The Feast of Trumpets

23 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 24 “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, In ^lthe seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, ^ma memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation. 25 You shall not do any ordinary work, and you shall present a food offering to the Lord.”

The Day of Atonement

26 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 27 “Now ⁿon the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It shall be for you a time of holy convocation, and you shall afflict yourselves¹ and present a food offering to the Lord. 28 And you shall not do any work on that very day, for it is a Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. 29 For whoever is not afflicted² on that very day ^oshall be cut off from his people. 30 And whoever does any work on that very day, that person I will destroy from among his people. 31 You shall not do any work. It is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwelling places. 32 It shall be to you a Sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict yourselves. On the ninth day of the month beginning at evening, from evening to evening shall you keep your Sabbath.”

The Feast of Booths

33 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 34 “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, ^pOn the fifteenth day of this seventh month and for seven days is the Feast of Booths³ to the Lord. 35 On the first day shall be a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work. 36 For seven days you shall present food offerings to the Lord. ^qOn the eighth day you shall hold a holy convocation and present a food offering to the Lord. It is a ^rsolemn assembly; you shall not do any ordinary work.

37 ^s“These are the appointed feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim as times of holy convocation, for presenting to the Lord food offerings, burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each on its proper day, 38 ^tbesides the Lord’s Sabbaths and besides your gifts and besides all your vow offerings and besides all your freewill offerings, which you give to the Lord.

39 “On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have ^ugathered in the produce of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the Lord seven days. On the first day shall be a solemn rest, and on the eighth day shall be a solemn rest. 40 And ^vyou shall take on the first day the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and ^wyou shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days. 41 ^xYou shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It is a statute forever throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. 42 ^yYou shall dwell in booths for seven days. All native Israelites shall dwell in booths, 43 that ^zyour generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”

44 Thus Moses ^adeclared to the people of Israel the appointed feasts of the Lord.

You Must Be Ready

35 ^a“Stay dressed for action¹ and ^bkeep your lamps burning, 36 and be like men who are ^cwaiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and ^dknocks. 37 ^eBlessed are those servants² whom the master finds ^eawake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, ^fhe will dress himself for service and ^ghave them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. 38 If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! 39 ^hBut know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour ⁱthe thief was coming, he³ would not have left his house to be broken into. 40 You also must be ^jready, for ^kthe Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

41 Peter said, “Lord, ^lare you telling this parable for us or for all?” 42 And the Lord said, “Who then is ^mthe faithful and ^mwise ⁿmanager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time? 43 ^oBlessed is that servant⁴ whom his master will find so doing when he comes. 44 Truly, I say to you, ^phe will set him over all his possessions. 45 But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master ^qis delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and ^rget drunk, 46 the master of that servant will come ^son a day when he does not expect him and ^sat an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful. 47 ^tAnd that servant who ^uknew his master’s will but ^vdid not get ready ^uor act according to his will, will receive a ^wsevere beating. 48 ^xBut the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, ^ywill receive a light beating. ^zEveryone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.

Not Peace, but Division

49 ^a“I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! 50 ^bI have a baptism to be baptized with, and how ^cgreat is my distress until it is accomplished! 51 ^dDo you think that I have come to give peace on earth? ^eNo, I tell you, but rather division. 52 For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be divided, ^ffather against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

Interpreting the Time

54 He also said to the crowds, ^g“When you see ^ha cloud rising in the west, you say at once, ‘A shower is coming.’ And so it happens.