Leviticus 23:1-18

1The Lord said to Moses,

2‘Tell Israel's people about the special days when they must worship the Lord. They are holy days. The Israelites must come together and have a feast on these days.

3There are six days when a person can work. The seventh day is the Sabbath day. A person must not do any work on that day. It is a day when people meet together for worship. You must not work in any place where you live. It is the Sabbath to the Lord, a day of rest.

4There are other special days. They are holy feasts. On these days you must tell the people how to obey the Lord's rules.

5One special day is the 14th day of the first month. When the sun goes down, the Passover to the Lord begins.

6The 15th day of the first month, the Feast of Flat Bread begins. It is a feast to the Lord. For seven days the people must eat bread that has no yeast in it.

7On the first day the people must meet together and they must not work.

8For seven days the people must give burnt offerings to the Lord. On the seventh day they must stop work and they must worship the Lord.’

9The Lord said to Moses,

10‘Tell Israel's people this. They will go into the land that I will give to them. And then they will harvest the grain. They must take the first part of the harvest in their arms. They must give this to the priest.

11The priest will lift it to the Lord. Then the Lord will accept their gift. The priest will do this on the day after the Sabbath day.

12On the same day the priest will bring a young sheep that is perfect to the Lord. It must be one year old. It is a gift from the people.

13He will also bring two tenths (2/10) of an ephah (about 4 litres) of the best flour mixed with oil. He will burn the gift as a sacrifice. The smell of it while it is burning will give the Lord pleasure. The people must also give a ¼ hin (about 1 litre) of wine as a gift to God.

14The people must not eat any of the new grain until they have given their gift to God. They and their children must do this now and always. They must do it in any place that they live.

15On the day after the Sabbath day the people will sacrifice their gifts to God. After this, they must count seven weeks.

16They must count 50 days until the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then they must give another gift of new grain to the Lord.

17Each family must bring two loaves of bread as a special gift to the Lord. They must make the bread with two tenths (2/10) of an ephah (about 4 litres) of good flour and yeast. This gift is from the first of their harvest fruits.

18With the bread, all the people must bring seven perfect sheep. They must be males, each one year old. They must bring a bull. They must also bring two older male sheep. The priest will burn the grain and the animals as a gift to the Lord. The smell of them while they are burning will give the Lord pleasure.