Leviticus 23:21

(21).And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day. — This proclamation was made to the people by the priest with trumpet blasts.

Ye shall do no servile work. — For what constituted servile work, see Leviticus 23:7.

A statute for ever.... — See Leviticus 23:14; Leviticus 3:17; Leviticus 7:23. In accordance with this declaration, and with the fact that the Jews during the second Temple regarded it as the day on which the Decalogue was given, the Israelites to this day sacredly keep this festival on the 6th and 7th of Sivan, i.e. between the second half of May and the first half of June. From their circumstances, however, the harvest character of the festival is now subordinate, and more prominence is given to its commemorating the giving of the Law on Sinai. Still the synagogues and the private houses are adorned with flowers and odoriferous herbs. The male members of the community purify themselves for its celebration by immersion and confession of sin, and many of them spend all night in their respective places of worship.