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 23:29

23:29 Indeed, ⁷  any person who does not behave with humility on this particular day will be cut off from his people. ⁸ 

Isaiah 58:3

58:3 They lament, ⁹  ‘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, ¹⁰ 

you oppress your workers. ¹¹ 

Isaiah 58:5

58:5 Is this really the kind of fasting I want? ¹² 

Do I want a day when people merely humble themselves, ¹³ 

bowing their heads like a reed

and stretching out ¹⁴  on sackcloth and ashes?

Is this really what you call a fast,

a day that is pleasing to the Lord?

Jeremiah 31:8-9

31:8 Then I will reply, ¹⁵  ‘I will bring them back from the land of the north.

I will gather them in from the distant parts of the earth.

Blind and lame people will come with them,

so will pregnant women and women about to give birth.

A vast throng of people will come back here.

31:9 They will come back shedding tears of contrition.

I will bring them back praying prayers of repentance. ¹⁶ 

I will lead them besides streams of water,

along smooth paths where they will never stumble. ¹⁷ 

I will do this because I am Israel’s father;

Ephraim ¹⁸  is my firstborn son.’”

Jeremiah 50:4-5

50:4 “When that time comes,” says the Lord, ¹⁹ 

“the people of Israel and Judah will return to the land together.

They will come back with tears of repentance

as they seek the Lord their God. ²⁰ 

50:5 They will ask the way to Zion;

they will turn their faces toward it.

They will come ²¹  and bind themselves to the Lord

in a lasting covenant that will never be forgotten. ²² 

[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.

[23:29]  ⁷ tn The particular כִּי (ki) is taken in an asseverative sense here (“Indeed,” see the NJPS translation).

[23:29]  ⁸ tn Heb “it [i.e., that person; literally “soul,” feminine] shall be cut off from its peoples [plural]”; NLT “from the community.”

[58:3]  ⁹ tn The words “they lament” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[58:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “you find pleasure”; NASB “you find your desire.”

[58:3]  ¹¹ tn Or perhaps, “debtors.” See HALOT 865 s.v. * עָצֵב.

[58:5]  ¹² tn Heb “choose” (so NASB, NRSV); NAB “wish.”

[58:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “a day when man humbles himself.” The words “Do I want” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[58:5]  ¹⁴ tn Or “making [their] bed.”

[31:8]  ¹⁵ tn The words “And I will reply” are not in the text but the words vv. 8-9 appear to be the answer to the petition at the end of v. 7. These words are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[31:9]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “They will come with weeping; I will bring them with supplication.” The ideas of contrition and repentance are implicit from the context (cf. vv. 18-19) and are supplied for clarity.

[31:9]  ¹⁷ sn Jer 31:8-9 are reminiscent of the “New Exodus” motif of Isa 40-66 which has already been referred to in Jer 16:14-15; 23:7-8. See especially Isa 35:3-10; 40:3-5, 11; 41:17-20; 42:14-17; 43:16-21; 49:9-13. As there, the New Exodus will so outstrip the old that the old will pale in comparison and be almost forgotten (see Jer 23:7-8).

[31:9]  ¹⁸ sn Ephraim was the second son of Joseph who was elevated to a place of prominence in the family of Jacob by the patriarch’s special blessing. It was the strongest tribe in northern Israel and Samaria lay in its territory. It is often used as a poetic parallel for Israel as here. The poetry is not speaking of two separate entities here; it is a way of repeating an idea for emphasis. Moreover, there is no intent to show special preference for northern Israel over Judah. All Israel is metaphorically God’s son and the object of his special care and concern (Exod 4:22; Deut 32:6).

[50:4]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “oracle of the Lord.”

[50:4]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and the children of Israel will come, they and the children of Judah together. They shall go, weeping as they go, and they will seek the Lord their God.” The concept of “seeking” the Lord often has to do with seeking the Lord in worship (by sacrifice [Hos 5:6; 2 Chr 11:16]; prayer [Zech 8:21, 22; 2 Sam 12:16; Isa 65:1; 2 Chr 15:4]). In Hos 7:10 it is in parallel with returning to the Lord. In Ps 69:6 it is in parallel with hoping in or trusting in the Lord. Perhaps the most helpful parallels here, however, are Hos 3:5 (in comparison with Jer 30:9) and 2 Chr 15:15 where it is in the context of a covenant commitment to be loyal to the Lord which is similar to the context here (see the next verse). The translation is admittedly paraphrastic but “seeking the Lord” does not mean here looking for God as though he were merely a person to be found.

[50:5]  ²¹ tc The translation here assumes that the Hebrew בֹּאוּ (bo’u; a Qal imperative masculine plural) should be read בָּאוּ (ba’u; a Qal perfect third plural). This reading is presupposed by the Greek version of Aquila, the Latin version, and the Targum (see BHS note a, which mistakenly assumes that the form must be imperfect).

[50:5]  ²² sn See Jer 32:40 and the study note there for the nature of this lasting agreement.