And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the LORD your God.
Parallel translations
- WEB You shall do no kind of work in that same day; for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement for you before Yahweh your God.
- BSB On this day you are not to do any work, for it is the Day of Atonement, when atonement is made for you before the LORD your God.
- NKJV And you shall do no work on that same day, for it is the Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God.
- NASB You shall not do any work on this very day, for it is a Day of Atonement, to make atonement on your behalf before the Lord your God.
- NLT Do no work during that entire day because it is the Day of Atonement, when offerings of purification are made for you, making you right with the Lord your God.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
No work at all is to be done on the Day of Atonement, for it is the day atonement is made before Yahweh.
Overview
The total prohibition of work set this day apart as wholly devoted to atonement. By resting completely, Israel acknowledged that reconciliation with God was His work, not theirs. This rest from labor on the day of atonement beautifully foreshadows the gospel, in which we rest in Christ's finished work for our forgiveness (Hebrews 4:10).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Zech 3:9For behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua; upon one stone shall be seven eyes: behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.
- Lev 16:34And this shall be an everlasting statute unto you, to make an atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year. And he did as the LORD commanded Moses.
- Dan 9:24Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
- Heb 9:26For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
- Heb 9:12Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
- Heb 10:10By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
- Heb 10:14For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
- Rom 5:10–11For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
- 1 Jn 2:2And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
- 1 Jn 4:10Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
- 1 Jn 5:6This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.
- Isa 53:10Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Every sacrifice, every priest, and every day of atonement points beyond itself to the one perfect offering and the great High Priest who, by his own blood, makes the unclean holy once for all.
How Leviticus 23:28 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.