Leviticus 23

₁The Lord said to Moses: ₂‘You must talk to the Israelites and tell them: There are important feasts of the Lord that you must celebrate. These are the times when you must come together and when you must consecrate yourselves to Me. These are my feasts:

₃You must work and do everything that you must do for 6 days, but the 7th day is the feast of the Sabbath day. You must come together and consecrate yourselves and you must not work. It is the Sabbath day of the Lord, no_matter where you live.’

₄‘These are the feasts of the Lord and these are the times when you must come together to consecrate yourselves. You must celebrate them at the times that I tell you.

₅You must celebrate the Passover of the Lord on the 14th day of the first month, when the sun goes down. ₆The Feast of the flat bread starts on the 15th day of the same month. Then you must eat only flat bread for 7 days. ₇You must come together on the first day and consecrate yourselves. Don't do the work that you always do. ₈You must sacrifice a fire-offering to the Lord on each of these 7 days. On the 7th day you must come together again and you must consecrate yourselves. On that day you may not do the work that you always do.’

₉The Lord said to Moses: ₁₀‘You must tell the Israelites: When you come into the land that I will give you and you cut the wheat and barley, then you must give the first head_of_wheat to the priest. ₁₁The priest must move the head_of_wheat before the Lord, then the Lord will accept it from you. The priest must move the head_of_wheat on the day after the Sabbath day. ₁₂On that day you must bring a healthy lamb which is one-year-old to be a burnt-offering for the Lord. ₁₃You must also bring a grain-offering. It must be 2 10ths of an ephah of the best flour. You must mix it with olive oil. The drink-offering must be a quarter_hin of wine. ₁₄You may not eat bread or roasted grain or wheat from the new harvest before this day. You must first sacrifice this offering to your God. You and your descendants must always do this, no_matter where you live.’

₁₅‘From the day after the Sabbath day, when you bring the head_of_wheat as a move-offering, you must wait 7 weeks. ₁₆You must count 50 days until the day after the 7th Sabbath day, then you must sacrifice a new grain-offering. ₁₇You must bring 2 loaves of bread from your homes for a move-offering. You must bake each loaf with 2 10ths of an ephah of the best flour. There must be yeast in the bread. It is a move-offering to God from your first fruits.

₁₈You must also bring 7 healthy ram-lambs which are one-year-old and a young bull and 2 sheep rams with the bread. This is a burnt-offering for the Lord. You must also bring the grain-offerings and drink-offerings that you sacrifice with it. This is a fire-offering that pleases the Lord. ₁₉You must also bring a goat-ram for the sin-offering and 2 ram-lambs of one-year-old for the meal-offerings. ₂₀The priest must move them with the loaves of the first wheat harvest. This is a move-offering before the Lord with the 2 lambs. It is consecrated to the Lord and the priest may take it. ₂₁On that day you must come together and you must consecrate yourselves. You may not do the work that you always do. You and your descendants must always do this, no_matter where you live.

₂₂When you cut the wheat and barley on your fields, you must not cut everything at the sides of the field. You may not pick up the wheat that falls onto the ground. You must leave it for the poor people and the strangers. I am the Lord your God.’

₂₃The Lord said to Moses: ₂₄‘You must tell the Israelites: You must celebrate a special Sabbath day on the first day of the 7th month. You must come together and you must consecrate yourselves. You must blow rams'-horns and you must shout. ₂₅On that day you may not do the work that you always do and you must sacrifice fire-offerings to the Lord.’

₂₆The Lord said to Moses: ₂₇‘On the 10th day of the 7th month is the Day_of_atonement. It will be on this day only. The congregation must come together and you must consecrate yourselves. You must fast and you must sacrifice fire-offerings to the Lord. ₂₈On this day you may not do the work that you always do because it is the Day_of_atonement to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. ₂₉If someone does not fast on this day, then you must cut him off from his people. ₃₀And if someone does the work that he always does, then I will take him away from his people and I will cause him to die. ₃₁You may not do the work that you always do. You and your descendants must always celebrate this day, no_matter where you live. ₃₂This must be a very special Sabbath day for you. You must start fasting at the end of the 9th day and you must celebrate the Sabbath day until the next evening.’

₃₃The Lord said to Moses: ₃₄‘You must tell the Israelites: The Feast_of_shelters must start on the 15th day of the 7th month and you must celebrate it for 7 days. ₃₅On the first day you must come together and you must consecrate yourselves. You may not do the work that you always do. ₃₆Every day for 7 days you must sacrifice a fire-offering to the Lord. On the 8th day you must come together and you must consecrate yourselves to the Lord and sacrifice a fire-offering to Him. This is a holy day and you may not do the work that you always do.

₃₇These are the feasts of the Lord which you must celebrate. You must come together and consecrate yourselves. You must sacrifice a fire-offering to the Lord, a burnt-offering, a grain-offering and drink-offerings. Every day you must sacrifice the offerings that the Lord has told you to sacrifice. ₃₈You must also celebrate the Sabbath days of the Lord and you must bring your gifts and your vow-offerings and the offerings that you feel you want to give to the Lord.

₃₉On the 15th day of the 7th month you must start celebrating the Harvest-feast of the Lord. You must celebrate it only on the day that you have finished cutting the wheat and barley and picked the fruit. You must celebrate the feast for 7 days. The first and the 8th days must be special Sabbath days. ₄₀On the first day you must take fruit, branches of palm trees and branches of trees with lots of leaves and trees that grow near water. You must celebrate the feast before the Lord your God for 7 days. ₄₁Every year you must celebrate this feast for 7 days. You and your descendants must always celebrate this feast in the 7th month.

₄₂You must live in shelters for these 7 days. Every Israelite must do it, ₄₃so that your descendants will know that I made the Israelites live in shelters when I saved them from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.’

₄₄Moses told the Israelites what feasts they had to celebrate for the Lord.