Leviticus 23:15-17

The Festival of Weeks

23:15 “‘You must count for yourselves seven weeks from the day after the Sabbath, from the day you bring the wave offering sheaf; they must be complete weeks. ¹  23:16 You must count fifty days – until the day after the seventh Sabbath – and then ²  you must present a new grain offering to the Lord. 23:17 From the places where you live you must bring two loaves of ³  bread for a wave offering; they must be made from two tenths of an ephah of fine wheat flour, baked with yeast, ⁴  as first fruits to the Lord.

[23:15]  ¹ tn Heb “seven Sabbaths, they shall be complete.” The disjunctive accent under “Sabbaths” precludes the translation “seven complete Sabbaths” (as NASB, NIV; cf. NAB, NRSV, NLT). The text is somewhat awkward, which may explain why the LXX tradition is confused here, either adding “you shall count” again at the end of the verse, or leaving out “they shall be,” or keeping “they shall be” and adding “to you.”

[23:16]  ² tn Heb “and.” In the translation “then” is supplied to clarify the sequence.

[23:17]  ³ tc Smr, LXX, Syriac, Tg. Onq., and Tg. Ps.-J. insert the word חַלּוֹת (khallot, “loaves”; cf. Lev 2:4 and the note there). Even though “loaves” is not explicit in the MT, the number “two” suggests that these are discrete units, not just a measure of flour, so “loaves” should be assumed even in the MT.

[23:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “with leaven.” The noun “leaven” is traditional in English versions (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV), but “yeast” is more commonly used today.