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On the first day there is to be a sacred assembly; you must not do any regular work.
Numbers 28:18 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB In the first day shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work;
  • KJV In the first day shall be an holy convocation; ye shall do no manner of servile work therein:
  • NKJV On the first day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work.
  • NASB On the first day there shall be a holy assembly; you shall do no laborious work.
  • NLT The first day of the festival will be an official day for holy assembly, and no ordinary work may be done on that day.

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 the feast was a holy convocation on which no regular work was done, set apart as sacred rest before God.

Overview

The feast opened with a holy assembly and a cessation from ordinary labor, marking the day as wholly the Lord's. Worship, not work, defined this sacred time. Such commanded rest pointed beyond itself to the rest from sin's labor that Christ secures for His people.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 2

  • Exod 12:16On the first day you are to hold a sacred assembly, and another on the seventh day. You must not do any work on those days, except to prepare the meals—that is all you may do.
  • Lev 23:7–8On the first day you are to hold a sacred assembly; you are not to do any regular work.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (4)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Numbers videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Numbers 28:18YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on NumbersMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

In the wilderness Christ is the water from the rock, the bronze serpent lifted up that the dying might look and live (John 3:14), and the star and scepter that Balaam saw rising out of Jacob.

How Numbers 28:18 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.