And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days.

LEVITICUS 23:40KJV
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Leviticus 23:40 (KJV)

What does Leviticus 23:40 mean?

Leviticus 23:40 tells the Israelites to mark a seven-day festival with plants and rejoicing in the presence of the LORD their God. The verse joins things gathered from the land with a shared celebration.

God gives this instruction through Moses to the Israelites. The greenery includes palm branches, leafy branches, and willows from a stream. The phrase “before the LORD” places their rejoicing in the setting of worship.

The Hebrew behind Leviticus 23:40

  • “boughs” — פְּרִי (peri): The word often means “fruit” or “produce.” The KJV renders the phrase “boughs of goodly trees,” while the Hebrew wording helps explain why other translations refer to fruit from beautiful trees.
  • “branches” — כַּף (kaf): The word can mean the palm of a hand or a broad, flat part. Here it refers to palm fronds, whose spreading shape resembles an open hand.
  • “thick” — עָבֹת (ʿavot): The word carries the sense of being dense or thickly interwoven. It describes trees with abundant foliage, giving a picture of leafy branches.

Why Leviticus 23:40 matters

  • The plants are gathered at the start of the celebration, but the rejoicing lasts longer. The verse says to take the plants “on the first day” and rejoice “seven days.”
  • The festival also looks back to Israel’s journey after leaving Egypt. Verses 42–43 connect the seven days with living in temporary shelters and with God’s having made the Israelites dwell in shelters after he brought them out of Egypt.

Where else these words appear

“thick” Hebrew H5687 · used in 4 verses

  • Nehemiah 8:15 And that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, Go forth unto the mount, and fetch olive branches, and pine branches, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written.
  • Ezekiel 6:13 Then shall ye know that I am the LORD, when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars, upon every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they did offer sweet savour to all their idols.
  • Ezekiel 20:28 For when I had brought them into the land, for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to them, then they saw every high hill, and all the thick trees, and they offered there their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offering: there also they made their sweet savour, and poured out there their drink offerings.

“willows” Hebrew H6155 · used in 5 verses

  • Job 40:22 The shady trees cover him with their shadow; the willows of the brook compass him about.
  • Psalms 137:2 We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.
  • Isaiah 15:7 Therefore the abundance they have gotten, and that which they have laid up, shall they carry away to the brook of the willows.

“boughs” Hebrew H6057 · used in 7 verses

  • Psalms 80:10 The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars.
  • Ezekiel 17:23 In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell.
  • Ezekiel 36:8 But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel; for they are at hand to come.

“palm” Hebrew H8558 · used in 12 verses

  • Exodus 15:27 And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters.
  • Judges 1:16 And the children of the Kenite, Moses' father in law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which lieth in the south of Arad; and they went and dwelt among the people.
  • Psalms 92:12 The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.