Leviticus 23:39
אַךְ בַּחֲמִשָּׁה עָשָׂר יוֹם לַחֹדֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִיעִי בְּאָסְפְּכֶם אֶת־תְּבוּאַת הָאָרֶץ תָּחֹגּוּ אֶת־חַג־יְהוָה שִׁבְעַת יָמִים בַּיּוֹם הָֽרִאשׁוֹן שַׁבָּתוֹן וּבַיּוֹם הַשְּׁמִינִי שַׁבָּתֽוֹן׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
אַ֡ךְ בַּחֲמִשָּׁה֩ עָשָׂ֨ר י֜וֹם לַחֹ֣דֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִיעִ֗י בְּאָסְפְּכֶם֙ אֶת־תְּבוּאַ֣ת הָאָ֔רֶץ תָּחֹ֥גּוּ אֶת־חַג־יְהוָ֖ה שִׁבְעַ֣ת יָמִ֑ים בַּיּ֤וֹם הָֽרִאשׁוֹן֙ שַׁבָּת֔וֹן וּבַיּ֥וֹם הַשְּׁמִינִ֖י שַׁבָּתֽוֹן׃
Καὶ ἐν τῇ πεντεκαιδεκάτῃ ἡμέρᾳ τοῦ μηνὸς τοῦ ἑβδόμου τούτου, ὅταν συντελέσητε τὰ γενήματα τῆς γῆς, ἑορτά. σατε τῷ κυρίῳ ζ΄ ἡμέρας· τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ πρώτῃ ἀνάπαυσις, καὶ τῇ ἡμέρα τῇ ὀγδόῃ ἀνάπαυσις.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
A quintodecimo ergo die mensis septimi, quando congregaveritis omnes fructus terræ vestræ, celebrabitis ferias Domini septem diebus: die primo et die octavo erit sabbatum, id est, requies.
“‘Así que el día quince del séptimo mes, después de haber recogido las cosechas de la tierra, celebrarán la fiesta de Yehová durante siete días. El primer día será de descanso absoluto, y el octavo día también será de descanso absoluto.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Empero á los quince del mes séptimo, cuando hubiereis allegado el fruto de la tierra, haréis fiesta á Jehová por siete días: el primer día será sábado; sábado será también el octavo día.
On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, after you have gathered the produce of the land, you are to celebrate a feast to the LORD for seven days. There shall be complete rest on the first day and also on the eighth day.
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse specifies the date of a festival — the fifteenth day of the seventh month — to be celebrated for seven days after the harvest of the land's produce has been gathered in. It further marks both the first and eighth days of this observance as a shabbaton ("sabbath observance", H7677).
Key words
- 'akh ("surely", H0389) — an adverb opening the verse, often marking emphasis or restriction, setting this instruction apart from what precedes.
- 'as.pe.khem ("your gathering", H0622) — qal infinitive with a 2nd person masculine plural pronominal suffix ("you all"), forming a temporal clause: "when you all have gathered."
- ta.Cho.gu ("you will celebrate a festival", H2287) — qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural, expressing a future/ongoing obligation applied to the group.
- chag- ("festival of", H2282) — masculine singular noun in construct state, linking directly to Yehovah (H3068) as "festival of Yehovah."
- sha.ba.Ton ("a sabbath observance", H7677) — masculine singular noun, repeated for both the first and eighth days, without the definite article, functioning as a predicate nominal ("[is] a sabbath observance").
What the text says
The verse opens with 'akh ("surely", H0389), an adverb that in Hebrew syntax often signals a shift or emphatic restriction relative to the preceding material. The date formula follows: cha.mi.Shah 'a.Sar Yom ("fifteenth day", H2568/H6240/H3117) la.Cho.desh ha.she.vi.'I ("of the seventh month", H2320/H7637). The temporal clause be.'as.pe.khem 'et-te.vu.'At ha.'A.retz uses the infinitive construct 'as.pe.khem ("your gathering", H0622) with the direct object marker 'et (H0853, untranslated) governing te.vu.'At ha.'A.retz ("produce of the land", H8393/H0776) — a construct chain meaning literally "produce of the land."
The main verb ta.Cho.gu ("you will celebrate a festival", H2287) is a qal imperfect second-person masculine plural, governing the object 'et-chag-Yehovah ("the festival of Yehovah", H2282/H3068), itself a construct phrase. The duration is given by shiv.'At ya.Mim ("seven days", H7651/H3117), a construct numeral phrase.
The final clause structures the first and eighth days in parallel: ba.Yom ha.ri.shOn shaba.Ton ("on the first day, a sabbath observance") and u.va.Yom ha.she.mi.Ni shaba.Ton ("and on the eighth day, a sabbath observance"). In both instances sha.ba.Ton (H7677) appears without a copula, functioning as a nominal predicate attached to the day in question.
Differences between versions
The LXX renders sha.ba.Ton (H7677) as ἀνάπαυσις ("rest"), a more general term than the Hebrew's specific festal-rest terminology. The Vulgate glosses it as sabbatum, id est, requies ("sabbath, that is, rest"), explicitly equating the two concepts. The LXX also omits a direct equivalent for 'akh ("surely", H0389), beginning instead with a simple conjunction "and" (Καὶ).
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.