Exodus 23:14-17 New English Translation
14 “Three times[a] in the year you must make a pilgrim feast[b] to me. 15 You are to observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread; seven days[c] you must eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you, at the appointed time of the month of Abib, for at that time[d] you came out of Egypt. No one may appear before[e] me empty-handed.
16 “You are also to observe[f] the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors that you have sown in the field, and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year[g] when you have gathered in[h] your harvest[i] out of the field. 17 At[j] three times in the year all your males will appear before the Sovereign Lord.[k]
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- Exodus 23:14 tn Heb “three feet” or “three foot-beats.” This adverbial accusative expression also occurs in Num 22:28, 32, 33.
- Exodus 23:14 tn This is the word תָּחֹג (takhog) from the root חָגַג (khagag); it describes a feast that was accompanied by a pilgrimage. It was first used by Moses in his appeal that Israel go three days into the desert to hold such a feast.
- Exodus 23:15 tn This is an adverbial accusative of time.
- Exodus 23:15 tn Heb “in it.”
- Exodus 23:15 tn The verb is a Niphal imperfect; the nuance of permission works well here—no one is permitted to appear before God empty (Heb “and they will not appear before me empty”).
- Exodus 23:16 tn The words “you are also to observe” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
- Exodus 23:16 tn An infinitive construct with a preposition and a pronominal suffix is used to make a temporal clause: “in the going in of the year.” The word “year” is the subjective genitive, the subject of the clause.
- Exodus 23:16 tn An infinitive construct with a preposition and a pronominal suffix is used to make a temporal clause: “in the ingathering of you.”
- Exodus 23:16 tn Heb “gathered in your labors.” This is a metonymy of cause put for the effect. “Labors” are not gathered in, but what the labors produced—the harvest.
- Exodus 23:17 tn Adverbial accusative of time: “three times” becomes “at three times.”
- Exodus 23:17 tn Here the divine Name reads in Hebrew הָאָדֹן יְהוָה (haʾadon yehvah), which if rendered according to the traditional scheme of “Lord” for “Yahweh” would result in “Lord Lord.” A number of English versions therefore render this phrase “Lord God.”
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