Discovery BoxLeviticus 23:23-32
Context23:23 The Lord spoke to Moses: 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, 1 a holy assembly. 23:25 You must not do any regular work, but 2 you must present a gift to the Lord.’”
23:26 The Lord spoke to Moses: 23:27 “The 3 tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. 4 It is to be a holy assembly for you, and you must humble yourselves 5 and present a gift to the Lord. 23:28 You must not do any work on this particular day, 6 because it is a day of atonement to make atonement for yourselves 7 before the Lord your God. 23:29 Indeed, 8 any person who does not behave with humility on this particular day will be cut off from his people. 9 23:30 As for any person 10 who does any work on this particular day, I will exterminate 11 that person from the midst of his people! 12 23:31 You must not do any work. This is a perpetual statute throughout your generations 13 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.” 14
[23:24] 1 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).
[23:25] 1 tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have adversative force here (cf. KJV, NASB, NIV).
[23:27] 1 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] 2 sn See the description of this day and its regulations in Lev 16 and the notes there.
[23:27] 3 tn Heb “you shall humble your souls.” See the note on Lev 16:29 above.
[23:28] 1 tn Heb “in the bone of this day.”
[23:28] 2 tn Heb “on you [plural]”; cf. NASB, NRSV “on your behalf.”
[23:29] 1 tn The particular כִּי (ki) is taken in an asseverative sense here (“Indeed,” see the NJPS translation).
[23:29] 2 tn Heb “it [i.e., that person; literally “soul,” feminine] shall be cut off from its peoples [plural]”; NLT “from the community.”
[23:30] 1 tn Heb “And any person.”
[23:30] 2 tn See HALOT 3 s.v. I אבד hif. Cf. KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT “destroy”; CEV “wipe out.”
[23:30] 3 tn Heb “its people” (“its” is feminine to agree with “person,” literally “soul,” which is feminine in Hebrew; cf. v. 29).
