Exodus 23:16
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
16 You shall also keep the feast of the grain harvest with the first fruits of the crop that you sow in the field; and finally, the feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you collect your produce from the fields.
Read full chapter
Exodus 34:22
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
22 (A)You shall keep the feast of Weeks with the first fruits of the wheat harvest, likewise, the feast of the Ingathering at the close of the year.[a]
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 34:22 Feast of Weeks: the festival of thanksgiving for the harvest, celebrated seven weeks or fifty days after the beginning of the harvest. It was also called Pentecost (fiftieth) and coincided with the giving of the law on Mount Sinai, fifty days after the offering of the first fruits; cf. Lv 23:10–11; Dt 16:9. Feast of the Ingathering: feast of Booths.
Leviticus 23:34-43
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
34 Tell the Israelites: The fifteenth day of this seventh month is the Lord’s feast of Booths,[a](A) which shall continue for seven days. 35 On the first day, a declared holy day, you shall do no heavy work. 36 For seven days you shall offer an oblation to the Lord, and on the eighth day you will have a declared holy day. You shall offer an oblation to the Lord. It is the festival closing. You shall do no heavy work.
37 [b]These, therefore, are the festivals of the Lord which you shall declare holy days, in order to offer as an oblation to the Lord burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and libations, as prescribed for each day, 38 in addition to the Lord’s sabbaths, your donations, your various votive offerings, and the voluntary offerings that you present to the Lord.
39 On the fifteenth day, then, of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the Lord[c] for a whole week. The first and the eighth day shall be days of rest. 40 On the first day you shall gather fruit of majestic trees, branches of palms, and boughs[d] of leafy trees and valley willows. Then for a week you shall make merry before the Lord, your God. 41 You shall keep this feast of the Lord for one whole week in the year. By perpetual statute throughout your generations in the seventh month of the year, you shall keep it. 42 You shall dwell in booths for seven days; every native-born Israelite shall dwell in booths, 43 that your descendants may realize that, when I led the Israelites out of the land of Egypt, I made them dwell in booths. I, the Lord, am your God.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 23:34 Feast of Booths: this is the final harvest festival of the year celebrating the remaining harvest. It is called the “feast of Ingathering” (Ex 23:16; 34:22), the “feast of Booths” (Lv 23:34; Dt 16:13), or simply the “feast” (1 Kgs 8:65). It is a seven-day festival with an eighth closing day. The first and eighth days are rest days (see note on v. 3).
- 23:37–38 This appears to be the original conclusion of the chapter.
- 23:39–43 The feast of the Lord: the feast of Booths, the preeminent festival. This section supplements vv. 33–36 by prescribing the popular activities for the festival.
- 23:40–43 Fruit…branches…boughs: the fruit and/or foliage from these trees is to be gathered, but it is not said how they are used. The command to make merry suggests they may have been used in a procession or even circumambulation of the altar (cf. Ps 26:6). Later tradition understood these prescriptions as referring to making the booths out of the foliage (Neh 8:15).
Numbers 29:12-38
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
On the Feast of Booths. 12 [a]On the fifteenth day of the seventh month you will declare a holy day:(A) you shall do no heavy work. For the following seven days you will celebrate a pilgrimage feast to the Lord. 13 You will offer a burnt offering, an oblation of pleasing aroma to the Lord: thirteen bulls[b] of the herd, two rams, and fourteen yearling lambs that are unblemished. 14 Their grain offerings will be of bran flour mixed with oil: three tenths of an ephah for each of the thirteen bulls, two tenths for each of the two rams, 15 and one tenth for each of the fourteen lambs. 16 One goat will be a purification offering. These are in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and libation.
17 On the second day: twelve bulls of the herd, two rams, and fourteen unblemished yearling lambs, 18 with the grain offerings and libations for the bulls, rams and lambs in their prescribed number, 19 as well as one goat as a purification offering, besides the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and libation.
20 On the third day: eleven bulls, two rams, and fourteen unblemished yearling lambs, 21 with the grain offerings and libations for the bulls, rams and lambs in their prescribed number, 22 as well as one goat for a purification offering, besides the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and libation.
23 On the fourth day: ten bulls, two rams, and fourteen unblemished yearling lambs, 24 the grain offerings and libations for the bulls, rams and lambs in their prescribed number, 25 as well as one goat as a purification offering, besides the regular burnt offering, its grain offering and libation.
26 On the fifth day: nine bulls, two rams, and fourteen unblemished yearling lambs, 27 (B)with the grain offerings and libations for the bulls, rams and lambs in their prescribed number, 28 as well as one goat as a purification offering, besides the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and libation.
29 On the sixth day: eight bulls, two rams, and fourteen unblemished yearling lambs, 30 with the grain offerings and libations for the bulls, rams and lambs in their prescribed number, 31 as well as one goat as a purification offering, besides the regular burnt offering, its grain offering and libation.
32 On the seventh day: seven bulls, two rams, and fourteen unblemished yearling lambs, 33 with the grain offerings and libations for the bulls, rams and lambs in their prescribed number, 34 as well as one goat as a purification offering, besides the regular burnt offering, its grain offering and libation.
35 On the eighth day(C) you will hold a public assembly:[c] you shall do no heavy work. 36 You will offer a burnt offering, an oblation of pleasing aroma to the Lord: one bull, one ram, and seven unblemished yearling lambs, 37 with the grain offerings and libations for the bulls, rams and lambs in their prescribed number, 38 as well as one goat as a purification offering, besides the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and libation.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 29:12 This feast of Booths (Tabernacles or Sukkot) celebrating the vintage harvest was the most popular of all and therefore had the most elaborate ritual. See note on Lv 23:34.
- 29:13 Thirteen bulls: the number of bulls sacrificed before the octave day was seventy, arranged on a descending scale so that the number on the seventh day was the sacred number seven.
- 29:35 A public assembly: the Hebrew word is the technical term for the closing celebration of the three major feasts of the Passover, Pentecost and Booths, or of other special feasts that lasted for a week. Cf. Lv 23:36; Dt 16:8; 2 Chr 7:9; Neh 8:18.
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.