Leviticus 16:29

Review of the Day of Atonement

16:29 “This is to be a perpetual statute for you. ¹  In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you must humble yourselves ²  and do no work of any kind, ³  both the native citizen and the foreigner who resides ⁴  in your midst,

Leviticus 16:31

16:31 It is to be a Sabbath of complete rest for you, and you must humble yourselves. ⁵  It is a perpetual statute. ⁶ 

Leviticus 16:1

The Day of Atonement

16:1 The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of Aaron’s two sons when they approached the presence of the Lord ⁷  and died,

Leviticus 21:1

Rules for the Priests

21:1 The Lord said to Moses: “Say to the priests, the sons of Aaron – say to them, ‘For a dead person ⁸  no priest ⁹  is to defile himself among his people, ¹⁰ 

Isaiah 58:3

58:3 They lament, ¹¹  ‘Why don’t you notice when we fast?

Why don’t you pay attention when we humble ourselves?’

Look, at the same time you fast, you satisfy your selfish desires, ¹² 

you oppress your workers. ¹³ 

Isaiah 58:5

58:5 Is this really the kind of fasting I want? ¹⁴ 

Do I want a day when people merely humble themselves, ¹⁵ 

bowing their heads like a reed

and stretching out ¹⁶  on sackcloth and ashes?

Is this really what you call a fast,

a day that is pleasing to the Lord?

Matthew 9:14-15

The Superiority of the New

9:14 Then John’s ¹⁷  disciples came to Jesus ¹⁸  and asked, “Why do we and the Pharisees ¹⁹  fast often, ²⁰  but your disciples don’t fast?” 9:15 Jesus said to them, “The wedding guests ²¹  cannot mourn while the bridegroom ²²  is with them, can they? But the days ²³  are coming when the bridegroom will be taken from them, ²⁴  and then they will fast.

[16:29]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ tn Heb “and all work you shall not do.”

[16:29]  ⁴ tn Heb “the native and the sojourner who sojourns.”

[16:31]  ⁵ tn See the note on v. 29 above.

[16:31]  ⁶ tn Compare v. 29a above.

[16:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “in their drawing near to the faces of the Lord.” The rendering here relies on the use of this expression for the very “presence” of God in Exod 33:14-15 and in the Lev 9:24-10:2 passage, where the Nadab and Abihu catastrophe referred to here is narrated.

[21:1]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “soul, person, life”) can sometimes refer to a “dead person” (cf. Lev 19:28 above and the literature cited there).

[21:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “no one,” but “priest” has been used in the translation to clarify that these restrictions are limited to the priests, not to the Israelites in general (note the introductory formula, “say to the priests, the sons of Aaron”).

[21:1]  ¹⁰ tc The MT has “in his peoples,” but Smr, LXX, Syriac, Targum, and Tg. Ps.-J. have “in his people,” referring to the Israelites as a whole.

[58:3]  ¹¹ tn The words “they lament” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[58:3]  ¹² tn Heb “you find pleasure”; NASB “you find your desire.”

[58:3]  ¹³ tn Or perhaps, “debtors.” See HALOT 865 s.v. * עָצֵב.

[58:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “choose” (so NASB, NRSV); NAB “wish.”

[58:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “a day when man humbles himself.” The words “Do I want” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[58:5]  ¹⁶ tn Or “making [their] bed.”

[9:14]  ¹⁷ sn John refers to John the Baptist.

[9:14]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[9:14]  ¹⁹ sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.

[9:14]  ²⁰ sn John’s disciples and the Pharisees followed typical practices with regard to fasting and prayer. Many Jews fasted regularly (Lev 16:29-34; 23:26-32; Num 29:7-11). The zealous fasted twice a week on Monday and Thursday.

[9:15]  ²¹ tn Grk “sons of the wedding hall,” an idiom referring to wedding guests, or more specifically friends of the bridegroom present at the wedding celebration (L&N 11.7).

[9:15]  ²² sn The expression while the bridegroom is with them is an allusion to messianic times (John 3:29; Isa 54:5-6; 62:4-5; 4 Ezra 2:15, 38).

[9:15]  ²³ tn Grk “days.”

[9:15]  ²⁴ sn The statement the bridegroom will be taken from them is a veiled allusion by Jesus to his death, which he did not make explicit until the incident at Caesarea Philippi in 16:13ff.