Verses 12-38 deal with the offerings during the Festival of Shelters and are largely parallel to Lev 23.33-43. Translators may begin a new paragraph here with a subheading (see the introductory comments on this section). Good News Translation‘s heading for these verses is “The Offerings at the Festival of Shelters.”

On the fifteenth day of the seventh month refers to five days after the Day of Atonement, so New Living Translation says “Five days later, on the fifteenth day of the same month.” Good News Translation places this time phrase later in the verse, but in many languages it will be more natural to begin with it, as in the Hebrew text and Revised Standard Version. For the seventh month, see verse 1.

You shall have a holy convocation: The Hebrew pronoun for you is plural, referring to the Israelites. For holy convocation, see 28.18.

You shall do no laborious work: See 28.18.

And you shall keep a feast to the LORD seven days: Keep a feast renders a Hebrew verb and noun from the same root (ch g g; see the comments on 28.17). The celebration in view here is the seven-day Festival of Shelters (Lev 23.34), followed by a solemn assembly on the eighth day (verse 36; Lev 23.36). This festival was held at the time of the autumn harvest. In remembrance of the years long ago when their ancestors wandered through the wilderness, the Israelites constructed rough shelters in which to live during the eight-day celebration. The Jewish name for this festival is Sukkoth (the Hebrew word for “shelters”). It will be helpful to give the name of this festival in translation since it would have been known to the original readers. In modern versions it is sometimes called “the Festival of Shelters” (Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation), but it is also known as “the Festival of Booths” and “the Festival of Tabernacles.” The specific rendering in the receptor language here will depend on the way in which this festival is translated in other contexts. If the name of this festival is not mentioned here, it will be important to include a cross reference to Lev 23.34. New International Readers Version renders this clause as “Celebrate the Feast of Booths in honor of the LORD for seven days,” which other languages may find helpful. Verses 13-38 devote a paragraph to each of the eight days of this festival.

Quoted with permission from de Regt, Lénart J. and Wendland, Ernst R. A Handbook on Numbers. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .