Exodus 23:14-17

23:14 “Three times ¹  in the year you must make a pilgrim feast ²  to me. 23:15 You are to observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread; seven days ³  you must eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you, at the appointed time of the month of Abib, for at that time ⁴  you came out of Egypt. No one may appear before ⁵  me empty-handed.

23:16 “You are also to observe ⁶  the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors that you have sown in the field, and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year ⁷  when you have gathered in ⁸  your harvest ⁹  out of the field. 23:17 At ¹⁰  three times in the year all your males will appear before the Lord God. ¹¹ 

[23:14]  ¹ tn The expression rendered “three times” is really “three feet,” or “three foot-beats.” The expression occurs only a few times in the Law. The expressing is an adverbial accusative.

[23:14]  ² tn This is the word תָּחֹג (takhog) from the root חָגַג (khagag); it describes a feast that was accompanied by a pilgrimage. It was first used by Moses in his appeal that Israel go three days into the desert to hold such a feast.

[23:15]  ³ tn This is an adverbial accusative of time.

[23:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “in it.”

[23:15]  ⁵ tn The verb is a Niphal imperfect; the nuance of permission works well here – no one is permitted to appear before God empty (Heb “and they will not appear before me empty”).

[23:16]  ⁶ tn The words “you are also to observe” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[23:16]  ⁷ tn An infinitive construct with a preposition and a pronominal suffix is used to make a temporal clause: “in the going in of the year.” The word “year” is the subjective genitive, the subject of the clause.

[23:16]  ⁸ tn An infinitive construct with a preposition and a pronominal suffix is used to make a temporal clause: “in the ingathering of you.”

[23:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “gathered in your labors.” This is a metonymy of cause put for the effect. “Labors” are not gathered in, but what the labors produced – the harvest.

[23:17]  ¹⁰ tn Adverbial accusative of time: “three times” becomes “at three times.”

[23:17]  ¹¹ tn Here the divine Name reads in Hebrew הָאָדֹן יְהוָה (ha’adon yÿhvah), which if rendered according to the traditional scheme of “Lord” for “Yahweh” would result in “Lord Lord.” A number of English versions therefore render this phrase “Lord God,” and that convention has been followed here.