The Fallible · Synthetic · Study Bible

Leviticus23:4–8

Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread

✣
⚙
Generated by AI. It can be wrong, and it has no authority. Every note here is fallible commentary — never the Word itself. Public-domain sources are quoted and named; machine synthesis is marked and meant to be checked. Weigh all of it against Scripture. “They received the word with all readiness… and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” — Acts 17:11
✦ Public-domain source — quoted & attributed⚙ AI synthesis — generated, verify

Leviticus 23:4–8 — Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

4“These are the LORD’s appointed feasts, the sacred assemblies you…”+

4These are the LORD’s appointed feasts, the sacred assemblies you are to proclaim at their appointed times.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

’êl·leh Yah·weh mō·w·‘ă·ḏê qō·ḏeš ’ă·šer- miq·rā·’ê tiq·rə·’ū ’ō·ṯām bə·mō·w·‘ă·ḏām

Literal — word-for-word from the original

These [are] the appointed-times of YHWH, convocations of holiness, which you-shall-call-out them in-their-appointed-time.

Where the English smooths the original

  • מוֹעֲדֵי BSB's appointed feasts domesticates môʿăḏê (H4150), a construct of môʿêd — an appointment, a fixed meeting-time kept by both parties. The word is not native to celebration; it is the language of a kept rendezvous. The same root names the tent of meeting (ʼohel môʿêd) — these days are the calendar's standing appointments with God.
  • מִקְרָאֵי assemblies flattens miqrāʾê (H4744) — from qārāʾ, to call. A miqrāʾ is literally a calling-out, a summons-gathering; it stands in apposition to holiness (miqrāʾê qōḏeš), so the assembly is not merely scheduled but convoked-as-holy. The rabbinic 'holy convocation.'
  • תִּקְרְאוּ you are to proclaim is right but loses the pun: tiqrəʾū (H7121) is the verbal qārāʾ echoing the noun miqrāʾ in the same breath — you call out the called-out gatherings. The feast is a calling that the people must themselves announce.
  • בְּמוֹעֲדָם at their appointed times renders bə-môʿăḏām (H4150 again) — the very noun of clause one now resumed as a suffixed adverbial: in-their-môʿêd. Hebrew bookends the verse with the same word; the appointments are to be kept at the appointment, not at human convenience.
Word by word9 · parsed+
אֵ֚לֶּה’êl·lehTheseH428
√ ʼêl-leh — these or thosePronouncommon plural
ʾêlleh (H428), these — a demonstrative pointing forward to the catalogue that follows; the heading-formula of the chapter (cf. v. 2).
יְהוָ֔הYah·wehare the LORD’sH3068
√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular
The covenant name YHWH (H3068) stands in construct over the feasts: they are YHWH's appointed-times, not Israel's holidays. The calendar belongs to God before it belongs to the nation.
מוֹעֲדֵ֣יmō·w·‘ă·ḏêappointed feastsH4150
√ môwʻêd — properly, an appointment, iNounmasculine plural construct
môʿăḏê (H4150) — Keil & Delitzsch gloss the parallel suffixed form simply: 'at their appointed time.' The whole festal year is structured as a series of fixed divine appointments; Poole notes the word is the same one used of the heavenly bodies at Genesis 1:14 (the lights set 'for môʿăḏîm') and Psalm 104:19 — the feasts are calendar-fixtures as sure as the moon's seasons.
קֹ֑דֶשׁqō·ḏešthe sacredH6944
√ qôdesh — a sacred place or thingNounmasculine singular
qōḏeš (H6944), holiness/a sacred thing — not an adjective here but a noun in apposition: convocations of holiness. The gathering's character is borrowed from the One who summons it.
אֲשֶׁר־’ă·šer-H834
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
מִקְרָאֵ֖יmiq·rā·’êassembliesH4744
√ miqrâʼ — something called out, iNounmasculine plural construct
miqrāʾê (H4744) — a strikingly rare word, occurring in only 22 verses of the Hebrew Bible, nearly all clustered in this chapter and its parallels. It is the technical term that ties Leviticus 23 to its kindred legislation.
תִּקְרְא֥וּtiq·rə·’ūyou are to proclaimH7121
√ qârâʼ — to call out to (iVerbQalImperfectsecond person masculine plural
tiqrəʾū (H7121), Qal imperfect 2mp — the proclaiming is laid on the people: Israel itself announces the seasons. Gill notes these 'were to be proclaimed by the priests with the sound of trumpet.'
אֹתָ֖ם’ō·ṯāmH853
√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object markerthird person masculine plural
בְּמוֹעֲדָֽם׃bə·mō·w·‘ă·ḏāmat their appointed timesH4150
√ môwʻêd — properly, an appointment, iPreposition-bNounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine plural
The Voices✦ public domain+
✦Geneva Study BibleMarginal Notes1599
For the sabbath was kept every week, and these others were kept only once every year.
The Geneva note glosses 'seasons' (v. 4), distinguishing the weekly sabbath of v. 3 from the annual appointed-times that begin here.
✦Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s
Leviticus 23:4 contains the special heading for the yearly feasts. בּמועדם at their appointed time.
✦Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685
In their appointed and proper times, as the word is used Genesis 1:14 Psalm 104:19 .
Poole hears in môʿêd the very word of creation: at Genesis 1:14 the luminaries are set 'for môʿăḏîm' (signs and seasons), and Psalm 104:19 makes the moon mark them. The feasts keep the same appointment-language as the sun and moon.
✦Joseph BensonCommentary on the Old and New Testaments1810s
The solemnities, as the same word is rendered, Isaiah 33:20 , where Zion is called the city of our solemnities.
Benson catches the breadth of môʿêd: the same noun names Zion herself as 'the city of our solemnities.'
✦Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871
Divine wisdom was manifested in fixing them at those periods; in winter, when the days were short and the roads broken up, a long journey was impracticable; while in summer the harvest and vintage gave busy employment in the fields.
JFB read a pastoral wisdom into the calendar: the pilgrimage-feasts fall when travel is possible and fields are not at their busiest.
✦Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878
Ye shall proclaim in their seasons. —By the blast of trumpets on the day of the month on which they are to be observed.
5“The Passover to the LORD begins at twilight on the fourteenth da…”+

5The Passover to the LORD begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

pe·saḥ Yah·weh bên hā·‘ar·bā·yim bə·’ar·bā·‘āh ‘ā·śār la·ḥō·ḏeš hā·ri·šō·wn ba·ḥō·ḏeš

Literal — word-for-word from the original

In-the-first month, on-the-fourteenth of-the-month, between the two evenings, [is] a Passover to-YHWH.

Where the English smooths the original

  • פֶּסַח The Passover transliterates rather than translates pesaḥ (H6453). The noun's root sense is debated — Strong's gives a pretermission, a passing-over/sparing; the Cambridge editors call the etymology 'obscure.' English borrows the explanation of Exodus 12:13 (YHWH passing over the houses) and freezes it as a name.
  • בֵּין הָעַרְבָּיִם at twilight smooths a famously contested phrase: bên hā-ʿarbāyim (H996 + H6153) is literally between the two evenings. As Ellicott and Gill note, Sadducees and Pharisees divided over whether this meant sunset-to-dark or noon-to-sunset — a dispute that fixed the very hour the lamb was slain. 'Twilight' hides a calendrical battleground.
  • לַחֹדֶשׁ day of the month renders la-ḥōḏeš (H2320), whose root means new moon. The Hebrew counts time by the moon's renewal; 'month' in English loses that the date is reckoned from a new-moon, and that the festal calendar is lunar before it is solar.
  • הָרִאשׁוֹן the first (hā-rîšôn, H7223) is more than ordinal sequence: because Passover fell in it, this month became first (Exodus 12:2). The Pulpit Commentary: 'made the first month of the religious year in consequence of the original Passover having taken place in it.' Redemption resets the calendar's head.
Word by word9 · parsed+
פֶּ֖סַחpe·saḥThe PassoverH6453
√ peçach — a pretermission, iNounmasculine singular
pesaḥ (H6453) — the word names both the act (God's passing-over) and, by extension, the victim and the meal. Cambridge: the LXX transliterates it πάσχα (Pascha), 'whence the adjective paschal,' carrying the Hebrew word unchanged into the New Testament.
לַיהוָֽה׃Yah·wehto the LORDH3068
√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodPreposition-lNounpropermasculine singular
YHWH (H3068) with the preposition lə-: it is a Passover to/for YHWH — the festival is directed Godward, a memorial offered up, not merely a national remembrance.
בֵּ֣יןbênbegins atH996
√ bêyn — between (repeated before each noun, often with other particles)Preposition
הָעַרְבָּ֑יִםhā·‘ar·bā·yimtwilightH6153
√ ʻereb — duskArticleNounmd
hā-ʿarbāyim (H6153), dual: the two evenings. The dual form is what generates the whole interpretive dispute — Hebrew speaks of evening as a doubled, bracketed interval, not a point.
בְּאַרְבָּעָ֥הbə·’ar·bā·‘āhon the fourteenthH702
√ ʼarbaʻ — fourPreposition-bNumbermasculine singular
עָשָׂ֛ר‘ā·śār. . .H6240
√ ʻâsâr — ten (only in combination), iNumbermasculine singular
לַחֹ֖דֶשׁla·ḥō·ḏešdayH2320
√ chôdesh — the new moonPreposition-l, ArticleNounmasculine singular
la-ḥōḏeš (H2320), new moon / month — the same lexeme links this verse to Exodus 12 and the wider new-moon legislation; time itself is measured from divinely-fixed lunar renewals.
הָרִאשׁ֗וֹןhā·ri·šō·wnof the firstH7223
√ riʼshôwn — first, in place, time or rank (as adjective or noun)ArticleAdjectivemasculine singular
hā-rîšôn (H7223), first — Abib in the Pentateuch, later called Nisan (Ellicott; Cambridge). The renaming across the canon marks the post-exilic Babylonian month-names laid over the older Hebrew ones.
בַּחֹ֣דֶשׁba·ḥō·ḏešmonthH2320
√ chôdesh — the new moonPreposition-b, ArticleNounmasculine singular
The Voices✦ public domain+
✦Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s
The etymological meaning of the Heb. word peṣaḥ is obscure. See Driver, Exod. p. 408 for the various conjectures. The LXX. ( πάσχα , Pascha , whence the adjective paschal ) and so the N.T. (e.g. Matthew 26:17 ) transliterate it.
✦Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878
literally, denotes between the two evenings. The interpretation of this expression constituted one of the differences between the Sadducees and the Pharisees during the second Temple, and seriously affected the time for offering up the paschal lamb and the evening sacrifices.
Ellicott documents how 'between the two evenings' became a live second-Temple controversy over the very hour of sacrifice.
✦Joseph BensonCommentary on the Old and New Testaments1810s
At even — For all the Jewish festivals were kept from evening to evening, their day beginning in the evening.
✦John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63
at even is the Lord's passover; that is, that was the time for the keeping the passover, even "between the two evenings", as it may be rendered; from the sixth hour and onward, as Jarchi, trial is, after noon or twelve o'clock the middle of the day, as Gersom, when the sun began to decline
Gill preserves the medieval Jewish readings (Rashi/'Jarchi,' Gersonides) that placed the killing after noon.
6“On the fifteenth day of the same month begins the Feast of Unlea…”+

6On the fifteenth day of the same month begins the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD. For seven days you must eat unleavened bread.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ū·ḇa·ḥă·miš·šāh ‘ā·śār yō·wm haz·zeh la·ḥō·ḏeš ḥaḡ ham·maṣ·ṣō·wṯ Yah·weh šiḇ·‘aṯ yā·mîm tō·ḵê·lū maṣ·ṣō·wṯ

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-on-the-fifteenth day of-this month [is] the Feast of the Unleavened to-YHWH; seven days you-shall-eat unleavened.

Where the English smooths the original

  • חַג Feast renders ḥag (H2282) — but Barnes notes the word is 'identical with the Arabic haj,' the pilgrimage to Mecca, root of haji, pilgrim. A ḥag is properly a pilgrimage-feast requiring appearance at the sanctuary, not a generic celebration. English 'feast' loses the foot-travel built into the word.
  • הַמַּצּוֹת of Unleavened Bread expands ham-maṣṣôṯ (H4682), whose root sense Strong's gives, surprisingly, as sweetness — the bread without the souring of fermentation. 'Unleavened bread' is accurate but inverts the Hebrew accent: maṣṣâ is defined by what it lacks (the leaven), and that absence is the whole point.
  • שִׁבְעַת seven (šiḇʿaṯ, H7651) is, per Strong's, 'seven (as the sacred full one).' Barnes flags 'the recurrence of the sabbatical number'; the seven-day span is not arbitrary duration but a deliberate sabbatical completeness stamped on the feast.
  • תֹּאכֵלוּ you must eat renders tōʾḵêlū (H398), Qal imperfect — a command framed as eating, not abstaining. The law does not merely forbid leaven; it positively obliges the eating of maṣṣâ for the full seven days, making the diet itself the memorial.
Word by word12 · parsed+
וּבַחֲמִשָּׁ֨הū·ḇa·ḥă·miš·šāhOn the fifteenthH2568
√ châmêsh — fiveConjunctive waw, Preposition-b, ArticleNumbermasculine singular
עָשָׂ֥ר‘ā·śār. . .H6240
√ ʻâsâr — ten (only in combination), iNumbermasculine singular
יוֹם֙yō·wmdayH3117
√ yôwm — a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb)Nounmasculine singular
הַזֶּ֔הhaz·zehof the sameH2088
√ zeh — the masculine demonstrative pronoun, this or thatArticlePronounmasculine singular
לַחֹ֣דֶשׁla·ḥō·ḏešmonth [begins]H2320
√ chôdesh — the new moonPreposition-l, ArticleNounmasculine singular
חַ֥גḥaḡthe FeastH2282
√ chag — a festival, or a victim thereforNounmasculine singular construct
ḥag (H2282) — one of the three great pilgrimage-feasts (Passover/Unleavened, Weeks, Tabernacles) to which the term properly belongs; Barnes calls them the feasts later named by the rabbis 'pilgrimage feasts.'
הַמַּצּ֖וֹתham·maṣ·ṣō·wṯof Unleavened BreadH4682
√ matstsâh — properly, sweetnessArticleNounfeminine plural
ham-maṣṣôṯ (H4682), feminine plural with article — the defining staple. Deuteronomy 16:3 names it 'the bread of affliction,' tying the haste of the Exodus to the texture of the bread.
לַיהוָ֑הYah·wehto the LORDH3068
√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodPreposition-lNounpropermasculine singular
שִׁבְעַ֥תšiḇ·‘aṯFor sevenH7651
√ shebaʻ — seven (as the sacred full one)Numbermasculine singular construct
šiḇʿaṯ (H7651), construct — seven of days; the sabbatical number governs the span, an echo, Barnes observes, of the same number running through all five annual holy days.
יָמִ֖יםyā·mîmdaysH3117
√ yôwm — a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb)Nounmasculine plural
תֹּאכֵֽלוּ׃tō·ḵê·lūyou must eatH398
√ ʼâkal — to eat (literally or figuratively)VerbQalImperfectsecond person masculine plural
tōʾḵêlū (H398), you shall eat — the same root that in Exodus 12 commands eating the lamb 'in haste'; the unleavened diet enacts the memory in the body.
מַצּ֥וֹתmaṣ·ṣō·wṯunleavened breadH4682
√ matstsâh — properly, sweetnessNounfeminine plural
maṣṣôṯ (H4682) repeated without article, closing the verse — the bread named twice, framing the command as both feast-title and dietary rule.
The Voices✦ public domain+
✦Albert BarnesNotes on the Bible1834
It is worthy of note that the Hebrew word is identical with the Arabic "haj", the name of the pilgrimage to Mecca, from which comes the well-known word for a pilgrim, "haji".
Barnes connects ḥag to the cognate Arabic haj, recovering the pilgrimage sense of the Hebrew 'feast.'
✦The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s
from the beginning the two festivals were practically but one festival, never separated, though separable in idea. The Passover, strictly so called, lasted but one day, Nisan 14; the Feast of Unleavened Bread lasted seven days, Nisan 15-21.
✦John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63
Which was the day the children of Israel went out of Egypt with their dough and leaven, having not time to leaven it; in remembrance of which this feast was appointed
7“On the first day you are to hold a sacred assembly; you are not …”+

7On the first day you are to hold a sacred assembly; you are not to do any regular work.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

hā·ri·šō·wn bay·yō·wm yih·yeh lā·ḵem qō·ḏeš miq·rā- lō ṯa·‘ă·śū kāl- ‘ă·ḇō·ḏāh mə·le·ḵeṯ

Literal — word-for-word from the original

On-the-first day a holy convocation shall-be to-you; any work of labor you-shall-not do.

Where the English smooths the original

  • מִקְרָא a sacred assembly renders miqrāʾ (H4744), the same rare 'calling-out' noun of v. 4 now singular and bound to qōḏeš: miqrāʾ-qōḏeš, a holy convocation. The day is constituted by a summons; the rest is not idleness but assembly-before-God.
  • עֲבֹדָה מְלֶאכֶת regular work badly underweights məleʾḵeṯ ʿăḇōḏāh (H4399 + H5656). Keil & Delitzsch distinguish them sharply: ʿăḇōḏâ is labor at a definite occupation (one's trade), while məlāʾḵâ is any work. The phrase here forbids only occupational/servile work — hence cooking is permitted on feast-days though not on the sabbath. 'Regular work' blurs a precise legal gradation.
  • יִהְיֶה you are to hold paraphrases yihyeh (H1961), simply it shall be (3ms) — 'a holy convocation shall be to you.' The day's holiness is stated as a fact to come into being, not an action the people perform; the English shifts the agency onto the worshippers.
Word by word11 · parsed+
הָֽרִאשׁ֔וֹןhā·ri·šō·wnOn the firstH7223
√ riʼshôwn — first, in place, time or rank (as adjective or noun)ArticleAdjectivemasculine singular
hā-rîšôn (H7223), the first — Nisan 15, the day Unleavened Bread opens; Ellicott identifies it as 'the first of the seven days.'
בַּיּוֹם֙bay·yō·wmdayH3117
√ yôwm — a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb)Preposition-b, ArticleNounmasculine singular
יִהְיֶ֣הyih·yehyou are to holdH1961
√ hâyâh — to exist, iVerbQalImperfectthird person masculine singular
לָכֶ֑םlā·ḵem
Prepositionsecond person masculine plural
קֹ֖דֶשׁqō·ḏeša sacredH6944
√ qôdesh — a sacred place or thingNounmasculine singular
qōḏeš (H6944) bound to miqrāʾ — the 'holy convocation' formula that recurs at vv. 4, 7, 8 and across the chapter, the lexical spine of Leviticus 23.
מִקְרָא־miq·rā-assemblyH4744
√ miqrâʼ — something called out, iNounmasculine singular construct
לֹ֥אlōyou are notH3808
√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absAdverbNegative particle
lōʾ (H3808), the absolute negative — the prohibition is categorical for this class of work, though (vv. show) narrower than the sabbath's total ban.
תַעֲשֽׂוּ׃ṯa·‘ă·śūto doH6213
√ ʻâsâh — to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest applicationVerbQalImperfectsecond person masculine plural
כָּל־kāl-anyH3605
√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct
עֲבֹדָ֖ה‘ă·ḇō·ḏāhregularH5656
√ ʻăbôdâh — work of any kindNounfeminine singular
ʿăḇōḏāh (H5656), servile/occupational labor — Keil: 'labour at some definite occupation… such as agriculture, handicraft.' The Geneva note: 'bodily labour, save about that which one must eat.'
מְלֶ֥אכֶתmə·le·ḵeṯworkH4399
√ mᵉlâʼkâh — properly, deputyship, iNounfeminine singular construct
məleʾḵeṯ (H4399), construct of məlāʾḵâ, any kind of work — paired with ʿăḇōḏâ to name the specific category forbidden; the two nouns together are the technical formula 'servile work.'
The Voices✦ public domain+
✦Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s
עבדה מלאכת, occupation of a work, signifies labour at some definite occupation, e.g., the building of the tabernacle, Exodus 35:24 ; Exodus 36:1 , Exodus 36:3 ; hence occupation in connection with trade or one's social calling, such as agriculture, handicraft, and so forth; whilst מלאכה is the performance of any kind of work, e.g., kindling fire for cooking food
K&D parse the two Hebrew work-words exactly: ʿăḇōḏâ = occupational labor, məlāʾḵâ = any work — the basis for the feast-day's lighter restriction.
✦Albert BarnesNotes on the Bible1834
No servile work - literally, no work of labor, no work that belongs to one's worldly calling, such as labor in agriculture or handicraft. The preparation of food was permitted Exodus 12:16 , a licence not granted on the weekly Sabbath
✦Geneva Study BibleMarginal Notes1599
Or, bodily labour, save about that which one must eat, Ex 12:16.
The Geneva margin's gloss on 'servile work' — bodily labour, food-preparation excepted.
✦The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s
It was on the first day, Nisan 15, that our Lord was crucified.
The Pulpit Commentary draws the chronological line from this 'first day' to the crucifixion — a reading I weigh in the Christ layer below as widely-held, not textually demanded here.
8“For seven days you are to present a food offering to the LORD. O…”+

8For seven days you are to present a food offering to the LORD. On the seventh day there shall be a sacred assembly; you must not do any regular work.’”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

šiḇ·‘aṯ yā·mîm wə·hiq·raḇ·tem ’iš·šeh Yah·weh haš·šə·ḇî·‘î bay·yō·wm qō·ḏeš miq·rā- lō ṯa·‘ă·śū kāl- ‘ă·ḇō·ḏāh mə·le·ḵeṯ

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-you-shall-bring-near a fire-offering to-YHWH seven days; on-the-seventh day [is] a holy convocation; any work of labor you-shall-not do.

Where the English smooths the original

  • וְהִקְרַבְתֶּם you are to present renders wə-hiqraḇtem (H7126), Hifil of qārab, to draw/bring near. The causative stem means literally cause-to-approach: the offering is a bringing-near of the worshipper to God by way of the gift. 'Present' loses the spatial drama of approach to the altar.
  • אִשֶּׁה a food offering renders ʾiššeh (H801), traditionally tied to ʾêš, fire — Strong's: 'properly, a burnt-offering' made by fire. Older versions read 'offering made by fire' (so Geneva, Gill, Cambridge). BSB's 'food offering' reflects a modern lexical re-derivation; the older 'fire offering' is the long-standing reading and the one the commentators here assume.
  • הַשְּׁבִיעִי the seventh (haš-šəḇîʿî, H7637) closes the sabbatical frame opened by seven days in clause one — first day and seventh day bracket the feast as twin holy convocations. Gill links the seventh specifically to Pharaoh's drowning; the symmetry of first-and-last is the structural signature of the week.
  • מִקְרָא a sacred assembly again renders miqrāʾ (H4744) — the rare convocation-noun returning to seal the seventh day exactly as it opened the first (v. 7), so that the whole seven-day span is held between two identical summons.
Word by word14 · parsed+
שִׁבְעַ֣תšiḇ·‘aṯFor sevenH7651
√ shebaʻ — seven (as the sacred full one)Numbermasculine singular construct
יָמִ֑יםyā·mîmdaysH3117
√ yôwm — a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb)Nounmasculine plural
וְהִקְרַבְתֶּ֥םwə·hiq·raḇ·temyou are to presentH7126
√ qârab — to approach (causatively, bring near) for whatever purposeConjunctive wawVerbHifilConjunctive perfectsecond person masculine plural
wə-hiqraḇtem (H7126), Hifil perfect with waw — and you shall bring near; the verb of sacrificial approach, governing the offering that follows.
אִשֶּׁ֛ה’iš·šeha food offeringH801
√ ʼishshâh — properly, a burnt-offeringNounmasculine singular
ʾiššeh (H801) — the 'fire-offering.' Benson and Gill detail the daily sacrifice (Numbers 28): two bullocks, a ram, seven lambs, plus a sin-offering, repeated each of the seven days.
לַיהוָ֖הYah·wehto the LORDH3068
√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodPreposition-lNounpropermasculine singular
הַשְּׁבִיעִי֙haš·šə·ḇî·‘îOn the seventhH7637
√ shᵉbîyʻîy — seventhArticleNumberordinal masculine singular
haš-šəḇîʿî (H7637), ordinal — the seventh day, made a holy convocation matching the first; Gill notes a tradition tying it to the drowning of Pharaoh's host.
בַּיּ֤וֹםbay·yō·wmdayH3117
√ yôwm — a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb)Preposition-b, ArticleNounmasculine singular
קֹ֔דֶשׁqō·ḏešthere shall be a sacredH6944
√ qôdesh — a sacred place or thingNounmasculine singular
מִקְרָא־miq·rā-assemblyH4744
√ miqrâʼ — something called out, iNounmasculine singular construct
miqrāʾ (H4744) — the chapter's signature rare noun, here closing the Passover/Unleavened pericope as it has marked every appointed day.
לֹ֥אlōyou must notH3808
√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absAdverbNegative particle
תַעֲשֽׂוּ׃פṯa·‘ă·śūdoH6213
√ ʻâsâh — to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest applicationVerbQalImperfectsecond person masculine plural
כָּל־kāl-anyH3605
√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct
kāl (H3605), all/any, in construct with the work-formula — the prohibition reaches every occupational task on the seventh day, exactly as on the first.
עֲבֹדָ֖ה‘ă·ḇō·ḏāhregularH5656
√ ʻăbôdâh — work of any kindNounfeminine singular
מְלֶ֥אכֶתmə·le·ḵeṯworkH4399
√ mᵉlâʼkâh — properly, deputyship, iNounfeminine singular construct
The Voices✦ public domain+
✦Joseph BensonCommentary on the Old and New Testaments1810s
Every day of the seven was to have a sacrifice offered upon it, about which there are particular directions, Numbers 28:10-25 ; and the first and last days of the week’s festival were to be days of universal assembly for religious duties at the place of public worship.
✦John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63
as on the first day, that was on account of the Israelites going out of Egypt; and this is said, on account of Pharaoh and his host being drowned on it
Gill records the haggadic tradition that the seventh day commemorates the drowning of Pharaoh's army at the Sea.
✦Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878
This was, in all respects, celebrated like the first, with the exception that it did not commence with the paschal meal.
Ellicott notes the first–seventh day symmetry, the seventh differing only in lacking the Passover meal.
✦Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s
an offering made by fire ] The details of this offering are given in Numbers 28:2 ff.
Cambridge retains the older rendering 'offering made by fire,' over against BSB's 'food offering.'
✣

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙Grand Commentary — the unit, read wholesynthesis · verify+

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. The kept appointment — 23:4

The unit opens not with a feast but with a heading. Keil & Delitzsch state it plainly: 'Leviticus 23:4 contains the special heading for the yearly feasts.' The Pulpit Commentary explains why the formula of verse 2 is repeated here — the sabbath has been 'disposed of in verse 3,' so the annual cycle is given its own fresh title. The Hebrew of that title is dense with the language of fixity: môʿăḏê YHWH (H4150), the appointed-times of YHWH, and miqrāʾê qōḏeš (H4744), convocations of holiness. Both nouns insist the calendar is God's before it is Israel's; the Geneva Bible's contrast is exact — 'the sabbath was kept every week, and these others were kept only once every year.' Benson opens the word wider still: the same noun, he notes, is 'rendered, Isaiah 33:20, where Zion is called the city of our solemnities' — the festival-word can name the holy city itself. (⚙) My read: the verse is a divine datebook, and its grammar — a relative clause commanding Israel to proclaim the days it did not invent — makes the people the heralds, never the authors, of sacred time.

ii. Between the two evenings — 23:5

Verse 5 fixes the Passover to 'the fourteenth day of the first month at even.' Two Hebrew expressions resist the smooth English. First, hā-rîšôn (H7223): the Pulpit Commentary observes Nisan 'was made the first month of the religious year in consequence of the original Passover having taken place in it' — redemption reordered the calendar's head. Second, and more sharply, bên hā-ʿarbāyim (H6153), between the two evenings. Ellicott records that this 'constituted one of the differences between the Sadducees and the Pharisees during the second Temple, and seriously affected the time for offering up the paschal lamb'; Gill preserves the medieval Jewish readings of 'Jarchi' (Rashi) and Gersonides placing the killing 'after noon… when the sun began to decline.' Cambridge adds that the very name pesaḥ is etymologically 'obscure,' and that the LXX simply transliterated it as πάσχα, 'whence the adjective paschal' — the Hebrew word riding untranslated into the Gospels. (⚙) My read: the commentators agree the text is precise about the day yet leaves the hour contestable — a reminder that even a divinely appointed time arrives wrapped in human dispute over its keeping.

iii. Bread of haste, work of the trade — 23:6–8

The Feast of Unleavened Bread (vv. 6–8) binds itself to Passover as one observance: the Pulpit Commentary calls them 'practically but one festival, never separated, though separable in idea.' Barnes recovers the buried pilgrimage in ḥag (H2282) — the word 'identical with the Arabic haj… from which comes the well-known word for a pilgrim, haji.' Gill ties the seven days of maṣṣôṯ (H4682) to the Exodus itself: the people went out 'with their dough and leaven, having not time to leaven it.' Then verses 7–8 legislate rest, and here Keil & Delitzsch do the unit's finest lexical work, distinguishing ʿăḇōḏâ — 'labour at some definite occupation… agriculture, handicraft' — from məlāʾḵâ, 'the performance of any kind of work.' Barnes draws the practical line: 'the preparation of food was permitted… a licence not granted on the weekly Sabbath.' The feast-day rests from one's trade, not from one's kitchen. The pericope closes as it opened, with a miqrāʾ qōḏeš on the seventh day mirroring the first — Ellicott: 'celebrated like the first, with the exception that it did not commence with the paschal meal.' (⚙) My read: the whole section is built on symmetry and gradation — seven days bracketed by twin holy convocations, and a rest carefully calibrated short of the sabbath's total stillness.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

Read under Sola Scriptura, Leviticus 23:4–8 is the calendar of grace before it is a calendar of obligation. The festal year does not begin with the harvest a nation could boast of producing, but with Passover — a meal eaten in the posture of people who were rescued, not people who arrived. The Hebrew anchors this: the rare word miqrāʾ (H4744), a calling-out, means the assembly does not convene itself; it is summoned. And the year's head was reset — 'the first month' — by an act of deliverance, not by agriculture or astronomy. Even the work-law preaches it: Israel rests from its trade (ʿăḇōḏâ) on these days precisely because the days commemorate a redemption it did not labor to earn. The plain sense, then, is that sacred time is gift-shaped — God names the appointment, summons the assembly, and tells a freed people to keep returning to the table where their freedom began. (⚙ This is my fallible reading, offered to be tested against the text, not in place of it.)

The festal year opens with a rescued people's meal, not a harvest's boast — God sets the appointment, and the summoned only answer.

⚙Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripturecross-refs · verify+

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The repeated heading: the chapter's own frame structural / thematic — confirmed

Verse 4 restates the title of verse 2 to open the annual feasts after the sabbath of verse 3. The link is internal and structural — the Pulpit Commentary: 'This verse repeats the statement or heading contained in verse 2.' Verse 4 and verse 37 (the chapter's closing summary) share the rare convocation-vocabulary that frames the whole festal list.

Leviticus 23:2 · Leviticus 23:37

basis: Verifier: Lev 23:4 ↔ Lev 23:2 share H4744 miqrâʼ (in 22 vv), H4150 môwʻêd (in 213 vv), H6944 qôdesh (in 382 vv), H7121 qârâʼ (in 687 vv); Lev 23:4 ↔ Lev 23:37 share the same cluster plus H428 ʾêlleh — a heading/summary frame, not a quotation

miqrāʾ — the rare word that ties the festal laws together structural / thematic — confirmed

The 'holy convocation' noun miqrāʾ (H4744) occurs in only 22 verses of the whole Hebrew Bible, and they cluster precisely here: Leviticus 23, Exodus 12:16, and the parallel festal calendar of Numbers 28–29. Where this rare word appears, the same legislation is in view. Numbers 29:12 (Tabernacles) and Numbers 28:18 (Unleavened Bread) carry it as the technical marker of a sanctuary-gathering day.

Exodus 12:16 · Numbers 28:18 · Numbers 29:12

basis: Verifier: all share H4744 miqrâʼ (in 22 vv) + H6944 qôdesh; Lev 23:7 ↔ Exodus 12:16 additionally share H4399 mᵉlâʼkâh (in 149 vv) and H7223 riʼshôwn (in 173 vv). Rare but recurring legal vocabulary, not a quotation of one text by another — hence structural, not verbal

The convocation God comes to hate (Isaiah 1:13) structural / thematic — confirmed

The rare 'calling-out' noun that constitutes these holy days has a darker afterlife. Isaiah indicts a worship gone hollow with the very same word: 'the calling of assemblies I cannot endure' (Isaiah 1:13) — there the Hebrew is miqrāʾ (H4744), the identical term for the holy convocation commanded here (vv. 4, 7, 8), now paired with the same new-moon lexeme (ḥōḏeš, H2320) of v. 5. What God appoints as a summons to Himself He can reject when it is offered with bloody hands and no justice. The thread is sobering: the appointed assembly is never automatically acceptable; the miqrāʾ God calls He can also refuse. (⚙) My read: Leviticus 23 gives the form, Isaiah 1 the warning that the form without the heart becomes a thing the LORD cannot bear.

Isaiah 1:13

basis: Verifier: Lev 23:4 ↔ Isaiah 1:13 share H4744 miqrâʼ (in 22 vv) and H7121 qârâʼ (in 687 vv); the rare convocation-noun reappears in a prophetic reversal — the same instituted assembly is the thing God rejects. A genuine verbal echo deployed antithetically, but a thematic/structural link (shared vocabulary across legal and prophetic registers), not one text quoting the other

'Bread of affliction' — the maṣṣâ restated in Deuteronomy structural / thematic — confirmed

The seven days of unleavened bread (v. 6) are re-legislated in Deuteronomy 16:3, which alone supplies the interpretive key: 'seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste.' The Pulpit Commentary cites it here precisely to explain why the bread is unleavened — the haste of the Exodus, dough that had no time to rise. The shared rare lexeme maṣṣâ (H4682) ties the two statutes; Deuteronomy adds the affliction-motive Leviticus leaves implicit.

Deuteronomy 16:3

basis: Verifier: Lev 23:6 ↔ Deuteronomy 16:3 share H4682 matstsâh (in 42 vv, rare), H7651 shebaʻ (in 343 vv), H398 ʼâkal (in 701 vv), H3117 yôwm; the same unleavened-bread statute restated in the Deuteronomic register with an added rationale ('bread of affliction'), not a quotation

ḥag ham-maṣṣôṯ — the same feast legislated twice verbal / quotation — confirmed

Leviticus 23:6's 'Feast of Unleavened Bread' (ḥag ham-maṣṣôṯ) reappears almost word-for-word in the festal calendar of Numbers 28:17, which sets 'on the fifteenth day of this month a feast; seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten.' Two rare lexemes coincide — maṣṣâ (H4682, in 42 vv) and ḥag (H2282, in 55 vv) — which is why the Verifier reads this as verbal correspondence: the same statute restated in the priestly sacrificial register.

Numbers 28:17

basis: Verifier: Lev 23:6 ↔ Numbers 28:17 share two rare lexemes — H4682 matstsâh (in 42 vv) and H2282 chag (in 55 vv) — plus H2320 chôdesh and H2568 châmêsh; the doubled rare vocabulary marks a genuine verbal parallel within the festal-calendar legislation

Passover anchored to Exodus 12 structural / thematic — confirmed

Verse 5 does not institute the Passover; it dates it, assuming Exodus 12 as known. Barnes: the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread 'are plainly spoken of as distinct feasts. See Exodus 12:6.' The shared vocabulary — the dual two evenings (H6153), the fourteenth (H702), the new-moon/month (H2320) — ties this dating-clause back to the founding narrative of the night in Egypt.

Exodus 12:6 · Exodus 12:18

basis: Verifier: Lev 23:5 ↔ Exodus 12:6 share H6153 ʻereb (in 125 vv), H2320 chôdesh (in 224 vv), H996 bêyn (in 247 vv), H702 ʼarbaʻ (in 277 vv); a shared festal-dating formula, not a citation

The graded rest: 'servile work' vs. the sabbath structural / thematic — confirmed

Verses 7–8 forbid only servile work (məleʾḵeṯ ʿăḇōḏâ), a deliberately lighter restriction than the sabbath's total ban — Keil & Delitzsch and the Cambridge editors both stress the gradation, and Exodus 12:16 is the parallel that permits food-preparation on the feast. The two work-nouns (ʿăḇōḏâ H5656, məlāʾḵâ H4399) recur together across the chapter's holy days (vv. 7, 8, 21, 25, 35, 36) and into Numbers 28:18, 25.

Exodus 12:16 · Numbers 28:18 · Numbers 28:25

basis: Verifier: Lev 23:7 ↔ Exodus 12:16 share H4744 miqrâʼ (in 22 vv), H4399 mᵉlâʼkâh (in 149 vv), H7223 riʼshôwn (in 173 vv), H6944 qôdesh; Lev 23:8 ↔ Numbers 28:25 share miqrâʼ + qôdesh + H5656 ʻăbôdâh — recurring legal formula, not quotation

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify+

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

Christ our Passover ancient/widely-held

The earliest Christian reading takes the pesaḥ of verse 5 typologically: 'Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us' (1 Corinthians 5:7). The lexical bridge is real but indirect — the Greek New Testament does not translate pesaḥ but transliterates it. Cambridge notes precisely this: 'The LXX (πάσχα, Pascha, whence the adjective paschal) and so the N.T. (e.g. Matthew 26:17) transliterate it.' Jamieson-Fausset-Brown make the figural claim explicit — the Passover 'had a typical reference to a greater redemption to be effected for God's spiritual people.' The figure runs deep into the ritual detail the Pulpit Commentary records in this unit: the lamb was roasted whole, 'taking care that no bone should be broken' (cf. Exodus 12:46), the very feature the Fourth Gospel sees fulfilled at the cross (John 19:36). This is an ancient and near-universal reading; I mark it widely-held, and note that because the connection crosses Hebrew into Greek it is a thematic/typological link carried by a transliterated name and a shared sacrificial pattern, not a shared Strong's lexeme — it cannot be tiered 'verbal' across the language divide.

1 Corinthians 5:7 · Exodus 12:6 · John 19:36

Unleavened bread: 'a new lump' ancient/widely-held

Paul reads the maṣṣâ of verses 6–8 morally and christologically in the very same passage: 'Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump… let us keep the feast, not with old leaven… but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth' (1 Corinthians 5:7–8). Jamieson-Fausset-Brown link verse 6 directly to this: 'unleavened bread was to be eaten in families all the seven days (see 1Co 5:8).' The seven-day purge of leaven becomes a figure of the purged church living from Christ the Passover. Widely held since the apostolic age; flagged here as cross-Testament — the bridge is figural and thematic (leaven/maṣṣâ), not a verbal Strong's match across the language divide.

1 Corinthians 5:8 · Exodus 12:15

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

This unit is law, not narrative, and largely repeats legislation already given in Exodus 12 and paralleled in Numbers 28–29; Keil & Delitzsch say it outright: 'The leading directions for the Passover and feast of Mazzoth are repeated from Exodus 12.' So nearly every cross-reference here is a structural echo of the same statute restated in a different register, not one text quoting another — I have tiered them accordingly, reserving 'verbal' only for Numbers 28:17, where two genuinely rare lexemes (maṣṣâ H4682, ḥag H2282; both confirmed shared by the Verifier) coincide in the parallel festal calendar. One thread runs the other direction: Isaiah 1:13 picks up the rare convocation-noun miqrāʾ not to restate the law but to reverse it — the assembly God here commands becomes the assembly He there refuses; I have tiered that structural/thematic, since the shared vocabulary is deployed antithetically across legal and prophetic registers, not as quotation. Three honest cautions. (1) The phrase bên hā-ʿarbāyim ('between the two evenings,' v. 5) is rendered 'twilight' by BSB but was genuinely contested in the Second Temple period (Ellicott, Gill); I have flagged the smoothing rather than pick a side. (2) BSB's 'food offering' for ʾiššeh (v. 8) reflects a modern lexical re-derivation; the older versions and the commentators in this unit (Geneva, Gill, Cambridge) read 'offering made by fire' — I have noted both and not adjudicated. (3) The Christ-readings are cross-Testament: the New Testament receives pesaḥ as a transliterated name (πάσχα), so no shared Strong's number can support a 'verbal' tier across Hebrew and Greek; the typology is ancient and widely held but is argued figurally, not asserted by lexeme. The Pulpit Commentary's identification of Nisan 15 as the crucifixion day is itself disputed in the Gospels' own chronology (cf. John 19:14 vs. the Synoptics) and is reported, not endorsed.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)