Leviticus23
World English Bible · Public Domain
1Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
2“Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘The set feasts of Yahweh, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my set feasts.
3“‘Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation; you shall do no kind of work. It is a Sabbath to Yahweh in all your dwellings.
4“‘These are the set feasts of Yahweh, even holy convocations, which you shall proclaim in their appointed season.
5In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening, is Yahweh’s Passover.
6On the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread to Yahweh. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.
7In the first day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work.
8But you shall offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh seven days. In the seventh day is a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work.’”
9Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
10“Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘When you have come into the land which I give to you, and shall reap its harvest, then you shall bring the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest.
11He shall wave the sheaf before Yahweh, to be accepted for you. On the next day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.
12On the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb without defect a year old for a burnt offering to Yahweh.
13The meal offering with it shall be two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering made by fire to Yahweh for a pleasant aroma; and the drink offering with it shall be of wine, the fourth part of a hin.
14You must not eat bread, or roasted grain, or fresh grain, until this same day, until you have brought the offering of your God. This is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
15“‘You shall count from the next day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed.
16The next day after the seventh Sabbath you shall count fifty days; and you shall offer a new meal offering to Yahweh.
17You shall bring out of your habitations two loaves of bread for a wave offering made of two tenths of an ephah of fine flour. They shall be baked with yeast, for first fruits to Yahweh.
18You shall present with the bread seven lambs without defect a year old, one young bull, and two rams. They shall be a burnt offering to Yahweh, with their meal offering and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of a sweet aroma to Yahweh.
19You shall offer one male goat for a sin offering, and two male lambs a year old for a sacrifice of peace offerings.
20The priest shall wave them with the bread of the first fruits for a wave offering before Yahweh, with the two lambs. They shall be holy to Yahweh for the priest.
21You shall make proclamation on the same day that there shall be a holy convocation to you. You shall do no regular work. This is a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.
22“‘When you reap the harvest of your land, you must not wholly reap into the corners of your field. You must not gather the gleanings of your harvest. You must leave them for the poor and for the foreigner. I am Yahweh your God.’”
23Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
24“Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, there shall be a solemn rest for you, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation.
25You shall do no regular work. You shall offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh.’”
26Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
27“However on the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement. It shall be a holy convocation to you. You shall afflict yourselves and you shall offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh.
28You shall do no kind of work in that same day, for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement for you before Yahweh your God.
29For whoever it is who shall not deny himself in that same day shall be cut off from his people.
30Whoever does any kind of work in that same day, I will destroy that person from among his people.
31You shall do no kind of work: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
32It shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for you, and you shall deny yourselves. In the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall keep your Sabbath.”
33Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
34“Speak to the children of Israel, and say, ‘On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the feast of booths for seven days to Yahweh.
35On the first day shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work.
36Seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh. On the eighth day shall be a holy convocation to you. You shall offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh. It is a solemn assembly; you shall do no regular work.
37“‘These are the appointed feasts of Yahweh which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh, a burnt offering, a meal offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, each on its own day—
38in addition to the Sabbaths of Yahweh, and in addition to your gifts, and in addition to all your vows, and in addition to all your free will offerings, which you give to Yahweh.
39“‘So on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruits of the land, you shall keep the feast of Yahweh seven days. On the first day shall be a solemn rest, and on the eighth day shall be a solemn rest.
40You shall take on the first day the fruit of majestic trees, branches of palm trees, and boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before Yahweh your God seven days.
41You shall keep it as a feast to Yahweh seven days in the year. It is a statute forever throughout your generations. You shall keep it in the seventh month.
42You shall dwell in temporary shelters for seven days. All who are native-born in Israel shall dwell in temporary shelters,
43that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in temporary shelters when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.’”
44So Moses declared to the children of Israel the appointed feasts of Yahweh.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Leviticus 23.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: The feasts of the Lord, The Sabbath. (1–3). The Passover, The offering of first-fruits. (4–14). The feast of Pentecost. (15–22). The feast of Trumpets, The day of atonement. (23–32). The feast of Tabernacles. (33–44).
vv1-3
In this chapter we have the institution of holy times; many of which have been mentioned before. Though the yearly feasts were made more remarkable by general attendance at the sanctuary, yet these must not be observed more than the sabbath. On that day they must withdraw from all business of the world. It is a sabbath of rest, typifying spiritual rest from sin, and rest in God. God's sabbaths are to be religiously observed in every private house, by every family apart, as well as by families together, in holy assemblies. The sabbath of the Lord in our dwellings will be their beauty, strength, and safety; it will sanctify, build up, and glorify them.
vv4-14
The feast of the Passover was to continue seven days; not idle days, spent in sport, as many that are called Christians spend their holy-days. Offerings were made to the Lord at his altar; and the people were taught to employ their time in prayer, and praise, and godly meditation. The sheaf of first-fruits was typical of the Lord Jesus, who is risen from the dead as the First-fruits of them that slept. Our Lord Jesus rose from the dead on the very day that the first-fruits were offered. We are taught by this law to honour the Lord with our substance, and with the first-fruits of all our increase, Pr 3:9. They were not to eat of their new corn, till God's part was offered to him out of it; and we must always begin with God: begin every day with him, begin every meal with him, begin every affair and business with him; seek first the kingdom of God.
vv15-22
The feast of Weeks was held in remembrance of the giving of the law, fifty days after the departure from Egypt; and looked forward to the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, fifty days after Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. On that day the apostles presented the first-fruits of the Christian church to God. To the institution of the feast of Pentecost, is added a repetition of that law, by which they were required to leave the gleanings of their fields. Those who are truly sensible of the mercy they received from God, will show mercy to the poor without grudging.
Key Words
דָבַר: perhaps properly, to arrange; but used figuratively (of words), to speak; rarely (in a destructive sense) to subdue
מֹשֶׁה: Mosheh, the Israelite lawgiver
אָמַר: to say (used with great latitude)
בֵּן: a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like father or brother), etc.)
יִשְׂרָאֵל: Jisrael, a symbolical name of Jacob; also (typically) of his posterity
מוֹעֵד: properly, an appointment, i.e. a fixed time or season; specifically, a festival; conventionally ayear; by implication, an assembly (as convened for a definite purpose); technically the congregation; by extension, the place of meeting; also a signal (as appointed beforehand)
קָרָא: to call out to (i.e. properly, address by name, but used in a wide variety of applications)
קֹדֶשׁ: a sacred place or thing; rarely abstract, sanctity
מִקְרָא: something called out, i.e. a public meeting (the act, the persons, or the place); also a rehearsal
שֵׁשׁ: six (as an overplus beyond five or the fingers of the hand); as ord. sixth
Cross References
Leviticus 23The wave-sheaf of firstfruits directly typifies Christ risen from the dead as the firstfruits of believers.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Pentecost (fifty days after the sheaf offering) is fulfilled by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Gives the detailed sacrificial offerings prescribed for the Feast of Trumpets on the first of the seventh month.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
Specifies the precise sacrificial offerings for the Day of Atonement alongside the self-affliction.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Direct historical fulfillment where post-exilic Israel restored this specific command to construct and dwell in booths.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Christ is our ultimate Passover sacrificed for us, fulfilling the redemption memorialized here.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Parallels the instruction on counting weeks from the time Israel begins to put the sickle to the corn.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Establishment of the tenth day of the seventh month for afflicting souls and resting.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
The post-exilic community discovers and acts upon the command to dwell in booths during this feast.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Details the joyful celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles after gathering the corn and wine.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Specifically lists the gathering of olive, pine, myrtle, and palm branches to make booths.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Typified the patriarchs living in temporary dwellings as strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Parallel Deuteronomic legislation concerning the observation of the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Supported by John Calvin
Spiritual fulfillment of eating unleavened bread, representing sincerity and truth.
Supported by JFB
Establishes the first and seventh days of Unleavened Bread as holy convocations with no servile work.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Exhorts honoring the Lord with the firstfruits of all increase before consuming the rest.
Supported by Matthew Henry
If the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; the wave-sheaf sanctified the harvest.
Supported by JFB
Expands the gleaning laws for the poor, stranger, fatherless, and widow.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Commandment to blow the trumpets over sacrifices and on the beginnings of months.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Prophetic requirement for all nations to worship God by keeping the Feast of Tabernacles.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Jesus stands and cries out on the eighth, 'that great day of the feast.'
Supported by Matthew Henry
Records the literal implementation of keeping the feast for seven days, following the Levitical mandate.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Mandated reading the Law at the Feast of Tabernacles so succeeding generations would learn to fear God.
Supported by JFB
Specifies the offerings and the prohibition of servile work on the first day of Unleavened Bread.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Details the preparation of the meat offering of firstfruits as green ears of corn dried.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Believers are begotten by the word of truth to be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Further sacrificial regulations for the day of the firstfruits at the Feast of Weeks.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Verbatim parallel command to not clean reap corners of fields or gather gleanings.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Exhortation to blow the trumpet in the new moon and at the solemn feast day.
Supported by JFB
Identifies the eighth day of the festival as a solemn assembly with no servile work.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Provides the specific sacrificial regulations for this seven-day feast of the seventh month.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Reinforces the obligation to teach future generations the historical saving acts of God.
Supported by JFB
Commandment to blow the trumpets over sacrifices and during solemn feasts and new moons.
Supported by Matthew Poole
New Testament instruction regarding the shadow of things to come, including sabbaths and holy days.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Connects the physical sabbaths of rest to the spiritual rest believers enter through faith.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Frames the conclusion of the chapter, echoing the opening charge to declare the feasts of the Lord.
Supported by Matthew Poole, Calvin