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Sacred times

23 The Lord said to Moses: Speak to the Israelites and say to them: These are my appointed times, the Lord’s appointed times, which you will declare to be holy occasions: Work can be done for six days, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of special rest, a holy occasion. You must not do any work on it; wherever you live, it is a Sabbath to the Lord. These are the Lord’s appointed times, holy occasions, which you will celebrate at their appointed times:

The Lord’s Passover is on the fourteenth day of the first month[a] at twilight. The Lord’s Festival of Unleavened Bread is on the fifteenth day of the same month. You must eat unleavened bread for seven days. On the first day you will hold a holy occasion and must not do any job-related work. You will offer food gifts to the Lord for seven days. The seventh day will be a holy occasion; you must not do any job-related work.

The Lord said to Moses: 10 Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you and harvest its produce, you must bring the first bundle of your harvest to the priest. 11 The priest will lift up the bundle before the Lord so that it will be acceptable on your behalf. The priest will do this on the day after the Sabbath. 12 On the day the bundle is lifted up for you, you must offer a flawless one-year-old lamb as an entirely burned offering to the Lord. 13 The accompanying grain offering must be two-tenths of an ephah[b] of choice flour mixed with oil, as a food gift for the Lord, a soothing smell. The accompanying drink offering must be a quarter of a hin of wine. 14 You must not eat any bread, roasted grain, or fresh grain until the exact day when you bring your God’s offering. This is a permanent rule throughout your future generations, wherever you live.

15 You must count off seven weeks starting with the day after the Sabbath, the day you bring the bundle for the uplifted offering; these must be complete. 16 You will count off fifty days until the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you must present a new grain offering to the Lord. 17 From wherever you live, you will bring two loaves of bread as an uplifted offering. These must be made of two-tenths of an ephah of choice flour, baked with leaven, as early produce[c] to the Lord. 18 Along with the bread you must present seven flawless one-year-old lambs, one bull from the herd, and two rams. These will be an entirely burned offering to the Lord, along with their grain offerings and drink offerings, as a food gift of soothing smell to the Lord. 19 You must also offer one male goat as a purification offering and two one-year-old lambs as a communal sacrifice of well-being. 20 The priest will lift up the two sheep, along with the bread of the early produce, as an uplifted offering before the Lord. These will be holy to the Lord and will belong to the priest. 21 On that very same day you must make a proclamation; it will be a holy occasion for you. You must not do any job-related work. This is a permanent rule wherever you live throughout your future generations. 22 When you harvest your land’s produce, you must not harvest all the way to the edge of your field; and don’t gather every remaining bit of your harvest. Leave these items for the poor and the immigrant; I am the Lord your God.

23 The Lord said to Moses: 24 Say to the Israelites: On the first day of the seventh month,[d] you will have a special rest, a holy occasion marked by a trumpet signal. 25 You must not do any job-related work, and you must offer a food gift to the Lord.

26 The Lord said to Moses: 27 Note that the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Reconciliation. It will be a holy occasion for you. You must deny yourselves and offer a food gift to the Lord. 28 You must not do any work that day because it is a Day of Reconciliation to make reconciliation for you before the Lord your God. 29 Anyone who does not deny themselves on that day will be cut off from their people. 30 Moreover, I will destroy from their people anyone who does any work on that day. 31 You must not do any work! This is a permanent rule throughout your future generations wherever you live. 32 This is a Sabbath of special rest for you, and you must deny yourselves. You will observe your Sabbath on the ninth day of the month from evening to the following evening.

33 The Lord said to Moses: 34 Say to the Israelites: The Festival of Booths to the Lord will start on the fifteenth day of the seventh month and will last for seven days. 35 The first day is a holy occasion. You must not do any job-related work. 36 For seven days you will offer food gifts to the Lord. On the eighth day you will have a holy occasion and must offer a food gift to the Lord. It is a holiday: you must not do any job-related work.

37 These are the Lord’s appointed times that you will proclaim as holy occasions, offering food gifts to the Lord: entirely burned offerings, grain offerings, communal sacrifices, and drink offerings—each on its proper day. 38 This is in addition to the Lord’s sabbaths and in addition to your presents, all the payments for solemn promises, and all the spontaneous gifts that you give to the Lord.

39 Note that on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered the land’s crops, you will celebrate the Lord’s festival for seven days. The first day and the eighth day are days of special rest. 40 On the first day you must take fruit from majestic trees,[e] palm branches, branches of leafy trees,[f] and willows of the streams, and rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. 41 You will celebrate this festival to the Lord for seven days each year; this is a permanent rule throughout your future generations. You will celebrate it in the seventh month. 42 For seven days you must live in huts. Every citizen of Israel must live in huts 43 so that your future generations will know that I made the Israelites live in huts when I brought them out of the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.

44 So Moses announced the Lord’s appointed times to the Israelites.

The sanctuary’s lamp and bread

24 The Lord said to Moses: Command the Israelites to bring pure, pressed olive oil to you for the lamp, to keep a light burning constantly. Aaron will tend the lamp, which will be inside the meeting tent but outside the inner curtain of the covenant document, from evening until morning before the Lord. This is a permanent rule throughout your future generations. Aaron must continually tend the lights on the pure lampstand[g] before the Lord.

You will take choice flour and bake twelve loaves of flatbread, two-tenths of an ephah[h] for each loaf. You must place them in two stacks, six in a stack, on the pure table[i] before the Lord. Put pure frankincense on each stack, as a token portion for the bread; it is a food gift for the Lord. Aaron will always set it out before the Lord, Sabbath after Sabbath, on behalf of[j] the Israelites, as a permanent covenant. It will belong to Aaron and his sons. They must eat it in a holy place because it is the most holy part of their share of the Lord’s food gifts, a permanent portion.

Assault and blasphemy

10 The son of an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father came out among the Israelites. A fight broke out between this half-Israelite[k] and another Israelite man in the camp, 11 during which the half-Israelite blasphemed the Lord’s name and cursed. So he was brought to Moses. (His mother’s name was Shelomith, Dibri’s daughter from the tribe of Dan.) 12 He was put under guard until they could determine the Lord’s verdict.

13 Then the Lord said to Moses: 14 Take the one who cursed outside the camp. All who heard him will press their hands on his head. Then the whole community will stone him. 15 Tell the Israelites: Anyone who curses God will be liable to punishment. 16 And anyone who blasphemes the Lord’s name must be executed. The whole community will stone that person. Immigrant and citizen alike: whenever someone blasphemes the Lord’s name, that person will be executed.

17 If anyone kills another person, they must be executed. 18 Someone who kills an animal may make amends for it: a life for a life. 19 If someone injures a fellow citizen, they will suffer the same injury they inflicted: 20 broken bone for broken bone, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. The same injury the person inflicted on the other will be inflicted on them. 21 Someone who kills an animal must make amends for it, but whoever kills a human being must be executed. 22 There is but one law on this matter for you, immigrant or citizen alike, because I am the Lord your God.

23 Moses told this to the Israelites. So they took the one who had cursed outside the camp and stoned him. The Israelites did just as the Lord commanded Moses.

Footnotes

  1. Leviticus 23:5 March–April, Nisan
  2. Leviticus 23:13 Four quarts dry; also in 23:17
  3. Leviticus 23:17 Or firstfruits; also in 23:20
  4. Leviticus 23:24 September–October, Tishrei; also in 23:27, 33, 39, 41
  5. Leviticus 23:40 Or hadar trees
  6. Leviticus 23:40 Heb uncertain
  7. Leviticus 24:4 Perhaps pure gold lampstand
  8. Leviticus 24:5 Approximately four quarts dry
  9. Leviticus 24:6 Perhaps pure gold table
  10. Leviticus 24:8 Or from or as a gift of; Heb uncertain
  11. Leviticus 24:10 Or Israelite woman’s son; also in 24:11

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