The Father's Sacred Appointments
23 1 Our Father spoke to Moses, saying:
2 Speak to the Israelites and say to them: The appointed feasts that belong to me, which you are to proclaim as holy gatherings—these are my appointed feasts.
3 For six days work may be done, but the seventh day is a sabbath of complete rest, a holy gathering. You must do no work; it is my sabbath wherever you live.
Passover and Unleavened Bread
4 These are my appointed feasts, the holy gatherings that you are to proclaim at their appointed times. 5 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is my Passover. 6 And on the fifteenth day of that month is my Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days you are to eat unleavened bread. 7 On the first day you are to hold a holy gathering; you must do no laborious work. 8 For seven days you are to present a food offering to me. On the seventh day is a holy gathering; you must do no laborious work.
The Feast of Firstfruits
9 Our Father spoke to Moses, saying:
10 Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you and reap its harvest, you are to bring to the priest a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest. 11 He will wave the sheaf before me so that you may be accepted; on the day after the Sabbath the priest will wave it. 1 1 v11 The first sheaf of the harvest, waved on the day after the Sabbath, points ahead to Jesus—raised on the first day of the week as the firstfruits of all who will rise to new life. 12 On the day you wave the sheaf, you are to offer a year-old male lamb without blemish as a burnt offering to me, 13 together with its grain offering of about four quarts of fine flour mixed with oil—a food offering to me, a pleasing aroma—and its drink offering of about a quart of wine. 14 You must not eat any bread, or roasted or fresh grain, until this very day, until you have brought the offering to your Father. This is a lasting statute from generation to generation wherever you live.
The Feast of Weeks
15 From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, you are to count off seven full weeks. 16 You are to count fifty days, up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present a new grain offering to me. 2 2 v16 Counting fifty days from firstfruits marks the feast later called Pentecost—the day our Father poured out the Holy Spirit on his gathered children. 17 From wherever you live, bring two loaves made from about four quarts of fine flour, baked with yeast, as a wave offering of firstfruits to me. 18 And with the bread you are to present seven year-old lambs without blemish, one young bull, and two rams. They will be a burnt offering to me, with their grain offerings and drink offerings—a food offering, a pleasing aroma to me. 19 Then offer one male goat as a sin offering and two year-old male lambs as a sacrifice of peace offerings. 20 The priest will wave them before me as a wave offering, together with the bread of the firstfruits and the two lambs. They are holy to me, belonging to the priest. 21 On that same day you are to make a proclamation and hold a holy gathering; you must do no laborious work. This is a lasting statute wherever you live, from generation to generation.
22 When you reap the harvest of your land, you must not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner. I am your Father.
The Feast of Trumpets
23 Our Father spoke to Moses, saying: 24 Speak to the Israelites and say: In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you are to have a day of complete rest, a memorial announced with trumpet blasts, a holy gathering. 25 You must do no laborious work, and you are to present a food offering to me.
The Day of Atonement
26 Our Father spoke to Moses, saying:
27 The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. You are to hold a holy gathering, deny yourselves, and present a food offering to me. 3 3 v27 Deny yourselves: on the Day of Atonement this meant fasting and abstaining from all ordinary work or pleasure. 28 You must do no work on that very day, for it is a Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before me, your Father. 29 Anyone who does not deny himself on that very day must be cut off from his people. 30 And anyone who does any work on that very day—I will destroy that person from among his people. 31 You must do no work at all. This is a lasting statute from generation to generation wherever you live. 32 It is to be a sabbath of complete rest for you, and you are to deny yourselves. On the ninth day of the month, from evening to evening, you are to observe your sabbath.
The Feast of Tabernacles
33 Our Father spoke to Moses, saying:
34 Speak to the Israelites and say: On the fifteenth day of this seventh month my Feast of Tabernacles begins, and it lasts seven days. 35 On the first day there is a holy gathering; you must do no laborious work. 36 For seven days you are to present food offerings to me. On the eighth day you are to hold a holy gathering and present a food offering to me. It is a solemn assembly; you must do no laborious work.
37 These are my appointed feasts, which you are to proclaim as holy gatherings for presenting food offerings to me—burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each on its proper day— 38 besides my Sabbaths, and besides your gifts, all your vow offerings, and all the freewill offerings you give to me.
39 So on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you are to celebrate my feast for seven days; the first day is a day of complete rest, and the eighth day is a day of complete rest. 40 On the first day you are to take the fruit of majestic trees, palm fronds, leafy branches, and willows of the brook, and rejoice before me, your Father, for seven days. 41 You are to celebrate it as my feast for seven days each year. This is a lasting statute from generation to generation; celebrate it in the seventh month. 42 You are to live in booths for seven days. All the native-born of Israel are to live in booths, 43 so that your descendants may know that I made the Israelites live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am your Father.
44 So Moses announced to the Israelites the appointed feasts of our Father.