31Thus you shall keep my commandments and observe them: I am the LORD. 32You shall not profane my holy name, that I may be sanctified among the people of Israel: I am the LORD; I sanctify you, 33I who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am the LORD.
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22.2 Deal carefully with, lit. “separate themselves from” (see Num 6.3; Ezek 14.7). Sacred donations include all the sacrifices and offerings to the sanctuary, both the less holy (e.g., the well-being offering, v. 21) and the most holy (e.g., the purification offering, 6.25), from which the priest receives stipulated prebends (see 6.25; 7.31–32) and which he would defile if he ate them in a state of impurity (vv. 4–8).
22.3 Comes near, or “encroaches upon.”
22.4 Has…discharge. See chs. 13–15. The third source of contamination, the corpse, is assumed. Anything, more accurately “anyone” (similarly “it” in Num 19.22 should read “him”).
22.6–7 Washed…When, rather “first washed…Then when.” For they are his food, a concession. Note that Ezek 44.26 requires more rigorous purification.
22.8 Not forbidden to laypersons (17.15).
22.9 Keep my charge, i.e., “observe my prohibitions.” Incur guilt…profaned it, more precisely, “incur punishment and die for it, having profaned it (the prohibition).”
22.10 Bound or hired servant, a resident laborer.
22.15 No one, i.e., no priest.
22.16 Guilt requiring a guilt offering, a penalty of reparation.
22.18 Payment…freewill offering. See 7.16.
22.21–24 The defects that disqualify animals from the altar closely resemble those that disqualify priests from officiating at it (21.16–23).
22.21 In fulfillment of a, or “for an explicit.”
22.28 An animal, i.e., a mother.
22.29 Thanksgiving offering. In H this offering is not a well-being offering (v. 21; 19.5; cf. 7.11–15 [P]; on H and P, see Introduction).
22.32 I sanctify you, namely, Israel (see v. 33). However, Israel is not innately holy as are the priests (21.7); Israel is enjoined to strive for a holy life by obeying the Lord’s commandments (v. 31; see note on 19.1–37).
LEVITICUS 23
Appointed Festivals
1The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 2Speak to the people of Israel and say to them: These are the appointed festivals of the LORD that you shall proclaim as holy convocations, my appointed festivals.
The Sabbath, Passover, and Unleavened Bread
3Six days shall work be done; but the seventh day is a sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation; you shall do no work: it is a sabbath to the LORD throughout your settlements.
4These are the appointed festivals of the LORD, the holy convocations, which you shall celebrate at the time appointed for them. 5In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight,a there shall be a passover offering to the LORD, 6and on the fifteenth day of the same month is the festival of unleavened bread to the LORD; seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. 7On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not work at your occupations. 8For seven days you shall present the LORD’s offerings by fire; on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation: you shall not work at your occupations.
The Offering of First Fruits
9The LORD spoke to Moses: 10Speak to the people of Israel and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you and you reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. 11He shall raise the sheaf before the LORD, that you may find acceptance; on the day after the sabbath the priest shall raise it. 12On the day when you raise the sheaf, you shall offer a lamb a year old, without blemish, as a burnt offering to the LORD. 13And the grain offering with it shall be two-tenths of an ephah of choice flour mixed with oil, an offering by fire of pleasing odor to the LORD; and the drink offering with it shall be of wine, one-fourth of a hin. 14You shall eat no bread or parched grain or fresh ears until that very day, until you have brought the offering of your God: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your settlements.
The Festival of Weeks
15And from the day after the sabbath, from the day on which you bring the sheaf of the elevation offering, you shall count off seven weeks; they shall be complete. 16You shall count until the day after the seventh sabbath, fifty days; then you shall present an offering of new grain to the LORD. 17You shall bring from your settlements two loaves of bread as an elevation offering, each made of two-tenths of an ephah; they shall be of choice flour, baked with leaven, as first fruits to the LORD. 18You shall present with the bread seven lambs a year old without blemish, one young bull, and two rams; they shall be a burnt offering to the LORD, along with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering by fire of pleasing odor to the LORD. 19You shall also offer one male goat for a sin offering, and two male lambs a year old as a sacrifice of well-being. 20The priest shall raise them with the bread of the first fruits as an elevation offering before the LORD, together with the two lambs; they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest. 21On that same day you shall make proclamation; you shall hold a holy convocation; you shall not work at your occupations. This is a statute forever in all your settlements throughout your generations.
22When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest; you shall leave them for the poor and for the alien: I am the LORD your God.
The Festival of Trumpets
23The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 24Speak to the people of Israel, saying: In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of complete rest, a holy convocation commemorated with trumpet blasts. 25You shall not work at your occupations; and you shall present the LORD’s offering by fire.
The Day of Atonement
26The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 27Now, the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement; it shall be a holy convocation for you: you shall deny yourselvesb and present the LORD’s offering by fire; 28and you shall do no work during that entire day; for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement on your behalf before the LORD your God. 29For anyone who does not practice self-denialc during that entire day shall be cut off from the people. 30And anyone who does any work during that entire day, such a one I will destroy from the midst of the people. 31You shall do no work: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your settlements. 32It shall be to you a sabbath of complete rest, and you shall deny yourselves;d on the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening you shall keep your sabbath.
The Festival of Booths
33The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 34Speak to the people of Israel, saying: On the fifteenth day of this seventh month, and lasting seven days, there shall be the festival of boothse to the LORD. 35The first day shall be a holy convocation; you shall not work at your occupations. 36Seven days you shall present the LORD’s offerings by fire; on the eighth day you shall observe a holy convocation and present the LORD’s offerings by fire; it is a solemn assembly; you shall not work at your occupations.
37These are the appointed festivals of the LORD, which you shall celebrate as times of holy convocation, for presenting to the LORD offerings by fire—burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each on its proper day—38apart from the sabbaths of the LORD, and apart from your gifts, and apart from all your votive offerings, and apart from all your freewill offerings, which you give to the LORD.
39Now, the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you shall keep the festival of the LORD, lasting seven days; a complete rest on the first day, and a complete rest on the eighth day. 40On the first day you shall take the fruit of majesticf trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days. 41You shall keep it as a festival to the LORD seven days in
the year; you shall keep it in the seventh month as a statute forever throughout your generations. 42You shall live in booths for seven days; all that are citizens in Israel shall live in booths, 43so that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.
44Thus Moses declared to the people of Israel the appointed festivals of the LORD.
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a Heb between the two evenings
b Or shall fast
c Or does not fast
d Or shall fast
e Or tabernacles: Heb succoth
f Meaning of Heb uncertain
g A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain
h Vg: Heb incur guilt for it and die in it
23.1–44 H’s listing of the festivals is distinguished from the old epic (JE) tradition (Ex 23.14–17; 34.21–23; see Introduction to Genesis) and the Deuteronomic influence (Deut 16; see Introduction to Deuteronomy) by emphasis on natural and agricultural data. Because Lev 23 addresses laypeople like farmers, rather than priests, the New Moon Festival is omitted (on this day the Israelites have no special duties or prohibitions). Indeed, with the exception of vv. 13, 18–20, all requirements of the priestly, public cult are ignored, and only the offerings of individual farmers are enumerated. Center stage is occupied by the people. Israel is responsible for maintaining the public cult. To be sure, H, no differently from P, presumes that sacrificial service is conducted exclusively by priests. Maintenance of the public cult, however, and presumably supervision over the priestly order are ultimately the people’s responsibility.
23.3 This verse dealing with the sabbath is a later interpolation, possibly from exilic times, since it mentions no sacrifices. Its incongruity in this chapter is emphasized by the fact that the sabbath is not an appointed festival (v. 2) and that the original beginning of this chapter is clearly v. 4.
23.5–8 Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread were originally discrete festivals. The Passover was observed at home (Ex 12) and the pilgrimage to the local sanctuary took place on the seventh day (Ex 13.6). When worship was centralized, the Passover sacrifice was observed at the Jerusalem temple and the pilgrimage was transferred to the first day, thus amalgamating the two festivals (Deut 16.1–8).
23.8 The LORD ’s offerings, enumerated in Num 28.16–25.
23.10 Sheaf, or “armful.” First fruits of your harvest, i.e., barley. See 2.14.
23.11 That you…acceptance, so that the Lord will bless your crop. The day after the sabbath. Three opinions about the day were recorded in Second Temple times—the day after the Passover, Nisan 16 (Pharisees); the Sunday falling during the festival (Sadducees); and the Sunday after the festival (Qumran)—creating confusion about when to celebrate the Festival of Weeks. This phrase (also in v. 15) is probably a gloss, and originally each farmer brought the first grain offering whenever it ripened.
23.15 Seven weeks, lit. “seven sabbaths,” i.e., seven weeks, each ending with the sabbath.
23.16 New grain, i.e., wheat.
23.18–19 The sacrifices are enumerated since they differ slightly from those specified in Num 28.26–31.
23.22 Closing statement for both the barley and wheat harvests (cf. 19.9–10).
23.24, 39 Complete rest, not complete, since only occupational work is forbidden (v. 25). Trumpet, rather “horn” (Hebrew shofar; cf. Ps. 81.3). Its use marks the beginning of the old, agricultural calendar when the fates of humans and nature (i.e., adequate rain) were decided.
23.25 LORD ’s offering, prescribed in Num 29.1–6.
23.27 LORD ’s offering, prescribed in Num 29.7–11.
23.28 Prescriptions for the day of atonement are given in 16.1–28.
23.29 Self-denial. See 16.29.
23.30 I will destroy. Work, a public act, is a worse violation than eating, a private act, evoking God’s immediate retribution.
23.36 LORD ’s offerings, prescribed in Num 29.12–34, 35–38. The solemn assembly, the purpose of which is to pray for rain, is an important function of all the festivals of the seventh month (cf. Joel 2.15).
23.38 Apart from the sabbaths—proof that the prescription for the sabbath (vv. 2b–3) was not originally part of this chapter.
23.40 Fruit of majestic trees, traditionally, the citron. Leafy trees, identified with the myrtle. Seven days, to be spent at the sanctuary.
23.42 Possibly the booths were to accommodate the vast number of pilgrims at the sanctuary (cf. Hos 12.9). Citizens, but not aliens, who are not bound by performative commandments.
23.43 Booths (Hebrew sukkot), possibly a topographical name referring to the first station in the wilderness after the exodus (Ex 12.37; Num 33.5).
LEVITICUS 24
The Lamp
1The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 2Command the people of Israel to bring you pure oil of beaten olives for the lamp, that a light may be kept burning regularly. 3Aaron shall set it up in the tent of meeting, outside the curtain of the covenant,a to burn from evening to morning before the LORD regularly; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. 4He shall set up the lamps on the lampstand of pure goldb before the LORD regularly.
The Bread for the Tabernacle
5You shall take choice flour, and bake twelve loaves of it; two-tenths of an ephah shall be in each loaf. 6You shall place them in two rows, six in a row, on the table of pure gold.c 7You shall put pure frankincense with each row, to be a token offering for the bread, as an offering by fire to the LORD. 8Every sabbath day Aaron shall set them in order before the LORD regularly as a commitment of the people of Israel, as a covenant forever. 9They shall be for Aaron and his descendants, who shall eat them in a holy place, for they are most holy portions for him from the offerings by fire to the LORD, a perpetual due.
Blasphemy and Its Punishment
10A man whose mother was an Israelite and whose father was an Egyptian came out among the people of Israel; and the Israelite woman’s son and a certain Israelite began fighting in the camp. 11The Israelite woman’s son blasphemed the Name in a curse. And they brought him to Moses—now his mother’s name was Shelomith, daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan—12and they put him in custody, until the decision of the LORD should be made clear to them.
13The LORD said to Moses, saying: 14Take the blasphemer outside the camp; and let all who were within hearing lay their hands on his head, and let the whole congregation stone him. 15And speak to the people of Israel, saying: Anyone who curses God shall bear the sin. 16One who blasphemes the name of the LORD shall be put to death; the whole congregation shall stone the blasphemer. Aliens as well as citizens, when they blaspheme the Name, shall be put to death. 17Anyone who kills a human being shall be put to death. 18Anyone who kills an animal shall make restitution for it, life for life. 19Anyone who maims another shall suffer the same injury in return: 20fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; the injury inflicted is the injury to be suffered. 21One who kills an animal shall make restitution for it; but one who kills a human being shall be put to death. 22You shall have one law for the alien and for the citizen: for I am the LORD your God. 23Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel; and they took the blasphemer outside the camp, and stoned him to death. The people of Israel did as the LORD had commanded Moses.
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a Or treaty, or testament; Heb eduth
b Heb pure lampstand
c Heb pure table
24.1–23 Instructions on the lamp, the bread, and blasphemy.
24.1–4 The lamp oil. Since the lampstand stood inside the sanctuary, its greater sanctity required the use of pure oil and also required it to be lighted by the high priest (Ex 30.7; Num 8.1–4; “sons” in Ex 27.21 is a probable error).
24.2 For the lamp, that a light, or “for lighting, so that a lamp.”
24.3 Curtain of the covenant, short for “curtain that is over the ark of the covenant
” (Ex 30.6).
24.5–9 The bread of the Presence.
24.5 Moses provides the loaves the first time; thereafter, they are provided by the Israelites (v. 8).
24.6 Rows, i.e., piles.
24.7 The token offering is always offered up with part of the grain offering (2.9), but here, since none of the bread goes on the altar, the text must state that the token offering comprises solely the frankincense.
24.8 Every sabbath day Aaron should remove the old loaves and set up the new.
24.10–14, 23 The law of blasphemy. Blasphemy means more than speaking contemptuously of God, for which there is no stated penalty (Ex 22.28). It must involve the additional offense of uttering the sacred name of God, the Tetragrammaton (YHWH), and it is the combination of the two (24.15–16) that warrants the death penalty. The Tetragrammaton’s power affects not only the speaker but the hearers; their contamination is literally transferred back to the blasphemer by the ritual of the imposition of hands.
24.11 The Name, a circumlocution for the divine name.
24.14 The purpose of the hand leaning (see note on 1.4) was to transfer the pollution generated by the blasphemy back to its source.
24.15–22 An appendix of civil-damage laws. The extension of lex talionis (Latin, “law of retaliation,” Ex 21.23–25; Deut 19.21) to the stranger is one of the great moral achievements of the legislation preserved in Leviticus. Every distinction is eradicated, not only between the powerful and the helpless, but even between the Israelite and the non-Israelite. The interpolation of these civil statutes, with their emphasis upon the resident alien, is due to the legal status of the half-Israelite offender.
24.15–16 One who curses God, in secret, will be punished by God; one who blasphemes, in public, will be punished by human agency.
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