23RD CHAPTER

The Day of Rest and Other Holy Assemblies

1 The Lord spoke to Moses, 2 “Tell the Israelites: These are the appointed festivals with the Lord, which you must announce as holy assemblies. 3 You may work for six days. But the seventh day is a day of rest, a day when you don’t work, a holy assembly. Don’t do any work. It is the Lord’s day of rest—a holy day wherever you live. 

4 “The following are the Lord’s appointed festivals with holy assemblies, which you must announce at their appointed times. 

The Spring Festivals

5 “The fourteenth day of the first month, in the evening, is the Lord’s Passover. 6 The fifteenth day of this same month is the Lord’s Festival of Unleavened Bread. For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. 7 On the first day there will be a holy assembly. Don’t do any regular work. 8 Bring the Lord a sacrifice by fire for seven days. On the seventh day there will be a holy assembly. Don’t do any regular work.” 

9 The Lord spoke to Moses, 10 “Tell the Israelites: When you come to the land I am going to give you and you harvest grain, bring the priest a bundle of the first grain you harvest. 11 He will present it to the Lord so that you will be accepted. He will present it on the day after Passover. 12 On the day you present the bundle, you must sacrifice a one-year-old male lamb that has no defects as a burnt offering to the Lord. 13 Bring a grain offering of four quarts of flour mixed with olive oil with it. This will be a sacrifice by fire made to the Lord, a soothing aroma. Use one quart of wine for the wine offering. 14 Don’t eat bread, roasted grain, or fresh grain until this same day, when you bring the offering to your God. It is a permanent law for generations to come wherever you live. 

15 “Count seven full weeks from the day after Passover (the day you bring the bundle of grain as an offering presented to the Lord) 16 until the day after the seventh week. This is a total of fifty days. Then bring a new grain offering to the Lord. 17 Bring two loaves of bread from your homes to present to the Lord. Bake them with four quarts of flour. They are the first harvested grain for the Lord. 18 With the bread bring seven one-year-old lambs that have no defects, one bull, and two rams. They will be a burnt offering to the Lord. With these offerings also bring grain and wine offerings. They will be a sacrifice by fire, a soothing aroma to the Lord. 19 Also sacrifice one male goat as an offering for sin and two one-year-old lambs as a fellowship offering. 20 The priest must present them along with the bread of the first harvested grain as an offering to the Lord. All this, along with the two lambs, will be holy and will belong to the Lord’s priests. 21 Make an announcement that there will be a holy assembly on that same day. Don’t do any regular work. It is a permanent law for generations to come wherever you live. 

22 “When you harvest the grain in your land, don’t harvest the grain in the corners of your fields or gather what is left after you’re finished. Leave it for poor people and foreigners. I am the Lord your God.” 

The Fall Festivals

23 The Lord spoke to Moses, 24 “Tell the Israelites: On the first day of the seventh month hold a worship festival. It will be a memorial day, a holy assembly announced by the blowing of rams’ horns. 25 Don’t do any regular work. Bring a sacrifice by fire to the Lord.” 

26 The Lord spoke to Moses, 27 “In addition, the tenth day of this seventh month is a special day for the payment for sins. There will be a holy assembly. Humble yourselves, and bring the Lord a sacrifice by fire. 28 Don’t do any work that day. It is a special day for the payment for sins. It is a time when you make peace with the Lord your God. 29 Those who do not humble themselves on that day will be excluded from the people. 30 I will kill those who do any work on that day. 31 Don’t do any work. It is a permanent law for generations to come wherever you live. 32 It is a day of rest, a day when you don’t work. Humble yourselves starting on the evening of the ninth day of the month. From that evening to the next, observe the day of rest as a holy day.” 

33 The Lord spoke to Moses, 34 “Tell the Israelites: The fifteenth day of this seventh month is the Festival of Booths to the Lord. It will last seven days. 35 On the first day there will be a holy assembly. Don’t do any regular work. 36 For seven consecutive days bring a sacrifice by fire to the Lord. On the eighth day there will be a holy assembly. Bring the Lord a sacrifice by fire. This is the last festival of the year. Don’t do any regular work. 

37 “These are the Lord’s appointed festivals. Announce them as holy assemblies for bringing sacrifices by fire to the Lord. Bring burnt offerings, grain offerings, other sacrifices, and wine offerings—each one on its special day. 38 These offerings are in addition to those for the Lord’s holy days of rest, as well as your gifts, all your vows, and your freewill offerings to the Lord. 

39 “However, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered what the land produces, celebrate the Lord’s festival for seven days. The first and the eighth days will be worship festivals. 40 On the first day take the best fruits, palm branches, the branches of leafy trees and poplars, and celebrate in the presence of the Lord your God for seven days. 41 It is the Lord’s festival. Celebrate it for seven days each year. This is a permanent law for generations to come. Celebrate this festival in the seventh month. 42 Live in booths for seven days. Everyone born in Israel must live in booths 43 so that generations to come may learn how I made the people of Israel live in booths when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.” 

44 So Moses told the Israelites about the Lord’s appointed festivals.