Leviticus 23 - Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)

The Calendar of Holy Times

23 The Lord told Moses ² to speak to the Israelites and to tell them this:

These are the appointed times of the Lord, which you shall proclaim as holy convocations. These are my appointed times:

The Sabbath

³ On six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there shall be a sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation. You shall not do any work. It shall be a sabbath to the Lord in all the places you live.

⁴ These are the appointed times of the Lord, the holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times.

The Festival of Passover

⁵ The first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight, is the Lord’s Passover, ⁶ and the fifteenth day of this month is the Festival of Unleavened Bread for the Lord. You shall eat unleavened bread for seven days. ⁷ On the first day a holy convocation is to be proclaimed for you. You shall not do any work in your regular occupation. ⁸ You shall present an offering by fire to the Lord for seven days. The seventh day shall be proclaimed as a holy convocation. You shall not do any work for your regular occupation.

The Festival of Firstfruits

⁹ The Lord told Moses ¹⁰ to speak to the people of Israel and tell them this:

When you enter the land that I am giving to you and you reap its harvest, and when you bring the first sheaf of your harvest to the priest ¹¹ so that he may wave the sheaf before the Lord so that you will be accepted, the priest shall wave it on the day after the Sabbath. ¹² On the day that you wave the sheaf, you shall offer as a burnt offering to the Lord a lamb without blemish, one year old. ¹³ The grain offering accompanying it is to be four quarts^[a] of fine wheat flour mixed with oil, a gift to the Lord, a pleasing aroma. The drink offering accompanying it shall be a quart^[b] of wine. ¹⁴ You shall not eat any of this year’s bread or roasted grain or fresh ears until this very day, until you have brought the offering of your God. This is a permanent regulation throughout your generations in all the places you live.

The Festival of Weeks or Pentecost

¹⁵ Then from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you bring the sheaf to be waved, you shall count off seven weeks for yourselves. They must be complete weeks. ¹⁶ You shall count fifty days, until you reach the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall present an offering of new grain to the Lord. ¹⁷ From the places where you live you shall bring two loaves of bread as a wave offering. They shall be made of four quarts of fine wheat flour, baked with yeast, as first ripe produce for the Lord.

¹⁸ Then with the bread you shall present seven lambs without blemish, each of them one year old, one young bull from the herd, and two rams—they shall be a whole burnt offering for the Lord, together with their grain offerings and their drink offerings, an offering made by fire, with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. ¹⁹ You shall also present the sin offering with one male goat and the fellowship offering with two one-year-old male lambs. ²⁰ The priest shall wave them, together with the bread from the first ripe produce, as a wave offering before the Lord, in addition to the two lambs. They shall be holy to the Lord for the priest.

²¹ On this very same day you shall make a proclamation. A holy convocation will be proclaimed for you. You shall do no work in your regular occupation. This is a permanent regulation in all the places you live throughout your generations.

²² When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not completely reap the edges of your field or gather the dropped stalks from your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the resident alien. I am the Lord your God.

The Festival of the Ram’s Horn^[c]

²³ The Lord told Moses ²⁴ to speak to the people of Israel:

In the seventh month, on the first of the month, you shall have a complete rest, a memorial celebration with loud blasts of the ram’s horn, proclaimed as a holy convocation. ²⁵ You shall not do any work in your regular occupation, and you shall present a gift made by fire to the Lord.

The Day of Atonement

²⁶ The Lord spoke to Moses:

²⁷ It is the tenth day of this seventh month that is the Day of Atonement. It shall be proclaimed as a holy convocation for you. You shall humble yourselves,^[d] and you shall present an offering made by fire to the Lord. ²⁸ You shall not do any work on this special day,^[e] because it is the Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. ²⁹ Indeed, anyone who does not humble himself on this special day will be cut off from his people. ³⁰ Anyone who does any work on this very special day, I will exterminate from the midst of his people. ³¹ You shall do no work. This is a permanent regulation throughout your generations in all your places where you live. ³² It is a sabbath of complete rest for you. You shall humble yourselves on the ninth day of the month at evening. From that evening until the next evening, you shall observe a sabbath rest.

The Festival of Shelters

³³ The Lord told Moses ³⁴ to tell the people of Israel this:

Beginning on the fifteenth day of this seventh month, celebrate the Festival of Shelters^[f] for seven days for the Lord. ³⁵ On the first day proclaim a holy convocation. You shall not do any work for your regular occupation. ³⁶ For seven days you shall bring an offering made by fire to the Lord. On the eighth day proclaim a holy convocation for yourselves, and you shall present an offering made by fire to the Lord. This is a closing ceremony. You shall not do any work for your regular occupation.

³⁷ These are the appointed times of the Lord, which you shall proclaim as holy convocations for the presentation of offerings made by fire to the Lord—burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings as commanded for each day. ³⁸ Offer these in addition to the Sabbath offerings of the Lord, in addition to your personal wave offerings, in addition to all your offerings to fulfill a vow, and in addition to all your voluntary^[g] offerings that you give to the Lord.

³⁹ Beginning exactly on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, when you go to celebrate the festival of the Lord for seven days as a pilgrim, there shall be a complete sabbath rest on the first day and a complete sabbath rest on the eighth day. ⁴⁰ On the first day you shall select for yourselves fruit from splendid trees, branches of palm trees, boughs from leafy trees, and willows from by the stream—and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. ⁴¹ Celebrate the festival for the Lord as a pilgrim for seven days each year. This is a permanent regulation throughout your generations. In the seventh month you shall celebrate the festival as a pilgrim. ⁴² You shall live in temporary shelters for seven days—every native-born person in Israel shall live in shelters— ⁴³ so that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel live in shelters when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

⁴⁴ That is what Moses said about the appointed times of the Lord to the people of Israel.

Footnotes

1. Leviticus 23:13 Two tenths (of an ephah)
2. Leviticus 23:13 A fourth of a hin
3. Leviticus 23:23 Traditionally, this is called the Festival of Trumpets, but trumpets (hatzotzerot) are long metal instruments, not the animal horns (shofar) used to announce this festival. This section, however, does not actually specify the instrument. The text simply says a memorial of blowing. The metal trumpets were, however, used to signal the presentation of sacrifices on festival days.
4. Leviticus 23:27 This is understood as a reference to fasting and abstaining from other pleasures.
5. Leviticus 23:28 Or on this very day. Literally in the bone of the day
6. Leviticus 23:34 That is, small huts. Traditionally it is translated tabernacles.
7. Leviticus 23:38 Or freewill