Knox Bible

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The Lord also spoke to Moses,

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bidding him tell the sons of Israel: These are the feasts which the Lord will have you proclaim as specially set apart.✻

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You have six days to work in; the seventh day must be kept set apart as a day that is all repose; you must refrain from all work that day, and there must be repose in every dwelling-place of yours, in the Lord’s honour.

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And these are the feasts you must observe as consecrated to the Lord when certain times of year come round.

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On the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month, the Lord’s Pasch begins;

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and with the fifteenth day of the month comes the feast of unleavened bread; for a whole week you will eat your bread without leaven.

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This first day you shall hold in great honour and reverence, doing no servile work on it;

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you will offer burnt-sacrifice to the Lord, and these sacrifices shall continue all through the week. The seventh day, too, is one which is to be kept with special honour and reverence, and no servile work is to be done.

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And next, the Lord spoke to Moses,

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bidding him give this message to the Israelites: When you have reached the land I mean to make yours, you will have a harvest to gather in. You must bring sheaves of corn, the first-fruits of your crop, to the priest,

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and he, the day following the sabbath, will consecrate each sheaf, lifting it up in the Lord’s presence to win his favour for you.

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The same day on which the sheaf is hallowed, a yearling lamb without blemish must be offered to the Lord as a burnt-sacrifice;

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and with it, as a bloodless offering, a peck of flour, kneaded with oil, to burn before the Lord and please him with the smell of its burning. And you must add a quart of wine by way of libation.

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You must not eat bread or pearl-barley or porridge made from the new crop until you have brought your God this offering. This is a law you must observe at all times and everywhere.

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From that day, the next after the sabbath, when the sheaf of first-fruits was offered, you will count seven full weeks;

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and on the day after the end of the seventh week, that is, on the fiftieth day, you will offer the Lord a sacrifice out of your new harvesting.

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Each household must provide two loaves by way of first-fruits; a peck of flour cooked with leaven as first-fruits given to the Lord.

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With the loaves, you will offer seven yearling lambs without blemish, a calf chosen from the herd, and two rams; a burnt-sacrifice with your gifts to accompany it, for the Lord to accept the smell of its burning.

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And you must sacrifice a goat as a transgression-victim, and two yearling lambs by way of welcome-offering.

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These the priest will lift in the Lord’s presence together with the first-fruits, and they shall be for his own use.

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You must keep this day with great honour and reverence, doing no servile work on it; that is a law you must observe at all times and everywhere.

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And when you reap your land, you will not rase all to the ground, or gather the stray ears; you will leave them for the poor man and the wanderer to glean; remember what God you worship.✻

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And next, the Lord spoke to Moses,

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bidding him tell the Israelites: You must keep the first day of the seventh month as a day of rest; it shall be proclaimed holy with blowing of trumpets, to keep the Lord in mind of you.

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You must cease from all work, and offer the Lord burnt-sacrifice.

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And moreover (so ran the Lord’s word to Moses)

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the tenth day of this seventh month is the day you are to honour by making atonement; it will be proclaimed holy, and you will fast on it, as well as offering the Lord burnt-sacrifice.

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During this day you are to do no servile work; it is a day of atonement, to win the Lord’s mercy for you.

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If anyone does not fast that day, he is lost to his people;

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and I will rid the people, too, of anyone who does any work on it.

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It must be an unalterable rule with you at all times and everywhere to cease work on that day;

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it is to be all repose. The fast will begin on the evening of the ninth day, and from evening to evening you will rest.

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And the Lord also spoke to Moses

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giving him this message for the Israelites: From the fifteenth day of this seventh month onwards, you will keep, for a whole week, the feast of Tent-dwelling.

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The first day is to be held in all honour and reverence; you will do no servile work on it. On each of the seven days you will offer the Lord burnt-sacrifice,

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and the eighth day too you must keep with all honour and reverence, with burnt-sacrifices to the Lord; the people must assemble together, and no servile work is to be done.

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These are the Lord’s feasts, which you must proclaim with honour and reverence, bringing the Lord your offerings, burnt-sacrifice and the gifts that go with it, as the rite of each day prescribes;

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to make no mention of the sabbath, and of those offerings which you will make to the Lord in performance of a vow, or out of devotion.

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This is how you will celebrate your week of feasting in the Lord’s honour, at the time when the last of your crops have been gathered in, from the fifteenth day of the seventh month onwards. The first and the eighth days will be all repose.

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And on the first day you will pluck fruit from some favourite tree, and branches of palm, leafy boughs, and osiers from the river banks, and so keep holiday in the presence of the Lord your God.

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For a whole week every year you will honour this observance, making it a law at all times and everywhere. It is to be kept in the seventh month,

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and for seven days you will live in arbours; the whole race of Israel will become tent-dwellers,

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to remind those who come after you that I bade the sons of Israel dwell in tents when I rescued them from the land of Egypt; I, the Lord your God.

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So Moses gave word to the Israelites about the feasts they were to celebrate in the Lord’s honour.