Leviticus 23:26-32, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Leviticus 23:26-32
The Day of Atonement requires rest and self-denial
The tenth day gathers, denies, and stops
On the tenth of the seventh month is the Day of Atonement: a holy convocation, affliction of souls, an offering made by fire, and no work at all. It is a day to make atonement before the LORD. Whoever is not afflicted is cut off; whoever works is destroyed from among the people in the text's own terms.
The day runs from even to even, a Sabbath of rest. Chapter 16 has already given the priestly rite. This calendar unit tells the people how to inhabit the same date: assembly, self-denial, and a complete work stop.
Self-denial has a floor
Affliction of soul must not become self-harm, coercive fasting, or a claim that those unable to fast because of illness, age, pregnancy, or poverty are faithless. The severity of the cut-off formula belongs to this statute. It is not a warrant to injure bodies in God's name.
How this should shape us
Keep a serious day of repentance without turning it into a contest of hunger or a judgment on people whose bodies cannot bear the fast. Rest and humility are the people's share; harm is not.
Teach it back
Explain Leviticus 23:26-32 in your own words. Include its ritual, legal, narrative, or calendar movement; one source-supported detail; one uncertainty; and one use the context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: Interpreters disagree over calendrical history, relationships among biblical festival lists, the counting of weeks, ritual details, the meaning of self-affliction, and later Jewish and Christian observance. The received sequence is clear enough to map while reconstructions and modern calendars remain distinct.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Leviticus 23:26-32, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, ritual and legal vocabulary, names, clause relationships, KJV language controls, and translation limits.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Lev.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 23:26-32
Supports: Unit-bounded translator notes on Hebrew, syntax, ritual vocabulary, measures, textual questions, and older-English wording; silence is not treated as evidence.
NET Bible Leviticus PDF, complete PDF pp. 1-99, translation and translator notes for 23:26-32
Supports: Open critical orientation to Day of Atonement, holiness, social law, calendar, land, release, covenant, and final valuations.
Yale Bible Study, 'Leviticus Part 2,' complete guide sections on Leviticus 16, the Holiness Code, love of neighbor, festivals, land, covenant, and vows, applied to Leviticus 23:26-32
Supports: Publisher-visible framing of scholarly disagreement about Hebrews and supersessionism, used as a restraint on Christian canonical claims rather than as a complete solution.
Church, 'Hebrews and the Question of Supersessionism,' Oxford 2024 official abstract and metadata, pp. 167-180
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: Leviticus 23:26-32, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Leviticus
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, ritual and legal vocabulary, names, clause relationships, KJV language controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Lev.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 23:26-32
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Leviticus with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
eBible.org distribution of the NET Bible, PDF generated 2025-12-31
Supports: Unit-bounded translator notes on Hebrew, syntax, ritual vocabulary, measures, textual questions, and older-English wording; silence is not treated as evidence.
Exact location: NET Bible Leviticus PDF, complete PDF pp. 1-99, translation and translator notes for 23:26-32
Open source ↗modern critical open study guide
Leviticus Part 2: Day of Atonement, Holiness Code, and Love of Neighbor
Joel S. Baden and Yale Bible Study
Yale Divinity School, 2023 course edition
Supports: Open critical orientation to Day of Atonement, holiness, social law, calendar, land, release, covenant, and final valuations.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study, 'Leviticus Part 2,' complete guide sections on Leviticus 16, the Holiness Code, love of neighbor, festivals, land, covenant, and vows, applied to Leviticus 23:26-32
Open source ↗modern christian scholarly handbook chapter abstract
Hebrews and the Question of Supersessionism
Philip Church
The Oxford Handbook of Hebrews and the Catholic Epistles, Oxford University Press, 2024
Supports: Publisher-visible framing of scholarly disagreement about Hebrews and supersessionism, used as a restraint on Christian canonical claims rather than as a complete solution.
Exact location: Church, 'Hebrews and the Question of Supersessionism,' Oxford 2024 official abstract and metadata, pp. 167-180
Open source ↗