Beginning
Chapter 22
Protecting What Is Sanctified. 1 The Lord spoke to Moses saying, 2 “Tell Aaron and his son to treat the holy things of the children of Israel with respect so that they not profane my holy name by those things that they have consecrated to me. I am the Lord.
3 “Say to them: Any of your descendants who approaches these holy things that the children of Israel have consecrated to the Lord while he is unclean, that person will be cut off from my presence. I am the Lord.
4 “Any descendant who is a leper or who has a discharge shall not eat of the holy things until he is clean. Whoever touches anything made unclean by contact with a dead person or who has had an emission of semen 5 or whoever touches any creeping thing that can make him unclean, or touches a man whose uncleanness he acquires, whatever the source of uncleanness, 6 if someone touches one such a person, then he shall be unclean until the evening, and he shall not eat of the holy things unless he bathes himself with water. 7 When the sun sets, he shall be clean. He can then eat the holy things, for it is his food. 8 He shall not eat anything that died on its own or was torn apart by wild beasts, thereby defiling himself. I am the Lord. 9 They shall therefore observe my statutes lest they become guilty and die when they profane it. I am the Lord, who sanctifies them.[a]
10 “No foreigner can eat the holy things. No guest of the priest or hired hand can eat the holy things. 11 But if the priest buys a slave, the slave can eat it, and if a slave is born to his household, he can eat his food. 12 If a priest’s daughter marries an outsider, she cannot eat an offering of the holy things. 13 But if a priest’s daughter is a widow or divorced and she has no children, and she has returned to her father’s household as when she was young, she can eat from her father’s portion of food, but no outsider is to eat of it. 14 If someone eats some of the holy things by accident, he is to add a fifth to its value and give the holy thing to the priest. 15 They must not profane the holy things of the children of Israel that they offer to the Lord 16 lest they bear the guilt of their trespass when they eat their holy things. I am the Lord, who consecrates them.”
17 Acceptable Offerings.[b]The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 18 “Speak to Aaron and to his sons and to all the children of Israel saying: If anyone from the house of Israel or from among the aliens living in Israel presents a burnt offering as a votive offering or a free-will offering to the Lord, 19 it must be a male without blemish from among the cattle or the sheep or the goats, for you to be found acceptable. 20 You shall offer nothing with a defect; it shall not be acceptable for you. 21 If someone offers a peace offering as the fulfillment of a vow or as a free-will offering, whether it be from the cattle or the sheep, it must be perfect to be acceptable. It must have no defect. 22 You shall not offer anything that is blind or injured or maimed, or anything with sores or scabs or scales. You shall not use these as an offering to the Lord by fire, on the altar to the Lord. 23 You can offer a young bull or a lamb that has any parts that are in excess or lacking as a free-will offering, but it is not acceptable for a votive offering. 24 You shall not offer anything that is bruised or crushed or broken or cut to the Lord. You shall not make this type of offering in your land. 25 You shall not offer food from a foreigner’s hand to your God. All of these things have their corruption in them and their blemishes in them; they are not acceptable for you.”
26 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 27 “When a young bull or a sheep or a goat is brought as an offering, you shall leave it for seven days with its mother. On the eighth day, it shall be acceptable as an offering made by fire to the Lord. 28 You are not to kill a cow or ewe with its young on the same day. 29 When you offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving[c] to the Lord, you are to do it in the correct manner. 30 You shall eat it on the day that you offer it; none of it is to be left over until the next day. I am the Lord. 31 You shall observe my commandments and obey them. I am the Lord.
32 “You shall not profane my holy name, for I am to be hallowed among the children of Israel. I am the Lord who hallows you, 33 who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord.”
Chapter 23[d]
Holy Days. 1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: These are the feasts of the Lord on which you shall proclaim holy assemblies, these are my feasts:
3 [e]“For six days work can be done, but the seventh is a Sabbath of rest, a holy assembly. You will do no work on it; it is a Sabbath of the Lord in all of your dwellings. 4 These are the feasts of the Lord, holy assemblies that you shall proclaim at their appointed time.
Passover.[f] 5 “The evening of the fourteenth day of the first month is the Lord’s Passover. 6 The fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord. You are to eat unleavened bread for seven days. 7 On the first day you are to have a holy assembly. No heavy labor is to be done on that day. 8 You will make an offering by fire to the Lord for seven days. On the seventh day you are to have a holy assembly. No heavy labor is to be done on that day.”
9 [g]The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 10 “Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you, and you collect the harvest, you are to bring an omer measure of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest. 11 He shall wave the omer before the Lord so that it might be acceptable for you. The priest shall wave it on the day after the Sabbath. 12 On the day that you wave the omer, you shall offer a one-year-old male lamb without blemish as a burnt offering to the Lord. 13 Its grain offering is to be two-tenths of an omer of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering made by fire to the Lord, a pleasing fragrance. Bring a fourth of a hin of wine as a drink offering. 14 You are not to eat bread or roasted grain or the green heads of grain until that day that you have brought your offering to your God. This is a statute from one generation to the next in all of your dwellings.
15 Pentecost.[h]“You shall count off for yourselves seven complete Sabbaths from the day after the Sabbath when you brought your omer as a wave offering. 16 On the day after the seventh Sabbath, having counted fifty days, you shall offer a new cereal offering to the Lord. 17 You shall bring out from your dwellings loaves of bread as wave offerings that have been made with two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour. They are to be baked with leaven. They are the firstfruits to the Lord. 18 Along with the bread you shall offer seven lambs without blemish and one young bull and two rams as burnt offerings to the Lord. Together with the cereal offerings and the drink offerings, you are to make an offering by fire, a pleasing fragrance to the Lord. 19 You shall sacrifice one of the kid goats as a sin offering and you shall sacrifice two of the one-year-old lambs as a peace offering. 20 The priest shall wave them together with the bread of the firstfruits as a wave offering to the Lord, with two holy lambs. They shall be an offering to the Lord for the priest. 21 You shall proclaim on that day that there is to be a holy assembly. You are not to do any heavy labor. This shall be a statute forever in all of your dwellings, from one generation to the next.
22 “When you collect the harvest of your land, you shall not gather it right up to the corners of the field, nor shall you gather up the gleanings of your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the Lord, your God.”
23 New Year’s Day.[i] The Lord said to Moses, 24 “Speak to the children of Israel saying: On the first day of the seventh month you shall observe a Sabbath, a memorial with the blowing of trumpets, a holy assembly. 25 You shall do no heavy labor. You shall make an offering by fire to the Lord.”
26 Day of Atonement.[j] The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 27 “The tenth day of the seventh month shall be a Day of Atonement. You shall have a holy assembly and you shall humble yourselves. You shall make an offering by fire to the Lord. 28 You shall not work on this day, for it is a Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord, your God. 29 Whoever does not humble himself that day shall be cut off from among his people. 30 I will destroy whoever does any work on that day from among his people. 31 You shall do absolutely no work. This shall be a statute forever from one generation to the next in all of your dwellings. 32 It shall be a Sabbath of rest for you. You shall humble yourselves on the evening of the ninth of the month. You shall celebrate your Sabbath from that evening until the next.”
33 Feast of Booths.[k] The Lord said to Moses, 34 “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: The fifteenth day of the seventh month shall be the Lord’s Feast of Booths, for seven days. 35 On the first day you shall have a holy assembly. You shall do no heavy labor. 36 For seven days you shall make an offering by fire to the Lord. On the eighth day you shall hold a holy assembly and you shall make an offering by fire to the Lord. It is a holy assembly, and you shall do no heavy labor. 37 These are the feasts of the Lord on which you shall proclaim holy assemblies, making a burnt offering to the Lord, and offering up a cereal offering, a sacrifice, and a drink offering, each on its own day, 38 in addition to the Sabbaths of the Lord, your gifts, your vows, and all of the free-will offerings that you give to the Lord. 39 On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall celebrate a feast to the Lord for seven days. On the first day there will be a Sabbath rest, and on the eighth day there will be a Sabbath rest. 40 On the first day you shall gather for yourselves the shoots of the healthy trees, fronds from the palm trees, branches from the leafy trees, and willows from the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord, your God, for seven days. 41 You shall observe it as a feast of the Lord for seven days each year. This is a statute forever, from one generation to the next, that you shall celebrate in the seventh month. 42 You shall dwell in tents for seven days. All native-born Israelites shall dwell in tents 43 so that all of your generations may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in tents when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord, your God.”
44 This is how Moses described the feasts of the Lord to the children of Israel.
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