Special Holidays

23 The Lord said to Moses, ²“Tell the people of Israel: You will announce the Lord’s chosen festivals as holy meetings. These are my special holidays:

Sabbath

³“Work for six days. But the seventh day, the Sabbath, will be a special day of rest, a holy meeting. You must not do any work. It is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your homes.

Passover

⁴“These are the Lord’s chosen holidays. You will announce the holy meetings at the times chosen for them. ⁵The Lord’s Passover is on the 14th day of the first month* at twilight.*

Festival of Unleavened Bread

⁶“The Festival of Unleavened Bread* is on the 15th day of the same month (Nisan). You will eat unleavened bread for seven days. ⁷On the first day of this holiday you will have a special meeting. You must not do any work {on that day}. ⁸For seven days, you will bring sacrifices offered by fire to the Lord. Then there will be another special meeting on the seventh day. You must not do any work {on that day}.”

Festival of the First Harvests

⁹The Lord said to Moses, ¹⁰“Tell the people of Israel: You will enter the land that I will give you. You will reap its harvest. At that time, you must bring in the first sheaf* of your harvest to the priest. ¹¹The priest will wave the sheaf before the Lord. Then you will be accepted. The priest will wave the sheaf on Sunday morning.* ¹²“On the day when you wave the sheaf,* you will offer a one-year-old male lamb. There must be nothing wrong with that lamb. That lamb will be a burnt offering to the Lord. ¹³You must also offer a grain offering of 16 cups* of fine flour mixed with olive oil. You must also offer 1 quart* of wine. The smell of that offering will please the Lord. ¹⁴You must not eat any of the new grain, or fruit, or bread made from the new grain, until you bring that offering to your God. This law will always continue through your generations wherever you live.

Festival of Pentecost

¹⁵“From that Sunday morning,* (the day you bring the sheaf* for the wave offering) count seven weeks. ¹⁶On the Sunday following the seventh week, (that is 50 days later) you will bring a new grain offering to the Lord. ¹⁷On that day, bring two loaves of bread from your homes. That bread will be for a wave offering. Use yeast and 16 cups* of flour to make those loaves of bread. That will be your gift to the Lord from your first harvest. ¹⁸“One bull, one ram, and seven one-year-old male lambs will be offered with the grain offerings from the people. There must be nothing wrong with those animals. They will be a burnt offering to the Lord. They will be an offering by fire. Its smell will please the Lord. ¹⁹You will also offer one male goat for a sin offering and two one-year-old male lambs as a fellowship offering. ²⁰“The priest will wave them with the bread from the first harvest for a wave offering with two lambs before the Lord. They are holy to the Lord. They will belong to the priest. ²¹On that same day, you will call a holy meeting. You must not do any work. This law continues forever in all your homes. ²²“Also, when you harvest the crops on your land, don’t cut all the way to the corners of your field. Don’t pick up the grain that falls on the ground. Leave those things for poor people and for foreigners traveling through your country. I am the Lord your God!”

Festival of Trumpets

²³Again the Lord said to Moses, ²⁴“Tell the people of Israel: On the first day of the seventh month, you must have a special day of rest. Blow the trumpet to remind the people that this is a holy meeting. ²⁵You must not do any work. You will bring an offering by fire to the Lord.”

Day of Atonement

²⁶The Lord said to Moses, ²⁷“The Day of Atonement* will be on the tenth day of the seventh month. There will be a holy meeting. You must not eat food* and you must bring an offering by fire to the Lord. ²⁸You must not do any work on that day. Why? Because it is the Day of Atonement. On that day, {the priests will go} before the Lord and do the ceremony that makes you pure.* ²⁹“If any person refuses to fast* on this day, he must be separated from his people. ³⁰If a person does any work on this day, I (God) will destroy that person from among his people. ³¹You must not do any work at all. This is a law that continues forever for you, wherever you live. ³²It will be a special day of rest for you. You must not eat food.* You will start this special day of rest on the evening following the ninth day of the month.* This special day of rest continues from that evening until the next evening.”

Festival of Shelters

³³Again the Lord said to Moses, ³⁴“Tell the people of Israel: On the 15th day of the seventh month is the Festival of Shelters. This holiday to the Lord will continue for seven days. ³⁵There will be a holy meeting on the first day. You must not do any work. ³⁶You will bring an offering by fire to the Lord for seven days. On the eighth day you will have another holy meeting. You will bring an offering by fire to the Lord. This will be a holy meeting. You must not do any work. ³⁷“Those are the Lord’s special holidays. There will be holy meetings on those holidays. You will bring offerings by fire to the Lord—burnt offerings, grain offerings, sacrifices, and drink offerings. You will bring those gifts at the right time. ³⁸You will celebrate those holidays in addition to remembering the Lord’s Sabbath* days. You will offer those gifts in addition to your other gifts to the Lord. You will offer those things in addition to any offerings you give as payment for your special promises. They will be in addition to any special offerings you want to give to the Lord. ³⁹“On the 15th day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the crops of the land, you will celebrate the Lord’s festival for seven days. The first day will be a special day of rest, and then the eighth day will be a special day of rest. ⁴⁰On the first day you will take good fruit from fruit trees. And you will take branches from palm trees, poplar trees and willow trees by the brook. You will celebrate before the Lord your God for seven days. ⁴¹You will celebrate this holiday to the Lord for seven days each year. This law will continue forever. You will celebrate this holiday in the seventh month. ⁴²You will live in temporary shelters for seven days. All the people born in Israel will live in those shelters. ⁴³Why? So all of your descendants* will know that I made the people of Israel live in temporary shelters during the time I brought them from Egypt. I am the Lord your God!” ⁴⁴So Moses told the people of Israel about all of the special meetings {to honor} the Lord.

first month Nisan, the first month of the Jewish calendar. It was during March-April. twilight The time after the sun goes down, but before dark. Unleavened Bread Bread made without yeast. sheaf A stack of grain. Sunday morning Literally, “the morning after the Sabbath.” 16 cups Literally, “2/10 of an ephah.” 1 quart Literally, “1/4 of a hin.” Day of Atonement Also called “Yom Kippur”—the most important Jewish holy day. On this day the high priest went into the Most Holy Place and did the ceremony that atoned (covered or erased) the sins of the people. You must not eat food Literally, “You must humble yourselves.” make … pure Literally, “make atonement.” The Hebrew word means “to cover,” “to hide,” or “to erase sins.” fast To live without food for a time of prayer and worship. evening following … month According to Jewish time, the day starts at sunset. Sabbath Saturday, a special day of rest and worship for Jews. descendants A person’s children and their future families.