The annual feasts
1 Yahweh spoke to Moses,
2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: You proclaim holy assemblies on the appointed feasts of Yahweh, which are these:
3 After six days in which work shall be done, there is a sabbath of complete rest on the seventh day, a holy assembly when no work shall be done; it is a sabbath to Yahweh in all your houses.
4 Then there are the appointed feasts of Yahweh at the times fixed for them, when you are to proclaim holy assemblies.
5 At twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month is Yahweh’s Passover.
6 And on the fifteenth day of this month it is Yahweh’s feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days you shall eat bread without leaven.
7 On the first day there will be a sacred assembly and no work of a worker shall be done.
8 For seven days you shall present an offering by fire to Yahweh and on the seventh day you shall hold a sacred assembly and do no work of a worker.”
Offering of the first sheaf
9 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,
10 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you enter the land that I will give you and you reap its harvest, you will bring to the priest a sheaf, the firstfruits of your harvest
11 and he shall wave the sheaf before Yahweh for you to be accepted; on the day after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.
12 The day when you wave the sheaf, you shall sacrifice a lamb without defect, born that year, as a burnt offering to Yahweh.
13 And the grain offering with it shall be two tenths of a measure of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering by fire to Yahweh, a sweet-smelling offering, with its drink offering of a quarter of a measure of wine.
14 You shall eat neither bread nor grain, whether roasted or new, until the very day you bring the offering to your God. This is to be an everlasting ordinance for all generations throughout your residences.
15 From the day after the sabbath, on which you bring the sheaf of offering, you are to count seven full weeks.
16 The day after the seventh sabbath will be the fiftieth day and then you are to offer Yahweh a new offering.
17 You must bring bread from your houses to present with the gesture of offering—two loaves, made of two tenths of wheaten flour baked with leaven; these are firstfruits for Yahweh.
18 In addition to the bread you must offer seven one-year-old lambs without any defect, a young bull and two rams, as a burnt offering to Yahweh together with a grain offering and drink offering, as a sweet-smelling offering to Yahweh.
19 You are also to offer a goat as a sacrifice for sin, and two one-year-old lambs as a peace offering.
20 The priest shall present them before Yahweh with the gesture of offering, in addition to the bread of the firstfruits. These, and the two lambs, are holy things for Yahweh, and will belong to the priest.
21 This same day you are to hold an assembly; this shall be a sacred assembly for you; you will do no work of a worker. This is a perpetual law for your descendants wherever you live.
22 When you gather the harvest in your country, you are not to harvest to the very end of your field, and you are not to gather the gleanings of the harvest. You are to leave them for the poor and the stranger. I am Yahweh your God.”
23 Yahweh spoke to Moses; he said:
24 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: The first day of the seventh month shall be a day of rest for you, a sacred assembly proclaimed with trumpet call.
25 You must not do any work of a worker and you must offer a burnt offering to Yahweh.”
26 Yahweh spoke to Moses; he said:
27 “The tenth day of this seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement. You are to hold a sacred assembly. You must fast, and you must offer a burnt offering to Yah weh.
28 You are not to do any work that day, for it is the Day of Atonement, on which the rite of atonement will be performed over you before Yahweh your God.
29 Indeed, anyone who fails to fast that day shall be outlawed from his people;
30 anyone who works that day I will remove from his people.
31 No work must be done—this is a perpetual law for your descendants wherever you live.
32 This is to be a day of sabbath rest for you. You must fast; on the evening of the ninth day of the month, from this to the following evening, you must cease to work.”
33 Yahweh spoke to Moses; he said:
34 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them:
The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of Tents for Yahweh, lasting seven days.
35 The first day you shall hold an assembly; you must do no work of a worker.
36 For seven days you must offer a burnt offering to Yahweh. On the eighth day you are to hold a sacred assembly and you must offer a burnt offering to Yahweh. It is a day of solemn assembly in which you shall do no work of a worker.
37 These are the appointed feasts of Yahweh in which you are to proclaim holy assemblies for the purpose of offering offerings by fire, burnt offerings, grain offerings and drink offerings to Yahweh, according to the ritual of each day,
38 besides the sabbaths of Yahweh and the presents, and the votive and voluntary gifts that you make to Yahweh.
39 On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have harvested the produce of the land, you are to celebrate the feast of Yahweh for seven days. On the first and eighth days there shall be a complete rest. ［Ne 8,15］
40 On the first day you shall take choice fruits, palm branches, boughs of leafy trees and willows from the riverbank, and for seven days you shall rejoice in the presence of Yahweh your God.
41 You are to celebrate a feast for Yahweh in this way for seven days every year. This is a perpetual law for your descendants.
42 You are to keep this feast in the seventh month. For seven days you are to live in tents and shelters: all natives of Israel must live in tents and shelters,
43 so that your descendants may know that I made the Israelites live in tents when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.”
44 These are the regulations that Moses gave to the sons of Israel regarding the feasts of Yahweh.
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Comments Leviticus, Chapter 23
• 23.1 Here we are dealing with the feasts or “days” of Yahweh. God’s people gather not only to celebrate their joys and sorrows: God is the one who summons them for his feasts through those responsible for his church (do not forget that church means: assembly or congregation).
The weekly day of rest (in Hebrew, sabbath means rest) is the first of these sacred encounters with God (v. 3).
Then come the three great feasts of Israel:
– the week of unleavened bread, which began with the Passover and recalled the departure from Egypt (vv. 9-14);
– the feast of the seven weeks, or Pentecost (which means fiftieth day) which was connected with the remembrance of the Law given on Sinai (vv. 15-21);
– the feast of Tabernacles, or of booths, to recall the years in the desert (vv. 33-34).
The yearly day of Atonement to ask forgiveness for the people’s sins (vv. 26-32) was celebrated for a while along with the New Year, or during the feast of Tabernacles until it became fixed on a special day.
• 9. Below we single out the offering of the sheaf of the first fruits, during the feast of unleavened bread, marking the beginning of the harvest.
God does not need anything. If he does ask something from us it is because we need to give of ourselves to be truly human. There is no feast, no shared happiness, no soothed heart if something is not sacrificed.
Tithing or the tenth part of the fruits offered to God, which will serve to feed the Levites and the poor, becomes spiritual wealth for the peo ple of the Bible.
In many churches or Christian groups, the members of the community give the tenth part of their revenue: no one, even in poor countries, has become poorer.
The first sheaf offered to God may also mean the first part of the workday given to God; the first contribution of the month given to assist a companion in need; the first moment of rest which spouses together offer to the Lord; it means each believer’s cooperation in the church affairs to make the church free before the powerful.