Festival of Trumpets

29 “There will be a special meeting on the first day of the seventh month. You will not do any work on that day. That is the day for blowing the trumpet.* ²You will offer burnt offerings. Their smell will please the Lord. You will offer 1 bull, 1 ram, and 7 lambs that are one year old. There must be nothing wrong with them. ³You will also offer 24 cups* of fine flour mixed with oil with the bull, 16 cups* with the ram, ⁴and 8 cups* with each of the 7 lambs. ⁵Also, offer 1 male goat for a sin offering to make you pure.* ⁶Those offerings are in addition to the New Moon* sacrifice and its grain offering. And they are in addition to the daily sacrifice and its grain offerings and drink offerings. Those must be done according to the rules. They must be offerings made by fire. Their smell will please the Lord.

The Day of Atonement

⁷“There will be a special meeting on the tenth day of the seventh month. During that day you must not eat any food.* And you must not do any work. ⁸You will offer burnt offerings. Their smell will please the Lord. You must offer 1 bull, 1 ram, and 7 lambs that are one year old. There must be nothing wrong with them. ⁹You must also offer 24 cups* of fine flour mixed with olive oil with the bull, 16 cups* with the ram, ¹⁰and 8 cups* with each of the 7 lambs. ¹¹You will also offer 1 male goat as a sin offering. This will be in addition to the sin offering for the Day of Atonement.* This will also be in addition to the daily sacrifice and its grain offerings and drink offerings.

Festival of Shelters

¹²“There will be a special meeting on the 15th day of the seventh month. {This will be the Festival of Shelters.*} You must not do any work on that day. You must celebrate a special holiday for the Lord for seven days. ¹³You will offer burnt offerings. They will be offerings made by fire. Their smell will please the Lord. You will offer 13 bulls, 2 rams, and 14 lambs that are one year old. There must be nothing wrong with them. ¹⁴You must also offer 24 cups* of fine flour mixed with oil with each of the 13 bulls, 16 cups* with each of the 2 rams, ¹⁵and 8 cups* with each of the 14 lambs. ¹⁶You must also offer 1 male goat. This must be in addition to the daily sacrifice and its grain offerings and drink offerings. ¹⁷“On the second day {of this holiday}, you must offer 12 bulls, 2 rams, and 14 lambs that are one year old. There must be nothing wrong with them. ¹⁸You must also give the right amount of grain and drink offerings with the bulls, rams, and lambs. ¹⁹You must also offer 1 male goat as a sin offering. This must be in addition to the daily sacrifice and its grain offerings and drink offerings. ²⁰“On the third day {of this holiday}, you must offer 11 bulls, 2 rams, and 14 lambs that are one year old. There must be nothing wrong with them. ²¹You must also give the right amount of grain and drink offerings with the bulls, rams, and lambs. ²²You must also give 1 goat as a sin offering. This must be in addition to the daily sacrifice and its grain offerings and drink offerings. ²³“On the fourth day {of this holiday}, you must offer 10 bulls, 2 rams, and 14 lambs that are one year old. There must be nothing wrong with them. ²⁴You must also give the right amount of grain and drink offerings with the bulls, rams, and lambs. ²⁵You must also give 1 male goat as a sin offering. This must be in addition to the daily sacrifice and its grain offerings and drink offerings. ²⁶“On the fifth day {of this holiday}, you must offer 9 bulls, 2 rams, and 14 lambs that are one year old. There must be nothing wrong with them. ²⁷You must also give the right amount of grain and drink offerings with the bulls, rams, and lambs. ²⁸You must also give 1 male goat as a sin offering. This must be in addition to the daily sacrifice and its grain offerings and drink offerings. ²⁹“On the sixth day {of this holiday}, you must offer 8 bulls, 2 rams, and 14 lambs that are one year old. There must be nothing wrong with them. ³⁰You must also give the right amount of grain and drink offerings for the bulls, rams, and lambs. ³¹You must also give 1 male goat as a sin offering. This must be in addition to the daily sacrifice and its grain offerings and drink offerings. ³²“On the seventh day {of this holiday}, you must offer 7 bulls, 2 rams, and 14 lambs that are one year old. There must be nothing wrong with them. ³³You must also give the right amount of grain and drink offerings with the bulls, rams, and lambs. ³⁴You must also give 1 male goat as a sin offering. This must be in addition to the daily sacrifice and its grain offerings and drink offerings. ³⁵“The eighth day {of this holiday} is a very special meeting for you. You must not do any work on that day. ³⁶You must offer a burnt offering. It will an offering made by fire. Its smell will please the Lord. You must offer 1 bull, 1 ram, and 7 lambs that are one year old. There must be nothing wrong with them. ³⁷You must also give the right amount of grain and drink offerings with the bull, ram, and lambs. ³⁸You must also give 1 male goat as a sin offering. This must be in addition to the daily sacrifice and its grain offerings and drink offerings. ³⁹“At the special holidays you must bring your burnt offerings, grain offerings, drink offerings, and fellowship offerings. You must give those offerings to the Lord. Those offerings are in addition to any special gift you might want to give to the Lord and any offering that is part of any special promise you make.” ⁴⁰Moses told the people of Israel about all of the things that the Lord had commanded him.

blowing the trumpet Or, “shouting.” This might mean that this is a day for shouting and being happy. 24 cups Literally, “3/10 of an ephah.” 16 cups Literally, “2/10 of an ephah.” 8 cups Literally, “1/10 of an ephah.” make … pure Or, “make atonement.” The Hebrew word means “to cover,” “to hide,” or “to erase sins.” New Moon The first day of the Jewish month. This was a special day of worship. you … food Literally, “You will humble your souls.” Day of Atonement Also called “Yom Kippur”—a very important holiday for the Jews. 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. Festival of Shelters Also called “Succoth” or “Feast of Tabernacles.” At this time in ancient Israel, Jewish people traveled to Jerusalem and camped out in tents and temporary shelters to help them remember their time in the Sinai desert.

Special Promises

30 Moses spoke with all the leaders of the Israelite family groups. Moses told them about these commands from the Lord: ²“If a person wants to make a special promise to God, or if that person promises to give something special to God, then let him do that thing. But that person must do exactly what he promises! ³“A young woman might still be living in her father’s house. And that young woman might make a special promise to give something to the Lord. ⁴If her father hears about the promise and agrees, then the young woman must do the thing she promised. ⁵But if her father hears about the promise and does not agree, then she is free from her promise. She does not have to do the thing she promised. Her father stopped her, so the Lord will forgive her. ⁶“A woman might make a special promise to give something to the Lord and then get married. ⁷If the husband hears about the promise and doesn’t object, then the woman must do the thing she promised. ⁸But if the husband hears about the promise and refuses to let her keep her promise, then the wife does not have to do the thing she promised. Her husband broke the promise—he did not let her do the thing she said. So the Lord will forgive her. ⁹“A widow* or a divorced woman might make a special promise. If she does, then she must do exactly what she promised. ¹⁰A married woman might make a promise to give something to the Lord. ¹¹If her husband hears about the promise and lets her keep her promise, then she must do exactly what she promised. She must give everything she promised. ¹²But if her husband hears about the promise and refuses to let her keep the promise, then she does not have to do what she promised. It does not matter what she promised, her husband can break the promise. If her husband breaks the promise, then the Lord will forgive her. ¹³A married woman might promise to give something to the Lord, or she might promise to do without something,* or she might make some other special promise to God. The husband can stop any of those promises, and the husband can let her keep any of those promises. ¹⁴How does the husband let his wife keep her promises? If he hears about the promises and does not stop them, then the woman must do exactly what she promised. ¹⁵But if the husband hears about the promises and stops them, then he is responsible for breaking her promises.*” ¹⁶Those are the commands that the Lord gave to Moses. Those are the commands about a man and his wife, and about a father and his daughter that is still young and living at home in her father’s house.

widow(s) Women whose husbands have died. Often these women had no one to take care of them. do without something Literally, “humble her soul.” Usually this means to make the body suffer in some way, such as by not eating food. he … her promises Literally, “he carries her guilt.”