LEV 23

Leviticus 23:3

WEB

“‘Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation; you shall do no kind of work. It is a Sabbath to Yahweh in all your dwellings.

BSB

For six days work may be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of complete rest, a day of sacred assembly. You must not do any work; wherever you live, it is a Sabbath to the LORD.

KJV

Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.

Matthew Henry

Verses 1–3

Leviticus 23:1–3

Here is, I. A general account of the holy times which God appointed (Lev 23:2), and it is only his appointment that can make time holy; for he is the Lord of time, and as soon as ever he had set its wheels a-going it was he that sanctified and blessed one day above the rest, Gen 2:3. Man may by his appointment make a good day (Est 9:19), but it is God's prerogative to make a holy day; nor is any thing sanctified but by the stamp of his institution. As all inherent holiness comes from his special grace, so all adherent holiness from his special appointment. Now, concerning the holy times here ordained, observe, 1. They are called feasts. The day of atonement, which was one of them, was a fast; yet, because most of them were appointed for joy and rejoicing, they are in the general called feasts. Some read it, These are my assemblies, but that is co-incident with convocations. I would rather read it, These are my solemnities; so the word here used is translated (Isa 33:20), where Zion is called the city of our solemnities: and, reading it so here, the day of atonement was as great a solemnity as any of them. 2. They are the feasts of the Lord (my feasts), observed to the honour of his name, and in obedience to his command. 3. They were proclaimed; for they were not to be observed by the priests only that attended the sanctuary, but by all the people. And this proclamation was the joyful sound concerning which we read, Blessed are the people that know it, Psa 89:15. 4. They were to be sanctified and solemnized with holy convocations, that the services of these feasts might appear the more honourable and august, and the people the more unanimous in the performance of them; it was for the honour of God and his institutions, which sought not corners and the purity of which would be best preserved by the public administration of them; it was also for the edification of the people in love that the feasts were to be observed as holy convocations.

II. A repetition of the law of the sabbath in the first place. Though the annual feasts were made more remarkable by the general attendance at the sanctuary, yet these must not eclipse the brightness of the sabbath, Lev 23:3. They are here told, 1. That on that day they must withdraw themselves from all the affairs and business of the world. It is a sabbath of rest, typifying our spiritual rest from sin, and in God: You shall do no work therein. On other holy days they were forbidden to do any servile work (Lev 23:7), but on the sabbath, and the day of atonement (which is also called a sabbath), they were to do no work at all, no, not the dressing of meat. 2. On that day they must employ themselves in the service of God. (1.) It is a holy convocation; that is, "If it lie within your reach, you shall sanctify it in a religious assembly: let as many as can come to the door of the tabernacle, and let others meet elsewhere for prayer, and praise, and the reading of the law," as in the schools of the prophets, while prophecy continued, and afterwards in the synagogues. Christ appointed the New Testament sabbath to be a holy convocation, by meeting his disciples once and again (and perhaps oftener) on the first day of the week. (2.) "Whether you have opportunity of sanctifying it in a holy convocation or not, yet let it be the sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings. Put a difference between that day and other days in your families. It is the sabbath of the Lord, the day on which he rested from the work of creation, and on which he has appointed us to rest; let it be observed in all your dwellings, even now that you dwell in tents." Note, God's sabbaths are to be religiously observed in every private house, by every family apart, as well as by many families together in holy convocations. The sabbath of the Lord in our dwellings will be their beauty, strength, and safety; it will sanctify, edify, and glorify them.

Cross-references: Lev 23:2 · Gen 2:3 · Esth 9:19 · Isa 33:20 · Ps 89:15 · Lev 23:3 · Lev 23:7

Hebrew interlinear

H8337

שֵׁשׁshêsh/shaysh/

n — six, sixth

Derivation: masculine שִׁשָּׁה; a primitive number; see 7797

six (as an overplus beyond five or the fingers of the hand); as ordinal sixth

KJV: six(-teen, -teenth), sixth.

שֵׁשׁ

n.m — six

שֵׁשׁ, שִׁשָּׁה 216 n.m. et f. six

H3117

יוֹםyôwm/yome/

n-m — day

Derivation: from an unused root meaning to be hot;

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)

KJV: age, always, chronicals, continually(-ance), daily, ((birth-), each, to) day, (now a, two) days (agone), elder, × end, evening, (for) ever(-lasting, -more), × full, life, as (so) long as (... live), (even) now, old, outlived, perpetually, presently, remaineth, × required, season, × since, space, then, (process of) time, as at other times, in trouble, weather, (as) when, (a, the, within a) while (that), × whole ( age), (full) year(-ly), younger.

יוֹם

n.m — day

יוֹם 2285 n.m. day

1. day, opp. night

2. Day as division of time

3. יוֹם י׳ day of Yahweh, chiefly as time of his coming in judgment, involving often blessedness for righteous

4. Pl. days of anyone

5. Days

6. יוֹם = time

7. Phrases

H6213

עָשָׂהʻâsâh/aw-saw'/

v — do, make

Derivation: a primitive root;

to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest application

KJV: accomplish, advance, appoint, apt, be at, become, bear, bestow, bring forth, bruise, be busy, × certainly, have the charge of, commit, deal (with), deck, displease, do, (ready) dress(-ed), (put in) execute(-ion), exercise, fashion, feast, (fight-) ing man, finish, fit, fly, follow, fulfill, furnish, gather, get, go about, govern, grant, great, hinder, hold (a feast), × indeed, be industrious, journey, keep, labour, maintain, make, be meet, observe, be occupied, offer, officer, pare, bring (come) to pass, perform, pracise, prepare, procure, provide, put, requite, × sacrifice, serve, set, shew, × sin, spend, × surely, take, × thoroughly, trim, × very, vex, be (warr-) ior, work(-man), yield, use.

עָשָׂה

vb — do

עָשָׂה 2622 vb. do, make

Qal 2524

I.

1. do (1560 t.)

2. deal with

3. oft. in phr. do kindness with

4. abs. act, act with effect

II.

1. make (670 t.)

2. produce, yield

3. prepare, esp. of dressing and cooking food

4. make offering

5. attend to, put in order

6. observe, celebrate, religious festival

7. acquire property of various kinds

8. appoint priests

9. bring about of י׳’s effecting a deliverance

10. use

11. spend, pass, days of life

Niph. 97

1. be done

2.

a. be made, of concr. things

b. be produced from vine

c. be prepared, of food

d. be offered

e. be observed, passover

f. be used

Pu. I was made

עָשָׂה

vb — press

[עָשָׂה] vb. Pi. press, squeeze

H4399

מְלָאכָהmᵉlâʼkâh/mel-aw-kaw'/

n-f — deputyship, ministry, employment, work, property

Derivation: from the same as 4397;

properly, deputyship, i.e. ministry; generally, employment (never servile) or work (abstractly or concretely); also property (as the result of labor)

KJV: business, cattle, industrious, occupation, ( -pied), officer, thing (made), use, (manner of) work((-man), -manship).

מְלָאכָה

n.f — occupation

מְלָאכָה 167 n.f. occupation, work

1. occupation, business

2. property in which one is occupied

3. work as something done or made

4. workmanship

5. service, use

6. public business

H7637

שְׁבִיעִיshᵉbîyʻîy/sheb-ee-ee'/

a — seventh

Derivation: or שְׁבִעִי; ordinal from 7657;

seventh

KJV: seventh (time).

שְׁבִיעִי

m — seventh

שְׁבִיעִי m. שְׁבִיעִית f. 97 adj.num.ord. seventh

H7676

שַׁבָּתshabbâth/shab-bawth'/

n — intermission, Sabbath

Derivation: intensive from 7673;

intermission, i.e (specifically) the Sabbath

KJV: ( every) sabbath.

שַׁבָּת

n.f — Sabbath

שַׁבָּת 111 n.f. and m. Sabbath

1. sabbath

2. day of atonement

3. sabbath year

4. = week (?)

5. = produce in sabbath year (growing of itself)

H7677

שַׁבָּתוֹןshabbâthôwn/shab-baw-thone'/

n-m — sabbatism

Derivation: from 7676;

a sabbatism or special holiday

KJV: rest, sabbath.

שַׁבָּתוֹן

n.m — sabbath observance

שַׁבָּתוֹן n.m. sabbath observance, sabbatism

H4744

מִקְרָאmiqrâʼ/mik-raw'/

n-m — called, meeting, rehearsal

Derivation: from 7121;

something called out, i.e. a public meeting (the act, the persons, or the place); also a rehearsal

KJV: assembly, calling, convocation, reading.

מִקְרָא

n.m — convocation

מִקְרָא 28 n.m. convocation, convoking, reading

H6944

קֹדֶשׁqôdesh/ko'-desh/

n-m — sacred, sanctity

Derivation: from 6942;

a sacred place or thing; rarely abstract, sanctity

KJV: consecrated (thing), dedicated (thing), hallowed (thing), holiness, (× most) holy (× day, portion, thing), saint, sanctuary.

קֹ֫דֶשׁ

n.m — apartness

קֹ֫דֶשׁ 469 n.m. apartness, sacredness

H3605

כֹּלkôl/kole/

n-m — whole, all, any, every

Derivation: or (Jeremiah 33:8) כּוֹל; from 3634;

properly, the whole; hence, all, any or every (in the singular only, but often in a plural sense)

KJV: (in) all (manner, (ye)), altogether, any (manner), enough, every (one, place, thing), howsoever, as many as, (no-) thing, ought, whatsoever, (the) whole, whoso(-ever).

כֹּל

n.m — the whole

כֹּל once כּוֹל n.m. the whole, all

1. with foll. gen. (as usually) the whole of, to be rendered, however, often in our idiom, to avoid stiffness, any or every

2. Absolutely:

a. without the art., all things, all

b. with the art. הַכֹּל

(a). where the sense is limited by the context to things (or persons) just mentioned

(b). in a wider sense, all, whether of all mankind or of all living things, the universe, or of all the circumstances of life (chiefly late)

H3808

לֹאlôʼ/lo/

adv — not, no

Derivation: or לוֹא; or לֹה; (Deuteronomy 3:11), a primitive particle;

not (the simple or abs. negation); by implication, no; often used with other particles

KJV: × before, or else, ere, except, ig(-norant), much, less, nay, neither, never, no((-ne), -r, (-thing)), (× as though...,(can-), for) not (out of), of nought, otherwise, out of, surely, as truly as, of a truth, verily, for want, whether, without.

לֹא

adv — not

לֹא or לוֹא adv. not

H1931

הוּאhûwʼ/hoo/

p — he, she, it, self, same, this, that, as, are

Derivation: of which the feminine (beyond the Pentateuch) is הִיא; he a primitive word, the third person pronoun singular;

he (she or it); only expressed when emphatic or without a verb; also (intensively) self, or (especially with the article) the same; sometimes (as demonstrative) this or that; occasionally (instead of copula) as or are

KJV: he, as for her, him(-self), it, the same, she (herself), such, that (...it), these, they, this, those, which (is), who.

הוּא

m — he

הוּא m. הִיא f., pron. of the 3rd ps. sing. he, she, used also (in both genders) for the neuter it

1. an emph. he (she, it, they), sometimes equivalent to himself (herself, itself, themselves), or (esp. with the art.) that (those)

2. It resumes the subj. with emph.

3. Where, however, the pron. follows the pred., its position gives it the minimum of emphasis, and it expresses (or resumes) the subject as unobtrusively as possible

4. It anticipates (as it seems) the subject

5. As an emph. predicate, of God

6. In a neuter sense, that, it (of an action, occurrence, matte, etc.)

7. With the art.: so regularly when joined to a subst. defined itself by the art.

H3068

יְהֹוָהYᵉhôvâh/yeh-ho-vaw'/

n-pr — Existent, Jeho-vah

Derivation: from 1961;

(the) self-Existent or Eternal; Jeho-vah, Jewish national name of God

KJV: Jehovah, the Lord. Compare 3050, 3069.

יהוה

n.pr.dei — God

יהוה c. 6823 i.e. יַהְוֶה n.pr.dei Yahweh, the proper name of the God of Israel—(1. MT יְהֹוָה 6518 (Qr אֲדֹנָי), or יֱהֹוִה 305 (Qr אֱלֹהִים) 2. Many recent scholars explain יַהְוֶה as Hiph. of הוה (= היה) the one bringing into being, life-giver)

I. יהוה is not used by E in Gn, but is given Ex 3:12-15 as the name of the God who revealed Himself to Moses at Horeb

II.

1. יהוה is used with אלהים and suffixes, especially in D

2. the phrase † אֲנִי יהוה is noteworthy

3. יהוה is also used with several predicates, to form sacred names of holy places of Yahweh

H4186

מוֹשָׁבmôwshâb/mo-shawb'/

n-m — seat, site, session, abode, population

Derivation: or מֹשָׁב; from 3427;

a seat; figuratively, a site; abstractly, a session; by extension an abode (the place or the time); by implication, population

KJV: assembly, dwell in, dwelling(-place), wherein (that) dwelt (in), inhabited place, seat, sitting, situation, sojourning.

מוֹשָׁב

n.m — seat

מוֹשָׁב n.m. seat, assembly, dwelling-place, dwelling, dwellers

1.

a. seat

b. sitting = those sitting, sitting company or assembly

2.

a. dwelling-place of people, tribe, etc.

b. alm. = abstr. dwelling

c. = house

3. situation of city; location of image

4. time of dwelling

5. coll. = those dwelling

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