On the first day you are to hold a sacred assembly; you are not to do any regular work.
Parallel translations
- WEB In the first day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work.
- KJV In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
- NKJV On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it.
- NASB On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work.
- NLT On the first day of the festival, all the people must stop their ordinary work and observe an official day for holy assembly.
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
The first day of Unleavened Bread is a holy convocation on which no regular work is done.
Overview
The feast opened with a sacred assembly set apart from ordinary labor. Rest and gathering marked the day as devoted to God and the remembrance of redemption. Such rhythms of holy rest trained Israel to find their life in God, a foretaste of the rest believers have in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Lev 23:8For seven days you are to present an offering made by fire to the LORD. On the seventh day there shall be a sacred assembly; you must not do any regular work.’”
- Num 28:18–25On the first day there is to be a sacred assembly; you must not do any regular work.
- Lev 23:25You must not do any regular work, but you are to present an offering made by fire to the LORD.’”
- Lev 23:35–36On the first day there shall be a sacred assembly. You must not do any regular work.
- Lev 23:21On that same day you are to proclaim a sacred assembly, and you must not do any regular work. This is to be a permanent statute wherever you live for the generations to come.
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 23:7 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.