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
1And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, 2Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the set feasts of Jehovah, which ye shall proclaim as holy convocations — these are my set feasts. 3Six days shall work be done; but on the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, a holy convocation; no manner of work shall ye do: it is the sabbath to Jehovah in all your dwellings.
4These are the set feasts of Jehovah, holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons: 5In the first month, on the fourteenth of the month, between the two evenings, is the passover to Jehovah. 6And on the fifteenth day of this month is the feast of unleavened bread to Jehovah; seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread. 7On the first day ye shall have a holy convocation: no manner of servile work shall ye do. 8And ye shall present to Jehovah an offering by fire seven days; on the seventh day is a holy convocation: no manner of servile work shall ye do. 9And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, 10Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them, When ye come into the land that I give unto you, and ye reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the first-fruits of your harvest unto the priest. 11And he shall wave the sheaf before Jehovah, to be accepted for you; on the next day after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. 12And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf, a he-lamb without blemish, a yearling, for a burnt-offering to Jehovah; 13and the oblation thereof: two tenths of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering by fire to Jehovah for a sweet odour; and the drink-offering thereof, of wine, a fourth part of a hin. 14And ye shall not eat bread, or roast corn, or green ears, until the same day that ye have brought the offering of your God#GodHebrew: Elohim it is an everlasting statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
15And ye shall count from the morning after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave-offering, seven weeks; they shall be complete; 16even unto the morning after the seventh sabbath shall ye count fifty days; and ye shall present a new oblation to Jehovah. 17Out of your dwellings shall ye bring two wave-loaves, of two tenths of fine flour; with leaven shall they be baken; as first-fruits to Jehovah. 18And ye shall present with the bread seven he-lambs without blemish, yearlings, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be a burnt-offering to Jehovah with their oblation, and their drink-offerings, an offering by fire of a sweet odour to Jehovah. 19And ye shall sacrifice one buck of the goats for a sin-offering, and two he-lambs, yearlings, for a sacrifice of peace-offering. 20And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the first-fruits as a wave-offering before Jehovah, with the two he-lambs; they shall be holy to Jehovah, for the priest. 21And ye shall make proclamation on that same day — a holy convocation shall it be unto you: no manner of servile work shall ye do: it is an everlasting statute in all your dwellings throughout your generations. 22And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not in thy harvest entirely reap the corners of thy field, and the gleaning of thy harvest shalt thou not gather: thou shalt leave them unto the poor and to the stranger: I am Jehovah your God#GodHebrew: Elohim
23And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, 24Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, on the first of the month, shall ye have a rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. 25No manner of servile work shall ye do; and ye shall present an offering by fire to Jehovah. 26And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, 27Also on the tenth of this seventh month is the day of the atonement: a holy convocation shall it be unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and present an offering by fire to Jehovah. 28And ye shall do no manner of work on that same day; for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement for you before Jehovah your God#GodHebrew: Elohim 29For every soul that is not afflicted on that same day, shall be cut off from among his peoples. 30And every soul that doeth any manner of work on that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people. 31No manner of work shall ye do: it is an everlasting statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings. 32A sabbath of rest shall it be unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls. On the ninth of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.
33And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, 34Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the feast of booths seven days to Jehovah. 35On the first day there shall be a holy convocation: no manner of servile work shall ye do. 36Seven days ye shall present an offering by fire to Jehovah; on the eighth day shall be a holy convocation unto you; and ye shall present an offering by fire to Jehovah: it is a solemn assembly; no manner of servile work shall ye do. 37These are the set feasts of Jehovah, which ye shall proclaim as holy convocations, to present an offering by fire to Jehovah, a burnt-offering, and an oblation, a sacrifice, and drink-offerings, everything upon its day; 38besides the sabbaths of Jehovah, and besides your gifts, and besides all your vows, and besides all your voluntary offerings, which ye give to Jehovah. 39But on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the produce of the land, ye shall celebrate the feast of Jehovah seven days: on the first day there shall be rest, and on the eighth day there shall be rest. 40And ye shall take on the first day the fruit of beautiful trees, palm branches and the boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before Jehovah your God#GodHebrew: Elohim seven days. 41And ye shall celebrate it as a feast to Jehovah seven days in the year: it is an everlasting statute throughout your generations; in the seventh month shall ye celebrate it. 42In booths shall ye dwell seven days; all born in Israel shall dwell in booths; 43that your generations may know that I caused the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am Jehovah your God#GodHebrew: Elohim 44And Moses declared the set feasts of Jehovah to the children of Israel.
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First published in 1890. This edition is maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.