Shabbat Hahodesh

This translation was taken from the JPS Tanakh

Ezekiel 45:16 – 46:18

Sepharadim begin with 45:18

¹⁶ In this contribution, the entire population must join with the prince in Israel.

¹⁷ But the burnt offerings, the meal offerings, and the libations on festivals, new moons, sabbaths — all fixed occasions — of the House of Israel shall be the obligation of the prince; he shall provide the sin offerings, the meal offerings, the burnt offerings, and the offerings of well-being, to make expiation for the House of Israel.

Sepharadim begin here 
¹⁸ Thus said the Lord God: On the first day of the first month, you shall take a bull of the herd without blemish, and you shall cleanse the Sanctuary. ¹⁹ The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering and apply it to the doorposts of the Temple, to the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and to the doorposts of the gate of the inner court. ²⁰ You shall do the same on the seventh day of the month to purge the Temple from uncleanness caused by unwitting or ignorant persons.

²¹ On the fourteenth day of the first month you shall have the passover sacrifice; and during a festival of seven days unleavened bread shall be eaten. ²² On that day, the prince shall provide a bull of sin offering on behalf of himself and of the entire population; ²³ and during the seven days of the festival, he shall provide daily — for seven days — seven bulls and seven rams, without blemish, for a burnt offering to the Lord, and one goat daily for a sin offering. ²⁴ He shall provide a meal offering of an ephah for each bull and an ephah for each ram, with a hin of oil to every ephah. ²⁵ So, too, during the festival of the seventh month, for seven days from the fifteenth day on, he shall provide the same sin offerings, burnt offerings, meal offerings, and oil.

Chapter 46
¹ Thus said the Lord God: The gate of the inner court which faces east shall be closed on the six working days; it shall be opened on the sabbath day and it shall be opened on the day of the new moon. ² The prince shall enter by way of the vestibule outside the gate, and shall attend at the gatepost while the priests sacrifice his burnt offering and his offering of well-being; he shall then bow low at the threshold of the gate and depart. The gate, however, shall not be closed until evening. ³ The common people shall worship before the Lord on sabbaths and new moons at the entrance of the same gate.

⁴ The burnt offering which the prince presents to the Lord on the sabbath day shall consist of six lambs without blemish and one ram without blemish — ⁵ with a meal offering of an ephah for the ram, a meal offering of as much as he wishes for the lambs, and a hin of oil with every ephah. ⁶ And on the day of the new moon, it shall consist of a bull of the herd without blemish, and six lambs and a ram — they shall be without blemish. ⁷ And he shall provide a meal offering of an ephah for the bull, an ephah for the ram, and as much as he can afford for the lambs, with a hin of oil to every ephah.

⁸ When the prince enters, he shall come in by way of the vestibule of the gate, and he shall go out the same way.

⁹ But on the fixed occasions, when the common people come before the Lord, whoever enters by the north gate to bow low shall leave by the south gate; and whoever enters by the south gate shall leave by the north gate. They shall not go back through the gate by which they came in, but shall go out by the opposite one. ¹⁰ And as for the prince, he shall enter with them when they enter and leave when they leave.

¹¹ On festivals and fixed occasions, the meal offering shall be an ephah for each bull, an ephah for each ram, and as much as he wishes for the lambs, with a hin of oil for every ephah.

¹² The gate that faces east shall also be opened for the prince whenever he offers a freewill offering — be it burnt offering or offering of well-being — freely offered to the Lord, so that he may offer his burnt offering or his offering of well-being just as he does on the sabbath day. Then he shall leave, and the gate shall be closed after he leaves.

¹³ Each day you shall offer a lamb of the first year without blemish, as a daily burnt offering to the Lord; you shall offer one every morning. ¹⁴ And every morning regularly you shall offer a meal offering with it: a sixth of an ephah, with a third of a hin of oil to moisten the choice flour, as a meal offering to the Lord — a law for all time. ¹⁵ The lamb, the meal offering, and oil shall be presented every morning as a regular burnt offering. 
Sepharadim end here

¹⁶ Thus said the Lord God: If the prince makes a gift to any of his sons, it shall become the latter’s inheritance; it shall pass on to his sons; it is their holding by inheritance. ¹⁷ But if he makes a gift from his inheritance to any of his subjects, it shall only belong to the latter until the year of release. Then it shall revert to the prince; his inheritance must by all means pass on to his sons.

¹⁸ But the prince shall not take property away from any of the people and rob them of their holdings. Only out of his own holdings shall he endow his sons, in order that My people may not be dispossessed of their holdings.

In addition, there is a special Torah reading for Shabbat Ha-Hodesh, which is reprinted below.

Exodus 12:1-20
¹ The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: ² This month shall mark for you the beginning of the months; it shall be the first of the months of the year for you. ³ Speak to the whole community of Israel and say that on the tenth of this month each of them shall take a lamb to a family, a lamb to a household.⁴ But if the household is too small for a lamb, let him share one with a neighbor who dwells nearby, in proportion to the number of persons: you shall contribute for the lamb according to what each household will eat. ⁵ Your lamb shall be without blemish, a yearling male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. ⁶ You shall keep watch over it until the fourteenth day of this month; and all the assembled congregation of the Israelites shall slaughter it at twilight. ⁷They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they are to eat it. ⁸ They shall eat the flesh that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs. ⁹ Do not eat any of it raw, or cooked in any way with water, but roasted — head, legs, and entrails — over the fire. ¹⁰ You shall not leave any of it over until morning; if any of it is left until morning, you shall burn it.

¹¹ This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly: it is a passover offering to the Lord. ¹² For that night I will go through the land of Egypt and strike down every first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and I will mete out punishments to all the gods of Egypt, I the Lord. ¹³ And the blood on the houses where you are staying shall be a sign for you: when I see the blood I will pass over you, so that no plague will destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

¹⁴ This day shall be to you one of remembrance: you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord throughout the ages; you shall celebrate it as an institution for all time. ¹⁵ Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; on the very first day you shall remove leaven from your houses, for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day to the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.

¹⁶ You shall celebrate a sacred occasion on the first day, and a sacred occasion on the seventh day; no work at all shall be done on them; only what every person is to eat, that alone may be prepared for you. ¹⁷ You shall observe the [Feast of] Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your ranks out of the land of Egypt; you shall observe this day throughout the ages as an institution for all time. ¹⁸ In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. ¹⁹ No leaven shall be found in your houses for seven days. For whoever eats what is leavened, that person shall be cut off from the community of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a citizen of the country. ²⁰ You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your settlements you shall eat unleavened bread.

Taken from Tanakh, The Holy Scriptures, (Philadelphia, Jerusalem: Jewish Publication Society) 1985.
Used by permission of The Jewish Publication Society. Copyright © 1962, 1992
Third Edition by the Jewish Publication Society.
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