a quarter of a hin of wine. 14Don't eat any bread, roasted grain, or new grain until the time you bring this offering to your God. This regulation is for all time and for future generations everywhere you live.
15Count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath—the day you brought the stack of grain as a wave offering. 16Count fifty days until the day after the seventh Sabbath, and on that day present an offering of new grain to the Lord. 17Bring two loaves of bread from your homes as a wave offering. Make them from two-tenths of an ephah of the best flour, baked with yeast, as the firstfruits to the Lord. 18As well as the bread, present seven one-year-old male lambs without defects, one young bull, and two rams. They will be a burnt offering to the Lord, as well as their grain offerings and drink offerings, a food offering to the Lord to be accepted by him. 19Present one male goat as a sin offering and two one-year-old male lambs as a peace offering. 20The priest will wave the lambs as a wave offering before the Lord, along with the bread of the firstfruits. The bread and the two lambs are holy to the Lord and belong to the priest. 21That same day you are to announce a holy meeting, and you must not do any of your usual work. This regulation is for all time and for future generations everywhere you live.
22When you harvest the crops grown on your land, don't harvest right up to the edges of your field, or collect what has been missed. Leave them for the poor people and foreigners. I am the Lord your God.”
23The Lord told Moses, 24“Tell the Israelites that on the first day of the seventh month you are to have a special Sabbath of complete rest, a holy meeting that is announced by the sound of trumpets. 25Don't do any of your usual work; instead you are to present a food offering to the Lord.”
26The Lord told Moses, 27“The Day of Atonement is on the tenth day of this seventh month. You are to have a holy meeting, deny yourselves,#23:27. “Deny yourselves”: this is usually taken to mean fasting and the avoidance of pleasures. and present a food offering to the Lord 28On this day you must not do any of your usual work because it is the Day of Atonement, when things are made right for you before the Lord your God. 29Anyone who does not practice self-denial on this day must be expelled from their people. 30I will destroy anyone of you who does any work on this day. 31Don't do any kind of work at all. This regulation is for all time and for future generations everywhere you live. 32It is to be a Sabbath of complete rest for you, and you shall practice self-denial. You are to observe your Sabbath from the evening of the ninth day of the month until evening the next day.”
33The Lord told Moses, 34“Tell the Israelites that the Feast of Tabernacles to honor the Lord begins on the fifteenth day of the seventh month and lasts for seven days. 35On the first day have a holy meeting. You must not do any of your usual work. 36For seven days you shall present food offerings to the Lord. On the eighth day you are to have another holy meeting and present a food offering to the Lord. It is a meeting for worship. You must not do any of your usual work.
37These are the Lord's holy festivals, which you are to announce as holy meetings for presenting food offerings to the Lord. These include burnt offerings, grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each according to the specific day. 38All of these offerings are in addition to those for the Lord's Sabbaths. They are also in addition to your gifts, to all your offerings to fulfill promises, and to all the freewill offerings you present to the Lord.
39You shall celebrate a feast to honor the Lord for seven days on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, once you have harvested your crops. The first day and the eighth day are Sabbaths of complete rest. 40On the first day you are to gather branches from large trees, from palm trees, from leafy trees and of river willows, and celebrate before the Lord your God for seven days. 41You are to hold this festival to honor the Lord for seven days every year. This regulation is for all time and for all future generations.
42You are to live in temporary shelters#23:42. Made from the tree branches mentioned in verse 40. for seven days. Every Israelite born in the country must live in shelters, 43so that your descendants will remember that I made the Israelites live in shelters when I led them out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.”
44So Moses told the Israelites all about the Lord's festivals.
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com