Leviticus 23-24

GOD’S WORD Translation

The Day of Rest and Other Holy Assemblies

23 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.

Duties in the Tent of Meeting^(A)

24 The Lord spoke to Moses, ² “Command the Israelites to bring you pure, virgin olive oil for the lamp stand so that the lamps won’t go out. ³ In the tent of meeting, outside the canopy where the words of my promise are, Aaron must keep the lamps lit in the Lord’s presence from evening until morning. It is a permanent law for generations to come. ⁴ Aaron must keep the lamps on the pure gold lamp stand lit in the Lord’s presence.

⁵ “Also take flour and bake twelve rings of bread. Each ring will contain four quarts of flour. ⁶ Put them in two stacks of six each on the gold table in the Lord’s presence. ⁷ Lay pure incense on top of each stack. The incense on the bread will be a reminder, an offering by fire to the Lord. ⁸ Every day of rest is a holy day when the ⌞priest⌟ must arrange the bread in the Lord’s presence. It is a continual reminder of my promise ^[a] to the Israelites. ⁹ The bread will belong to Aaron and his sons. They will eat it in a holy place. It is very holy, set apart from the Lord’s offering by fire. This is a permanent law.”

The Man Who Cursed the Lord’s Name

¹⁰ A man, whose mother was Shelomith (daughter of Dibri, from the tribe of Dan in Israel) and whose father was from Egypt, got into a quarrel with an Israelite in the camp. ¹¹ The Israelite woman’s son began cursing the Lord’s name and treating it with contempt. So they brought him to Moses.^{[b] 12} They kept him in custody until the Lord told them what to do.

¹³ The Lord spoke to Moses, ¹⁴ “The man who cursed ⌞my name⌟ must be taken outside the camp. All who heard him curse ⌞my name⌟ must lay their hands on his head. Then the whole congregation must stone him to death.

¹⁵ “Also tell the Israelites: Those who treat their God with contempt will be punished for their sin. ¹⁶ But those who curse the Lord’s name must be put to death. The whole congregation must stone them to death. It makes no difference whether they are Israelites or foreigners. Whoever curses the Lord’s name must die.

¹⁷ “Whoever kills another person must be put to death. ¹⁸ Whoever kills an animal must replace it, life for life. ¹⁹ Whoever injures a neighbor must receive the same injury in return— ²⁰ a broken bone for a broken bone, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Whoever injures another person must receive the same injury in return. ²¹ Whoever kills an animal must replace it. Whoever kills a person must be put to death. ²² The same rule applies to every one of you. It makes no difference whether you are a foreigner or an Israelite, because I am the Lord your God.”

²³ Moses spoke to the people of Israel. So the man who had cursed the Lord’s name was taken outside the camp. There they stoned him to death as the Lord commanded Moses. The Israelites did as the Lord commanded Moses.