Leviticus 23:32
in Leviticus 23It will be a Sabbath of complete rest for you, and you shall humble yourselves. From the evening of the ninth day of the month until the following evening you are to keep your Sabbath.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
It shall be unto you a sabbath of solemn rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye keep your sabbath.
KJV
It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.
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This verse in Leviticus 23
Commentary
5 notes on this verseThe Jews are supposed to begin every day, and consequently their sabbaths, at the evening, in remembrance of the creation, as Christians generally begin their days and sabbaths with the morning in memory of Christ's resurrection.
This site's exposition
For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted
on Leviticus 23:29-33
These are the only penalties attached to anything in the chapter, and there are two of them. A man who is not afflicted on that day is cut off from among his people, and a man who works meets the LORD speaking in the first person, the same soul will I destroy. Verse 32 then times the day from even unto even, beginning on the evening of the ninth, which states the evening-to-evening reckoning more plainly than anywhere else in Leviticus.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest,....
Note, The eves of solemn days ought to be employed in solemn preparation. When work for God and our souls is to be done, we should not straiten ourselves in time for the doing of it; for how can we spend our time better? Of this sabbath the rule here given is to be understood: From even unto even shall you celebrate your sabbath.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| שַׁבַּ֨ת | shabat | [is] a sabbath of | H7676 → | 110 times |
| שַׁבָּת֥וֹן | shabaton | sabbath observance | H7677 → | 11 times |
| הוּא֙ | hu' | it | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| לָכֶ֔ם | lakhem | to <the> you | ||
| וְעִנִּיתֶ֖ם | veinitem | and you will afflict | H6031 → | 82 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| נַפְשֹׁתֵיכֶ֑ם | nafshoteikhem | selves your | H5315 → | 754 times |
| בְּתִשְׁעָ֤ה | betishah | on [day] nine | H8672 → | |
| לַחֹ֙דֶשׁ֙ | lachodesh | of the month | H2320 → | 284 times |
| בָּעֶ֔רֶב | baerev | in the evening | H6153 → | 134 times |
| מֵעֶ֣רֶב | meerev | from evening | H6153 → | 134 times |
| עַד־ | ʾad- | until | H5704 → | 1261 times |
| עֶ֔רֶב | ʾerev | evening | H6153 → | 134 times |
| תִּשְׁבְּת֖וּ | tishbetu | you will cease | H7673 → | 71 times |
| שַׁבַּתְּכֶֽם׃ פ | shabatekhem | sabbath your | H7676 → | 110 times |
שַׁבַּ֨ת[is] a sabbath of
shabatH7676 →110 times
שַׁבָּת֥וֹןsabbath observance
shabatonH7677 →11 times
הוּא֙it
hu'H1931 →1879 times
לָכֶ֔םto <the> you
lakhem
וְעִנִּיתֶ֖םand you will afflict
veinitemH6031 →82 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
נַפְשֹׁתֵיכֶ֑םselves your
nafshoteikhemH5315 →754 times
בְּתִשְׁעָ֤הon [day] nine
betishahH8672 →
לַחֹ֙דֶשׁ֙of the month
lachodeshH2320 →284 times
בָּעֶ֔רֶבin the evening
baerevH6153 →134 times
מֵעֶ֣רֶבfrom evening
meerevH6153 →134 times
עַד־until
ʾad-H5704 →1261 times
עֶ֔רֶבevening
ʾerevH6153 →134 times
תִּשְׁבְּת֖וּyou will cease
tishbetuH7673 →71 times
שַׁבַּתְּכֶֽם׃ פsabbath your
shabatekhemH7676 →110 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
Psalms 51:17The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.
it leads to
- Psalms 34:18
The LORD is near to the brokenhearted; He saves the contrite in spirit.
- Isaiah 66:2
Has not My hand made all these things? And so they came into being,” declares the LORD. “This is the one I will esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, who trembles…
- Psalms 147:3
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
- Luke 15:10
In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents.”
- Mark 12:33
and to love Him with all your heart and with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, which is more important than all burnt offerings and…
- Psalms 34:18
Through
Psalms 35:13Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth; I humbled myself with fasting, but my prayers returned unanswered.
it leads to
- Psalms 69:10–11
I wept and fasted, but it brought me reproach.
- Isaiah 58:5
Is this the fast I have chosen: a day for a man to deny himself, to bow his head like a reed, and to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Job 30:25
Have I not wept for those in trouble? Has my soul not grieved for the needy?
- Psalms 69:10–11
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies10
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); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.