The first day: that is, on the first day of the week of celebration, not the first day of the month or year. It is probably a good idea to make this explicit in translation; for example, “On the first of these days” (Good News Translation).

A holy convocation: see verse 3.

Laborious work: there is an additional word qualifying work here that is not found in verse 3 above but does occur later in this chapter in verses 8, 21, 25, 35, and 36. Some see it as referring to especially difficult work: “hard work” (An American Translation), “heavy work” (New Jerusalem Bible), “field work” (Moffatt). On the other hand, some scholars take it to mean ordinary occupations: “regular work” (New International Version), “daily work” (New English Bible and Good News Translation), “work at your occupations” (New Jerusalem Bible). Probably the latter is to be preferred. In this case some languages will have to say something like “the work that you usually do every day.”

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 .