Leviticus 23:30
in Leviticus 23I will destroy from among his people anyone who does any work on this day.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any manner of work in that same day, that soul will I destroy from among his people.
KJV
And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people.
⋯
This verse in Leviticus 23
Commentary
5 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
If anyone does not humble himself on this day
on Leviticus 23:29-33
These are the only penalties in the chapter, and there are two. Anyone who does not humble himself is cut off from his people. Anyone who works hears the LORD speaking in the first person, "I will destroy" him.
This site's exposition
I will destroy from among his people
Verse 29 punishes the man who will not humble himself, and verse 30 the man who works. John Gill reads the cutting off as an untimely death by the hand of God, and the Targum of Jonathan names the pestilence. Here God names Himself as the one who acts.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day,.... Any sort of work whatever; for, as before observed, it was to be kept as strictly as the weekly sabbath: the same soul will I destroy from among his people; with the pestilence, as the above Targum; it seems to be but another phrase for cutting them off, and to signify the same thing.
The reason is: For it is a day of atonement. Note, The humbling of our souls for sin, and the making of our peace with God, is work that requires the whole man, and the closest application of mind imaginable, and all little enough. He that would do the work of a day of atonement in its day, as it should be done, had need lay aside the thoughts of every thing else.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
there shall be a day of atonement . . . and ye shall afflict your souls--an unusual festival, at which the sins of the whole year were expiated. It is here only stated that the severest penalty was incurred by the violation of this day.
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
15 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְכָל־ | vekhol | and every | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| הַנֶּ֗פֶשׁ | hanefesh | <the> person | H5315 → | 754 times |
| אֲשֶׁ֤ר | ʾasher | who | H834 → | 5497 times |
| תַּעֲשֶׂה֙ | taaseh | it will do | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | any | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| מְלָאכָ֔ה | melakhah | work | H4399 → | 167 times |
| בְּעֶ֖צֶם | beetzem | on [the] substance of | H6106 → | 126 times |
| הַיּ֣וֹם | haiyom | the day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| הַזֶּ֑ה | hazeh | <the> this | H2088 → | 1180 times |
| וְהַֽאֲבַדְתִּ֛י | vehaavadti | and I will destroy | H6 → | |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הַנֶּ֥פֶשׁ | hanefesh | the person | H5315 → | 754 times |
| הַהִ֖וא | hahiv' | <the> that | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| מִקֶּ֥רֶב | mikerev | from among | H7130 → | 227 times |
| עַמָּֽהּ׃ | ʾamah | people its | H5971 → | 1873 times |
וְכָל־and every
vekholH3605 →5413 times
הַנֶּ֗פֶשׁ<the> person
hanefeshH5315 →754 times
אֲשֶׁ֤רwho
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
תַּעֲשֶׂה֙it will do
taasehH6213 →2628 times
כָּל־any
kol-H3605 →5413 times
מְלָאכָ֔הwork
melakhahH4399 →167 times
בְּעֶ֖צֶםon [the] substance of
beetzemH6106 →126 times
הַיּ֣וֹםthe day
haiyomH3117 →2304 times
הַזֶּ֑ה<the> this
hazehH2088 →1180 times
וְהַֽאֲבַדְתִּ֛יand I will destroy
vehaavadtiH6 →
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
הַנֶּ֥פֶשׁthe person
hanefeshH5315 →754 times
הַהִ֖וא<the> that
hahiv'H1931 →1879 times
מִקֶּ֥רֶבfrom among
mikerevH7130 →227 times
עַמָּֽהּ׃people its
ʾamahH5971 →1873 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
Zephaniah 2:5Woe to the dwellers of the seacoast, O nation of the Cherethites! The word of the LORD is against you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines: “I will destroy you, and no one will…
it leads to
- Ezekiel 25:16
therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, I will stretch out My hand against the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethites and destroy the remnant along the coast.
- Jeremiah 47:7
How can it rest when the LORD has commanded it? He has appointed it against Ashkelon and the shore of its coastland.”
- Amos 3:1
Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt:
- Joshua 13:3
All the territory of the Philistines and the Geshurites, from the Shihor east of Egypt to the territory of Ekron on the north (considered to be Canaanite territory)—that of the five Philistine rulers of…
- Ezekiel 25:16
Through
Leviticus 20:3And I will set My face against that man and cut him off from his people, because by giving his offspring to Molech, he has defiled My sanctuary and profaned My holy name.
it leads to
- Leviticus 18:21
You must not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molech, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the LORD.
- Leviticus 18:21
Through
Genesis 17:14But if any male is not circumcised, he will be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”
it leads to
- Exodus 4:24–26
Now at a lodging place along the way, the LORD met Moses and was about to kill him.
- Exodus 4:24–26
Through
Ezekiel 14:9But if the prophet is enticed to speak a message, then it was I the LORD who enticed him, and I will stretch out My hand against him and destroy him from among My…
it leads to
- Ezekiel 20:25
I also gave them over to statutes that were not good and ordinances by which they could not live.
- Jeremiah 4:10
Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD, how completely You have deceived this people and Jerusalem by saying, ‘You will have peace,’ while a sword is at our throats.”
- Ezekiel 20:25
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies17
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); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.