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The LORD spoke to Moses:
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“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them: The appointed feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim as holy convocations, my appointed times, are these.
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For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there shall be a sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation; you shall do no work. It is a sabbath to the LORD in all your dwellings.
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These are the appointed feasts of the LORD, the holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at their appointed times.
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In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is the Passover to the LORD.
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And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.
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On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no laborious work.
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You shall present an offering made by fire to the LORD for seven days; on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation; you shall do no laborious work.”
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The LORD spoke to Moses:
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“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them: When you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the first sheaf of your harvest to the priest,
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and he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, so that you may be accepted. The priest shall wave it on the day after the sabbath.
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On the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb a year old without blemish as a burnt offering to the LORD,
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and its grain offering shall be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering made by fire to the LORD, a pleasing aroma, together with its drink offering of a quarter of a hin of wine.
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And you shall eat neither bread nor roasted grain nor fresh grain until that same day, until you have brought the offering of your God. It is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
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Then you shall count from the day after the sabbath, from the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, seven full weeks shall there be;
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until the day after the seventh sabbath you shall count fifty days; then you shall present a new grain offering to the LORD.
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You shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves, made of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour, baked with leaven, as firstfruits to the LORD.”
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Along with the bread you shall present seven one-year-old lambs without blemish, and one young bull, and two rams; all of them shall be a burnt offering to the LORD, together with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering made by fire, a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
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Then you shall present one male goat as a sin offering, and two one-year-old lambs as a peace offering.
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The priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits as a wave offering before the LORD, together with the two lambs. They shall be holy to the LORD and shall belong to the priest.
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On that same day you shall proclaim a holy convocation; you shall do no laborious work. It is a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.
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When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field to its very edge, and you shall not gather what remains after your harvest; you shall leave them for the poor and for the foreigner. I am the LORD your God.”
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The LORD spoke to Moses:
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“Speak to the children of Israel, saying: In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a complete rest, a memorial proclaimed with the blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation.
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You shall do no laborious work, and you shall present an offering made by fire to the LORD.”
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The LORD spoke to Moses:
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“However, on the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement; you shall have a holy convocation and shall humble yourselves with fasting, and present an offering made by fire to the LORD.
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On that day you shall do no work, for it is the Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the LORD your God.
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For whoever does not humble himself with fasting on that day shall be cut off from among his people.
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Whoever does any work on that day, that person I will destroy from among his people.
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You shall do no work; it is a statute forever for you throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
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It shall be a sabbath of complete rest for you, and you shall humble yourselves with fasting. On the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall keep your sabbath.”
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The LORD spoke to Moses:
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“Speak to the children of Israel, saying: On the fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Booths to the LORD for seven days.
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On the first day there shall be a holy convocation; you shall do no laborious work.
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For seven days you shall present offerings made by fire to the LORD, and on the eighth day you shall hold a holy convocation and present an offering made by fire to the LORD. It is a solemn assembly; you shall do no laborious work.
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These are the appointed feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim as holy convocations, to present offerings made by fire to the LORD: burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each day what is required for that day,
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besides the Sabbaths of the LORD, and besides your gifts, and besides all your vow offerings, and besides all your freewill offerings, which you give to the LORD.
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However, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you shall keep a feast to the LORD for seven days; on the first day there shall be complete rest, and on the eighth day there shall be complete rest.
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On the first day you shall take for yourselves choice fruit from the 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.
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You shall keep it as a feast to the LORD seven days in the year; it is a statute forever throughout your generations. In the seventh month you shall keep it.
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You shall live in booths for seven days; all native-born in Israel shall live in booths,
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so that your descendants may know that I made the children of Israel live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.”
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So Moses declared to the children of Israel the appointed feasts of the LORD.
📆🕊️🥖 Summary of Leviticus 23 – The Feasts and Holy Times of the Lord
Leviticus 23 contains the complete list of feasts and holy convocations that the people of Israel were to observe throughout the year. This is a spiritual calendar established directly by God, not merely a cultural celebration, but a reminder of the people’s relationship with God.
This chapter is Israel’s “holy calendar”, containing seven major feasts, which also serve as a prophetic shadow of Christ and the plan of salvation.
📌 1. The Sabbath (verses 1–3)
- The 7th day each week → a day of complete rest, no work allowed.
- A day for gathering together and worshiping the Lord.
📌 2. Passover & Feast of Unleavened Bread (verses 4–8)
- Passover (14 Abib/Nisan): Commemorates deliverance from Egypt (Exodus 12).
- Followed by the Feast of Unleavened Bread (7 days): No leavened bread may be eaten, a sign of a life without sin.
- The first and seventh days → holy assembly, no work.
📌 3. Feast of Firstfruits (Firstfruits) (verses 9–14)
- The Sunday after the Passover Sabbath: Offering the first sheaf of grain to the Lord.
- No new harvest may be eaten before it is offered.
🎯 This symbolizes Jesus as the firstfruits of the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:20).
📌 4. Feast of Pentecost / Seven Weeks (verses 15–22)
- 50 days after the firstfruits → Feast of Harvest.
- Bring two loaves of leavened bread, along with thanksgiving offerings.
- This day is a holy assembly; no work may be done.
- You must leave some of the harvest for the poor and the foreigner.
🎯 Pentecost in the New Testament = the coming of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2)
📌 5. Feast of Trumpets (Yom Teruah) (verses 23–25)
- The first day of the 7th month (Tishri): The day of trumpet blasts.
- Holy assembly + rest → a sign of repentance and remembrance of judgment.
📌 6. Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) (verses 26–32)
- The 10th day of the 7th month: A day of national confession of sin.
- The people fast, humble themselves, and do no work.
- The High Priest entered the Most Holy Place carrying the blood of the sacrifice → to make atonement.
📌 7. Feast of Booths (Sukkot) (verses 33–44)
- 15–22 of the 7th month (for 7 days).
- Live in booths as a reminder of the journey in the wilderness.
- Day 1 and Day 8 → a holy assembly and complete rest.
- A festival of harvest joy and the Lord’s provision.
📖 Main Teaching
- The Lord appointed special times so that His people would pause and worship Him.
- Each feast is a reminder of God’s salvation, provision, and holiness.
- The spiritual calendar helps God’s people stay aligned with His plan throughout the year.
- The feasts teach spiritual discipline, joy, repentance, and hope.
- All of these prophetically foreshadow the work of Christ.
✨ Spiritual Meaning (New Testament)
- Passover → Jesus, the Lamb of God who was sacrificed (John 1:29)
- Unleavened Bread → life without sin with Christ
- Firstfruits → the resurrection of Jesus
- Pentecost → the outpouring of the Holy Spirit
- Day of Trumpets → foreshadows the return of Christ
- Day of Atonement → the work of Jesus’ cross
- Booths → a picture of the millennial kingdom or God’s provision in this world
📖 Colossians 2:17: “All these are only a shadow of what is to come, but the reality is Christ.”
