Said to Moses: see 4.1.

Say …: see 1.2.

Appointed feasts: the Hebrew word thus translated is used six times in this chapter. It is a technical term referring to special religious occasions in the Jewish tradition. In some languages there may be difficulty expressing the idea of “religious.” It may be necessary to translate “feasts for meeting God,” or “celebrations in honor of God,” or something similar. Some renderings in modern English versions are “fixed times” (New Jerusalem Bible), “fixed festivals” (Moffatt), “appointed feasts” (New International Version), and “solemn festivals” (New Jerusalem Bible).

These sacred occasions are further defined by the words as holy convocations (or special gatherings). This expression is also used in eight other places in this chapter. The noun convocations (or gatherings, or assemblies) may easily be rendered by a verbal expression meaning “to come together” or “to assemble.” And the adjective holy has been translated in Good News Translation by “for worship.” The whole expression is taken as a temporal clause in Good News Translation, “when the people of Israel are to gather for worship,” but most versions translate the idea contained in New Jerusalem Bible, “as sacred occasions.” In some languages one may have to express the idea of “worship” as “praying and learning about God.”

The text of this verse contains both The appointed feasts of the LORD and my appointed feasts. The meaning of the two is, of course, identical, and the rendering will be determined by the choice of direct or indirect discourse. Note that Good News Translation shortens and combines these two into one and makes the entire passage from verse 1 through 4 into an indirect quotation. The first person possessive pronoun my is to be retained only if this passage is translated as a direct quotation.

Quoted with permission from Péter-Contesse, René and Ellington, John. A Handbook on Leviticus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1990. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .