Leviticus 16:29-34

Final Directions. For the date, see above. The people are to afflict their souls, i.e. to fast; this, and the whole-day service, are the chief features of the modern Day of Atonement. It is also a Sabbath, i.e. no work is to be done, to secure leisure for the solemn import of the day. The solemnity of this occasion, when all the sins of the year not definitely atoned for before are got rid of, is natural to P. To the mass of the people it might otherwise have occasioned feelings of a very different kind.