Leviticus 23:21
in Leviticus 23On that same day you are to proclaim a sacred assembly, and you must not do any regular work. This is to be a permanent statute wherever you live for the generations to come.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And ye shall make proclamation on the selfsame day; there shall be a holy convocation unto you; ye shall do no servile work: it is a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.
KJV
And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.
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This verse in Leviticus 23
Commentary
4 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day
on Leviticus 23:21-23
The fiftieth day closes as a convocation and a statute for ever, and then verse 22 sets a farming law in the middle of a calendar. The corners of the field and the gleanings are left for the poor and for the stranger, repeating Leviticus 19:9 and 19:10, and the sentence ends I am the LORD your God, which is the reason this book gives for most of what it commands. Matthew Henry read the joy of harvest as owing something to the poor, and the placing does the arguing here, since a harvest feast is handed a rule about who else eats from that harvest.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
1 ), in which the law of faith was given, fifty days after Christ our passover was sacrificed for us. And on that day (as bishop Patrick well expresses it) the apostles, having themselves received the first-fruits of the Spirit, begat three thousand souls, through the word of truth, and presented them, as the first-fruits of the Christian church, to God and the Lamb.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-citation-number+unbalanced-parens
And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein--Though it extended over a week, the first day only was held as a Sabbath, both for the national offering of first-fruits and a memorial of the giving of the law.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
How the passage was read
On Leviticus 23:1-44On Leviticus 23:1-44
The year Israel keeps
This chapter is the calendar of the whole Jewish year, and every feast in it is still on the calendar today. In order: the weekly Sabbath; Passover and Unleavened Bread in spring (now kept as the seder meal and a week without leavened bread); Firstfruits (the first sheaf of barley waved before God); Weeks, in Hebrew Shavuot, fifty days later (Christians know the Greek name: Pentecost); then in autumn the Day of Trumpets (now Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, announced by the ram's-horn trumpet called a shofar), the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur, the great fast), and Tabernacles, in Hebrew Sukkot, when families still build and eat in leafy backyard booths for a week, remembering the wilderness.
So when the New Testament says Jesus or Paul went up for “the feast,” it means one of these appointments: the same calendar, kept for over three thousand years.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Sources: The Feasts of the LORD (this site's study of all seven) · Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 1:1 (the four new years)
The words behind it
18 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וּקְרָאתֶ֞ם | ukeratem | and you will proclaim | H7121 → | 733 times |
| בְּעֶ֣צֶם׀ | beetzem | on [the] substance of | H6106 → | 126 times |
| הַיּ֣וֹם | haiyom | the day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| הַזֶּ֗ה | hazeh | <the> this | H2088 → | 1180 times |
| מִֽקְרָא־ | mikra'- | a convocation of | H4744 → | 23 times |
| קֹ֙דֶשׁ֙ | kodesh | holiness | H6944 → | 469 times |
| יִהְיֶ֣ה | yihyeh | it will be | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| לָכֶ֔ם | lakhem | to <the> you | ||
| כָּל־ | kol- | any | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| מְלֶ֥אכֶת | melekhet | work of | H4399 → | 167 times |
| עֲבֹדָ֖ה | ʾavodah | servitude | H5656 → | 145 times |
| לֹ֣א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תַעֲשׂ֑וּ | taasu | you will do | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| חֻקַּ֥ת | chukat | a statute of | H2708 → | 104 times |
| עוֹלָ֛ם | olam | perpetuity | H5769 → | 438 times |
| בְּכָל־ | bekhol | in all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| מוֹשְׁבֹ֥תֵיכֶ֖ם | moshevoteikhem | dwelling places your | H4186 → | 44 times |
| לְדֹרֹֽתֵיכֶֽם׃ | ledoroteikhem | to generations your | H1755 → | 167 times |
וּקְרָאתֶ֞םand you will proclaim
ukeratemH7121 →733 times
בְּעֶ֣צֶם׀on [the] substance of
beetzemH6106 →126 times
הַיּ֣וֹםthe day
haiyomH3117 →2304 times
הַזֶּ֗ה<the> this
hazehH2088 →1180 times
מִֽקְרָא־a convocation of
mikra'-H4744 →23 times
קֹ֙דֶשׁ֙holiness
kodeshH6944 →469 times
יִהְיֶ֣הit will be
yihyehH1961 →3559 times
לָכֶ֔םto <the> you
lakhem
כָּל־any
kol-H3605 →5413 times
מְלֶ֥אכֶתwork of
melekhetH4399 →167 times
עֲבֹדָ֖הservitude
ʾavodahH5656 →145 times
לֹ֣אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
תַעֲשׂ֑וּyou will do
taasuH6213 →2628 times
חֻקַּ֥תa statute of
chukatH2708 →104 times
עוֹלָ֛םperpetuity
olamH5769 →438 times
בְּכָל־in all
bekholH3605 →5413 times
מוֹשְׁבֹ֥תֵיכֶ֖םdwelling places your
moshevoteikhemH4186 →44 times
לְדֹרֹֽתֵיכֶֽם׃to generations your
ledoroteikhemH1755 →167 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Genesis 17:7I will establish My covenant as an everlasting covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
it leads to
- Romans 9:7–9
Nor because they are Abraham’s descendants are they all his children. On the contrary, “Through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.”
- Acts 2:39
This promise belongs to you and your children and to all who are far off—to all whom the Lord our God will call to Himself.”
- Genesis 26:24
and that night the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your…
- Genesis 15:18
On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land—from the river of Egypt to the great River Euphrates—
- Hebrews 8:10
For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put My laws in their minds and inscribe them on their hearts. And…
- Romans 9:7–9
Through
Leviticus 23:4These are the LORD’s appointed feasts, the sacred assemblies you are to proclaim at their appointed times.
it leads to
- Leviticus 23:37
These are the LORD’s appointed feasts, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies for presenting offerings by fire to the LORD—burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each on its designated…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Exodus 23:14
Three times a year you are to celebrate a feast to Me.
- Leviticus 23:37
Through
Leviticus 23:2“Speak to the Israelites and say to them, ‘These are My appointed feasts, the feasts of the LORD that you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies.
it leads to
- Leviticus 23:4
These are the LORD’s appointed feasts, the sacred assemblies you are to proclaim at their appointed times.
- Leviticus 23:4
Where this verse is studied
About Leviticus
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.