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Leviticus 23

1Yahweh spoke to Moses: 2“Speak to the sons of Israel and tell them: These are Yahweh's appointed times, which you must proclaim as sacred assemblies. These are my appointed times.

3“Work may be done for six days, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of complete rest, a sacred assembly. You must do no work. It is a Sabbath to Yahweh wherever you live.

4“These are Yahweh's appointed times, sacred assemblies that you must proclaim at their appointed times. 5In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, between the evenings, is Yahweh's Passover. 6On the fifteenth day of that month is Yahweh's Feast of Unleavened Bread. You must eat unleavened bread for seven days. 7On the first day you must have a sacred assembly; you must do no ordinary work. 8For seven days you must present an offering by fire to Yahweh. On the seventh day there must be a sacred assembly; you must do no ordinary work.”

9Yahweh spoke to Moses: 10“Speak to the sons of Israel and tell them: When you enter the land I am giving you and reap its harvest, you must bring a sheaf of the first of your harvest to the priest. 11He must wave the sheaf before Yahweh for your acceptance. The priest must wave it on the day after the Sabbath. 12On the day you wave the sheaf, you must offer a year-old lamb without defect as a burnt offering to Yahweh. 13Its grain offering must be two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering by fire to Yahweh, a pleasing aroma. Its drink offering must be a quarter of a hin of wine. 14You must not eat bread, roasted grain, or fresh grain until that very day, until you bring your God's offering. This is a lasting statute throughout your generations, wherever you live.

15“You must count from the day after the Sabbath, from the day you bring the sheaf of the wave offering. There must be seven Sabbaths; they must be complete. 16You must count fifty days, up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and present a new grain offering to Yahweh. 17From your settlements you must bring two loaves as a wave offering, made from two tenths of an ephah of fine flour. They must be baked with leaven, as firstfruits to Yahweh. 18With the bread you must present seven year-old lambs without defect, one young bull, and two rams. They must be a burnt offering to Yahweh, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering by fire, a pleasing aroma to Yahweh. 19You must offer one male goat as a purification offering and two year-old lambs as a peace sacrifice. 20The priest must wave the two lambs with the bread of firstfruits as a wave offering before Yahweh. They are holy to Yahweh, for the priest. 21You must proclaim a sacred assembly on that very day. You must do no ordinary work. This is a lasting statute wherever you live, throughout your generations.

22“When you reap the harvest of your land, you must not reap your field right to its edge or gather the gleanings of your harvest. You must leave them for the poor and the resident foreigner. I am Yahweh your God.”

23Yahweh spoke to Moses: 24“Tell the sons of Israel: In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you must have a day of complete rest, a memorial with loud blasts, a sacred assembly. 25You must do no ordinary work, and you must present an offering by fire to Yahweh.”

26Yahweh spoke to Moses: 27“The tenth day of this seventh month is indeed the Day of Atonement. You must have a sacred assembly, afflict yourselves, and present an offering by fire to Yahweh. 28You must do no work on that very day, because it is a Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before Yahweh your God. 29Any person who does not afflict themselves on that very day must be cut off from their people. 30Any person who does any work on that very day—I will destroy that person from among their people. 31You must do no work. This is a lasting statute throughout your generations, wherever you live. 32It is a Sabbath of complete rest for you, and you must afflict yourselves. From the evening of the ninth day of the month, from evening to evening, you must observe your Sabbath.”

33Yahweh spoke to Moses: 34“Tell the sons of Israel: On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is Yahweh's Feast of Booths, lasting seven days. 35On the first day there must be a sacred assembly; you must do no ordinary work. 36For seven days you must present an offering by fire to Yahweh. On the eighth day you must have a sacred assembly and present an offering by fire to Yahweh. It is a solemn assembly; you must do no ordinary work.

37“These are Yahweh's appointed times, which you must proclaim as sacred assemblies to present offerings by fire to Yahweh—burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each on its proper day— 38besides Yahweh's Sabbaths, besides your gifts, besides all your vows, and besides all your freewill offerings that you give to Yahweh.

39“Indeed, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered the land's produce, you must celebrate Yahweh's feast for seven days. On the first day there must be complete rest, and on the eighth day complete rest. 40On the first day you must take fruit from splendid trees, palm fronds, branches of leafy trees, and willows from the stream, and rejoice before Yahweh your God for seven days. 41You must celebrate it as a feast to Yahweh for seven days each year. This is a lasting statute throughout your generations; you must celebrate it in the seventh month. 42You must live in booths for seven days. Every native-born Israelite must live in booths, 43so that your generations may know that I made the sons of Israel live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.”

44Moses told the sons of Israel about Yahweh's appointed times.

Translation notes 10

23:2–4 — Appointed times; work. The chapter sets apart times for sacred assemblies. The weekly Sabbath and Day of Atonement prohibit all work; the other festival commands use an expression rendered “ordinary work,” literally “work of service.” The wording does not itself provide a complete list of permitted tasks.

23:5 — Between the evenings. This Hebrew expression places the Passover in the late-day or twilight period. Whether it means the interval before sunset or between sunset and full darkness is disputed. The reading preserves the expression rather than supplying an exact modern hour.

23:10–16 — Sheaf; Sabbath. The sheaf begins the harvest offering and the count toward fifty days. “The day after the Sabbath” has been understood as a Sunday following a weekly Sabbath or as the day following a festival rest day, with further differences about which day is meant. The draft does not insert a fixed calendar date. “Seven Sabbaths” can designate seven weeks; the repeated Sabbath wording is retained.

23:13, 17 — Measures; loaves. “Of an ephah” makes explicit the customary dry measure behind the fractions. In verse 17 Hebrew names two units of bread without repeating the noun “loaves”; the baking language supports that clarification. It does not say “two tenths for each loaf.” Verse 24:5, by contrast, expressly assigns two tenths to each loaf.

23:17–20 — Leaven; the priest's share. These loaves are expressly leavened. Their presentation is not an instruction to burn leaven on the altar. Verse 20's difficult syntax refers back to the two lambs, with the bread, as the wave offering for the priest; the draft names that inferred antecedent. It does not make all the preceding burnt offerings the priest's food.

23:22 — Gleanings. The field's edge and what is left in harvesting are reserved for the poor and resident foreigner. The instruction retains both groups rather than replacing them with a general appeal to generosity.

23:24 — Loud blasts. Hebrew names a memorial of loud blasts or acclamations but does not name the instrument here. A horn is likely in context; the horn is explicit in 25:9. The draft leaves that distinction visible.

23:27–32 — Afflict yourselves. Literally, “afflict your persons” or “humble your lives.” Fasting is the customary interpretation, but the expression is not simply the Hebrew verb for fasting. The draft retains the broader wording. Verse 29's cutting off and verse 30's explicit divine destruction remain distinct statements.

23:32 — Evening to evening. The observance begins on the evening associated with the ninth day and runs to the following evening. The text's day numbers are preserved without replacing them with a modern date or clock time.

23:34–43 — Booths; foliage. Booths are temporary shelters, distinct from the sanctuary's tent of meeting. “Fruit from splendid trees” and the foliage terms are retained without identifying all the species prescribed in later practice. The chapter explicitly connects dwelling in booths with the departure from Egypt.