It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest. — Rather, It shall be a sabbath of rest unto you, as the Authorised version renders it in Leviticus 16:31. It is most unaccountable why the translators varied this important formula, when it is exactly the same in the original in both passages. For the import of this phrase see Leviticus 16:31.
And ye shall afflict your souls. — Having set forth in Leviticus 23:30-31, and in the first clause of this verse, the duty of abstaining from all work, and of celebrating this day as a day of solemn rest, the law giver repeats the second feature of the day, which is of equal importance, viz., the fasting, lest some should think that doing the one and leaving the other undone would pass as having kept this law.
In the ninth day of the month at even. — In accordance with the ancient mode of counting the day, the tenth of the month began with the evening of the ninth. (See Leviticus 16:29.)
Celebrate your sabbath. — In Leviticus 25:2, where this phrase occurs again, the Authorised version inconsistently renders it keep... sabbath. In both instances, however, the margin has, “Heb., rest.” This alternative rendering of part of the phrase has no meaning. To convey to the English reader an idea of the Hebrew idiom here used, which was the intention of the translators, the whole phrase should have been translated, which is, rest the day of rest, that is, to “keep rest,” to “keep the day of rest.” Just as to “fast a fast” (2 Samuel 12:16; Zechariah 7:5) denotes “to keep a fast.” In 2 Samuel 12:16 the margin has consistently reproduced the Hebraism by remarking “Heb., fasted a fast.”