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Leviticus

About this book
Chapter 23

1 The Lord spoke to Moses: 2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘These are the Lord’s appointed times which you must proclaim as holy assemblies—my appointed times.⁠ 3 “‘Six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there must be a Sabbath of complete rest, a holy assembly. You must not do any work; it is a Sabbath to the Lord in all the places where you live. 4 “‘These are the Lord’s appointed times, holy assemblies, which you must proclaim at their appointed time. 5 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight, is a Passover offering to the Lord.⁠ 6 Then on the fifteenth day of the same month will be the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; seven days you must eat unleavened bread. 7 On the first day there will be a holy assembly for you; you must not do any regular work. 8 You must present a gift to the Lord for seven days, and the seventh day is a holy assembly; you must not do any regular work.’” 9 The Lord spoke to Moses: 10 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When you enter the land that I am about to give to you and you gather in its harvest, then you must bring the sheaf of the first portion of your harvest to the priest, 11 and he must wave the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted for your benefit—on the day after the Sabbath⁠ the priest is to wave it.⁠ 12 On the day you wave the sheaf you must also offer a flawless yearling lamb for a burnt offering to the Lord, 13 along with its grain offering, two-tenths of an ephah of choice wheat flour mixed with olive oil, as a gift to the Lord, a soothing aroma, and its drink offering, one-fourth of a hin of wine. 14 You must not eat bread, roasted grain, or fresh grain until this very day, until you bring the offering to your God. This is a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all the places where you live. 15 “‘You must count for yourselves seven weeks from the day after the Sabbath, from the day you bring the wave-offering sheaf; they must be complete weeks. 16 You must count 50 days—until the day after the seventh Sabbath—and then you must present a new grain offering to the Lord. 17 From the places where you live you must bring two loaves of bread for a wave offering; they must be made from two-tenths of an ephah of fine wheat flour, baked with yeast, as firstfruits to the Lord. 18 Along with the loaves of bread, you must also present seven flawless yearling lambs, one young bull, and two rams. They are to be a burnt offering to the Lord along with their grain offering and drink offerings, a gift of a soothing aroma to the Lord. 19 You must also offer one male goat for a sin offering and two yearling lambs for a peace-offering sacrifice, 20 and the priest is to wave them—the two lambs—along with the bread of the firstfruits, as a wave offering before the Lord; they will be holy to the Lord for the priest. 21 “‘On this very day you must proclaim an assembly; it is to be a holy assembly for you. You must not do any regular work. This is a perpetual statute in all the places where you live throughout your generations. 22 When you gather in the harvest of your land, you must not completely harvest the corner of your field, and you must not gather up the gleanings of your harvest. You must leave them for the poor and the resident foreigner.⁠ I am the Lord your God.’” 23 The Lord spoke to Moses: 24 “Tell the Israelites, ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you must have a complete rest, a memorial announced by loud horn blasts, a holy assembly.⁠ 25 You must not do any regular work, but you must present a gift to the Lord.’” 26 The Lord spoke to Moses: 27 “The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It is to be a holy assembly for you, and you must humble yourselves and present a gift to the Lord. 28 You must not do any work on this particular day, because it is a day of atonement to make atonement for yourselves before the Lord your God. 29 Indeed, any person who does not behave with humility on this particular day will be cut off from his people. 30 As for any person who does any work on this particular day, I will exterminate that person from the midst of his people—⁠ 31 you must not do any work! This is a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all the places where you live. 32 It is a Sabbath of complete rest for you, and you must humble yourselves on the ninth day of the month in the evening, from evening until evening you must observe your Sabbath.” 33 The Lord spoke to Moses: 34 “Tell the Israelites, ‘On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the Feast of Shelters for seven days to the Lord.⁠ 35 On the first day is a holy assembly; you must do no regular work. 36 For seven days you must present a gift to the Lord. On the eighth day there is to be a holy assembly for you, and you must present a gift to the Lord. It is a solemn assembly day; you must not do any regular work. 37 “‘These are the appointed times of the Lord that you must proclaim as holy assemblies to present a gift to the Lord—burnt offering, grain offering, sacrifice, and drink offerings, each day according to its regulation, 38 besides the Sabbaths of the Lord and all your gifts, votive offerings, and freewill offerings which you must give to the Lord. 39 “‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you gather in the produce of the land, you must celebrate a pilgrim festival of the Lord for seven days. On the first day is a complete rest and on the eighth day is complete rest. 40 On the first day you must take for yourselves branches from majestic trees—palm branches, branches of leafy trees, and willows of the brook—and you must rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. 41 You must celebrate it as a pilgrim festival to the Lord for seven days in the year. This is a perpetual statute throughout your generations;⁠ you must celebrate it in the seventh month. 42 You must live in temporary shelters for seven days; every native citizen in Israel must live in shelters,⁠ 43 so that your future generations may know that I made the Israelites live in shelters⁠ when I brought them out from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.’” 44 So Moses spoke to the Israelites about the appointed times of the Lord.

Texts in conversation

Compare Leviticus 23:34 and Jubilees 16:21

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions

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Summary

Jubilees describes Abraham celebrating Sukkot, explaining that he was the first to do so, before the wandering in the wilderness. This follows a pattern in Jubilees where the patriarchs are shown following the Torah before it was given to Moses.

Passages

Leviticus 23:34

Hebrew Bible
33 The Lord spoke to Moses: 34 “Tell the Israelites, ‘On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the Feast of Shelters for seven days to the Lord. 35 On the first day is a holy assembly; you must do no regular work. 36 For seven days you must present a gift to the Lord. On the eighth day there is to be a holy assembly for you, and you must present a gift to the Lord. It is a solemn assembly day; you must not do any regular work.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Leviticus

Jubilees 16:21

Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
19 And we went our way, and we announced to Sarah all that we had told him, and they both rejoiced with very great joy. 20 And he built there an altar to the Lord who had rescued him, and who was making him rejoice in the land where he lived as a foreigner, and he celebrated a festival of joy in this month seven days, near the altar which he had built at the Well of the Oath. 21 And he built booths for himself and for his servants on this festival, and he was the first to celebrate the feast of tabernacles on the earth. 22 And during these seven days he brought each day to the altar a burnt offering to the Lord, two oxen, two rams, seven sheep, one male goat, for a sin offering, so that he might atone by it for himself and for his descendants.
170–125 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Jubilees

References

"... the author was so bold as to assert that the very reason for the existence of these holy days was to be found not in the divinely-given prescriptions of the Sinai covenant, but in the events of the patriarchs’ own lives. That is to say, God did not command Abraham to celebrate the Festival of Booths (Sukkot); on the contrary, such-and-such a thing happened in Abraham’s life, and as a result he inaugurated the celebration of this festival on his own initiative (Jubilees 16:5-27). Only later did God tell Moses to promulgate a law in the Torah (Leviticus 23:33-35) commanding Israelites to celebrate the festival that Abraham had initiated, and to celebrate it on the precise date that Abraham had chosen for it ..."
James L. Kugel, A Walk through Jubilees: Studies in the Book of Jubilees and the World of Its Creation (Leiden: Brill, 2012), 8.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Leviticus 23:34 and Jubilees 16:21

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