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 

Leviticus 16:29

Review of the Day of Atonement

16:29 “This is to be a perpetual statute for you. ¹²  In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you must humble yourselves ¹³  and do no work of any kind, ¹⁴  both the native citizen and the foreigner who resides ¹⁵  in your midst,

Leviticus 23:24

23:24 “Tell the Israelites, ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you must have a complete rest, a memorial announced by loud horn blasts, ¹⁶  a holy assembly.

Leviticus 23:27-44

23:27 “The ¹⁷  tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. ¹⁸  It is to be a holy assembly for you, and you must humble yourselves ¹⁹  and present a gift to the Lord. 23:28 You must not do any work on this particular day, ²⁰  because it is a day of atonement to make atonement for yourselves ²¹  before the Lord your God. 23:29 Indeed, ²²  any person who does not behave with humility on this particular day will be cut off from his people. ²³  23:30 As for any person ²⁴  who does any work on this particular day, I will exterminate ²⁵  that person from the midst of his people! ²⁶  23:31 You must not do any work. This is a perpetual statute throughout your generations ²⁷  in all the places where you live. 23:32 It is a Sabbath of complete rest for you, and you must humble yourselves on the ninth day of the month in the evening, from evening until evening you must observe your Sabbath.” ²⁸ 

The Festival of Booths

23:33 The Lord spoke to Moses: 23:34 “Tell the Israelites, ‘On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the Festival of Temporary Shelters ²⁹  for seven days to the Lord. 23:35 On the first day is a holy assembly; you must do no regular work. ³⁰  23:36 For seven days you must present a gift to the Lord. On the eighth day there is to be a holy assembly for you, and you must present a gift to the Lord. It is a solemn assembly day; ³¹  you must not do any regular work.

23:37 “‘These are the appointed times of the Lord that you must proclaim as holy assemblies to present a gift to the Lord – burnt offering, grain offering, sacrifice, and drink offerings, ³²  each day according to its regulation, ³³  23:38 besides ³⁴  the Sabbaths of the Lord and all your gifts, votive offerings, and freewill offerings which you must give to the Lord.

23:39 “‘On ³⁵  the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you gather in the produce of the land, you must celebrate a pilgrim festival of the Lord for seven days. On the first day is a complete rest and on the eighth day is complete rest. 23:40 On the first day you must take for yourselves branches from majestic trees ³⁶  – palm branches, branches of leafy trees, and willows of the brook – and you must rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. 23:41 You must celebrate it as a pilgrim festival to the Lord for seven days in the year. This is a perpetual statute throughout your generations; ³⁷  you must celebrate it in the seventh month. 23:42 You must live in temporary shelters ³⁸  for seven days; every native citizen in Israel must live in temporary shelters, 23:43 so that your future generations may know that I made the Israelites live in temporary shelters when I brought them out from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.’”

23:44 So Moses spoke to the Israelites about the appointed times of the Lord. ³⁹ 

Numbers 29:1-40

Blowing Trumpets

29:1 “‘On the first day of the seventh month, you are to hold a holy assembly. You must not do your ordinary work, for it is a day of blowing trumpets for you. 29:2 You must offer a burnt offering as a sweet aroma to the Lord: one young bull, one ram, and seven lambs one year old without blemish.

29:3 “‘Their grain offering is to be of finely ground flour mixed with olive oil, three-tenths of an ephah for the bull, two-tenths of an ephah for the ram, 29:4 and one-tenth for each of the seven lambs, 29:5 with one male goat for a purification offering to make an atonement for you; 29:6 this is in addition to the monthly burnt offering and its grain offering, and the daily burnt offering with its grain offering and their drink offerings as prescribed, as a sweet aroma, a sacrifice made by fire to the Lord.

The Day of Atonement

29:7 “‘On the tenth day of this seventh month you are to have a holy assembly. You must humble yourselves; ⁴⁰  you must not do any work on it. 29:8 But you must offer a burnt offering as a pleasing aroma to the Lord, one young bull, one ram, and seven lambs one year old, all of them without blemish. ⁴¹  29:9 Their grain offering must be of finely ground flour mixed with olive oil, three-tenths of an ephah for the bull, two-tenths for the ram, 29:10 and one-tenth for each of the seven lambs, 29:11 along with one male goat for a purification offering, in addition to the purification offering for atonement and the continual burnt offering with its grain offering and their drink offerings.

The Feast of Temporary Shelters

29:12 “‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month you are to have a holy assembly; you must do no ordinary work, and you must keep a festival to the Lord for seven days. 29:13 You must offer a burnt offering, an offering made by fire as a pleasing aroma to the Lord: thirteen young bulls, two rams, and fourteen lambs each one year old, all of them without blemish. 29:14 Their grain offering must be of finely ground flour mixed with olive oil, three-tenths of an ephah for each of the thirteen bulls, two-tenths of an ephah for each of the two rams, 29:15 and one-tenth for each of the fourteen lambs, 29:16 along with one male goat for a purification offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering with its grain offering and its drink offering.

29:17 “‘On the second day you must offer twelve young bulls, two rams, fourteen lambs one year old, all without blemish, 29:18 and their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, according to their number as prescribed, 29:19 along with one male goat for a purification offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering with its grain offering and their drink offerings.

29:20 “‘On the third day you must offer ⁴²  eleven bulls, two rams, fourteen lambs one year old, all without blemish, 29:21 and their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, according to their number as prescribed, 29:22 along with one male goat for a purification offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering with its grain offering and its drink offering.

29:23 “‘On the fourth day you must offer ten bulls, two rams, and fourteen lambs one year old, all without blemish, 29:24 and their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, according to their number as prescribed, 29:25 along with one male goat for a purification offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering with its grain offering and its drink offering.

29:26 “‘On the fifth day you must offer nine bulls, two rams, and fourteen lambs one year old, all without blemish, 29:27 and their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, according to their number as prescribed, 29:28 along with one male goat for a purification offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering with its grain offering and its drink offering.

29:29 “‘On the sixth day you must offer eight bulls, two rams, and fourteen lambs one year old, all without blemish, 29:30 and their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, according to their number as prescribed, 29:31 along with one male goat for a purification offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering with its grain offering and its drink offering.

29:32 “‘On the seventh day you must offer seven bulls, two rams, and fourteen lambs one year old, all without blemish, 29:33 and their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, according to their number as prescribed, 29:34 along with one male goat for a purification offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering with its grain offering and its drink offering.

29:35 “‘On the eighth day you are to have a holy assembly; you must do no ordinary work on it. 29:36 But you must offer a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, as a pleasing aroma to the Lord, one bull, one ram, seven lambs one year old, all of them without blemish, 29:37 and with their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bull, for the ram, and for the lambs, according to their number as prescribed, 29:38 along with one male goat for a purification offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering with its grain offering and its drink offering.

29:39 “‘These things you must present to the Lord at your appointed times, in addition to your vows and your freewill offerings, as your burnt offerings, your grain offerings, your drink offerings, and your peace offerings.’” 29:40 (30:1) ⁴³  So Moses told the Israelites everything, just as the Lord had commanded him. ⁴⁴ 

Nehemiah 8:2

8:2 So Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly which included men and women and all those able to understand what they heard. (This happened on the first day of the seventh month.)

Nehemiah 8:14

8:14 They discovered written in the law that the LORD had commanded through ⁴⁵  Moses that the Israelites should live in temporary shelters during the festival of the seventh month,

[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.

[16:29]  ¹² tn Heb “And it [feminine] shall be for you a perpetual statute.” Verse 34 begins with the same clause except for the missing demonstrative pronoun “this” here in v. 29. The LXX has “this” in both places and it suits the sense of the passage, although both the verb and the pronoun are sometimes missing in this clause elsewhere in the book (see, e.g., Lev 3:17).

[16:29]  ¹³ tn Heb “you shall humble your souls.” The verb “to humble” here refers to various forms of self-denial, including but not limited to fasting (cf. Ps 35:13 and Isa 58:3, 10). The Mishnah (m. Yoma 8:1) lists abstentions from food and drink, bathing, using oil as an unguent to moisten the skin, wearing leather sandals, and sexual intercourse (cf. 2 Sam 12:16-17, 20; see the remarks in J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:1054; B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 109; and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 242).

[16:29]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and all work you shall not do.”

[16:29]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the native and the sojourner who sojourns.”

[23:24]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “a memorial of loud blasts.” Although the term for “horn” does not occur here, allowing for the possibility that vocal “shouts” of acclamation are envisioned (see P. J. Budd, Leviticus [NCBC], 325), the “blast” of the shofar (a trumpet made from a ram’s “horn”) is most likely what is intended. On this occasion, the loud blasts on the horn announced the coming of the new year on the first day of the seventh month (see the explanations in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 387, and B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 160).

[23:27]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Surely the tenth day” or perhaps “Precisely the tenth day.” The Hebrew adverbial particle אַךְ (’akh) is left untranslated by most recent English versions; cf. however NASB “On exactly the tenth day.”

[23:27]  ¹⁸ sn See the description of this day and its regulations in Lev 16 and the notes there.

[23:27]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “you shall humble your souls.” See the note on Lev 16:29 above.

[23:28]  ²⁰ tn Heb “in the bone of this day.”

[23:28]  ²¹ tn Heb “on you [plural]”; cf. NASB, NRSV “on your behalf.”

[23:29]  ²² tn The particular כִּי (ki) is taken in an asseverative sense here (“Indeed,” see the NJPS translation).

[23:29]  ²³ tn Heb “it [i.e., that person; literally “soul,” feminine] shall be cut off from its peoples [plural]”; NLT “from the community.”

[23:30]  ²⁴ tn Heb “And any person.”

[23:30]  ²⁵ tn See HALOT 3 s.v. I אבד hif. Cf. KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT “destroy”; CEV “wipe out.”

[23:30]  ²⁶ tn Heb “its people” (“its” is feminine to agree with “person,” literally “soul,” which is feminine in Hebrew; cf. v. 29).

[23:31]  ²⁷ tn Heb “for your generations.”

[23:32]  ²⁸ tn Heb “you shall rest your Sabbath.”

[23:34]  ²⁹ tn The rendering “booths” (cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV) is probably better than the traditional “tabernacles” in light of the meaning of the term סֻכָּה (sukkah, “hut, booth”), but “booths” are frequently associated with trade shows and craft fairs in contemporary American English. The nature of the celebration during this feast (see the following verses) as a commemoration of the wanderings of the Israelites after they left Egypt suggests that a translation like “temporary shelters” is more appropriate.

[23:35]  ³⁰ tn Heb “work of service”; KJV “servile work”; NASB “laborious work”; TEV “daily work.”

[23:36]  ³¹ tn The Hebrew term עֲצֶרֶת (’atseret) “solemn assembly [day]” derives from a root associated with restraint or closure. It could refer either to the last day as “closing assembly” day of the festival (e.g., NIV) or a special day of restraint expressed in a “solemn assembly” (e.g., NRSV); cf. NLT “a solemn closing assembly.”

[23:37]  ³² tn The LXX has “[their] burnt offerings, and their sacrifices, and their drink offerings.”

[23:37]  ³³ tn Heb “a matter of a day in its day”; NAB “as prescribed for each day”; NRSV, NLT “each on its proper day.”

[23:38]  ³⁴ tn Heb “from to separation.” See BDB 94 s.v. בַּד 1.e for an explanation of this phrase. This phrase is repeated in front of each of the four items in this verse in the Hebrew text, but these have not been translated into English for stylistic reasons. Cf. KJV, NASB “besides”; NRSV “apart from.”

[23:39]  ³⁵ tn Heb “Surely on the fifteenth day.” The Hebrew adverbial particle אַךְ (’akh) is left untranslated by most recent English versions; however, cf. NASB “On exactly the fifteenth day.”

[23:40]  ³⁶ tn Heb “fruit of majestic trees,” but the following terms and verses define what is meant by this expression. For extensive remarks on the celebration of this festival in history and tradition see B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 163; J. E. Hartley, Leviticus (WBC), 389-90; and P. J. Budd, Leviticus (NCBC), 328-29.

[23:41]  ³⁷ tn Heb “for your generations.”

[23:42]  ³⁸ tn Heb “in the huts” (again at the end of this verse and in v. 43), perhaps referring to temporary shelters (i.e., huts) made of the foliage referred to in v. 40 (J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 389).

[23:44]  ³⁹ sn E. S. Gerstenberger (Leviticus [OTL], 352) takes v. 44 to be an introduction to another set of festival regulations, perhaps something like those found in Exod 23:14-17. For others this verse reemphasizes the Mosaic authority of the preceding festival regulations (e.g., J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 390).

[29:7]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “afflict yourselves”; NAB “mortify yourselves”; NIV, NRSV “deny yourselves.”

[29:8]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “they shall be to you without blemish.”

[29:20]  ⁴² tn The words “you must offer” are implied.

[29:40]  ⁴³ sn Beginning with 29:40, the verse numbers through 30:16 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 29:40 ET = 30:1 HT, 30:1 ET = 30:2 HT, etc., through 30:16 ET = 30:17 HT. With 31:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.

[29:40]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “Moses.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“him”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[8:14]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “by the hand of.”