Question:
Is counting the omer a tradition, or is it something we are to do? If we are to do it, how are we to do it?
Answer: (by Trent Wilde)1This was originally published in April 21, 2015 in The Silver Trumpet, Vol. 1, Nos. 10-11. This is a revision for online publication, created April 21, 2026.
The phrases “counting the omer” and “counting of the omer” refer to a tradition which basically states that on each day, from the offering of the omer (a portion of grain) until Shavuot (Pentecost), one is supposed to recite a blessing and state which “day of the omer” it is. So, for example, on the 9th day from the offering of the omer, one is supposed to recite the blessing and say, “Today is nine days, which is one week and two days of the omer.”2See the Counting of the Omer Wikipedia Article for more details and sources. Rabbinic and Messianic Jews usually connect this to some sort of spiritual preparation for Shavuot. Importantly, though, the passage from which this tradition is supposed to be derived actually doesn’t say to “count the omer” — the expression is a little strange since it seems to convey the idea of counting the omer itself (which is grain), when what the passage speaks of is counting the days. Moreover, the passage says nothing about reciting a blessing or stating how may days it has been since the omer was offered day by day. Here’s the text:
Leviticus 23:15-16
וּסְפַרְתֶּ֤ם לָכֶם֙ מִמָּחֳרַ֣ת הַשַּׁבָּ֔ת מִיּוֹם֙ הֲבִ֣יאֲכֶ֔ם אֶת־עֹ֖מֶר הַתְּנוּפָ֑ה שֶׁ֥בַע שַׁבָּת֖וֹת תְּמִימֹ֥ת תִּהְיֶֽינָה׃
And y’all should count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath (from the day when y’all bring the omer of the swinging)3“The swinging” refers to a type of offering in which the thing offered was swung before Yahweh. See Lev. 7:30. seven Sabbaths. They must be complete.
עַ֣ד מִֽמָּחֳרַ֤ת הַשַּׁבָּת֙ הַשְּׁבִיעִ֔ת תִּסְפְּר֖וּ חֲמִשִּׁ֣ים י֑וֹם וְהִקְרַבְתֶּ֛ם מִנְחָ֥ה חֲדָשָׁ֖ה לַיהוָֽה׃
Y’all should count up to the day after the seventh Sabbath; fifty days. Then y’all must bring a new offering near before Yahweh.
Unicode/XML Leningrad Codex: –
UXLC 2.5 (27.6), tanch.us
– Restated in North American
English (RINAmE)
As you can see, the passage simply says to count fifty days from the day the omer is presented, and then on the fiftieth day a new grain offering is to be presented to Yahweh. The verse simply does not say to count each day as each day goes by. The purpose of this passage is clearly to explain how to determine the date of Pentecost; it isn’t directing people to perform a recitation, or an act of counting, each day for 50 days. In light of this, we can’t regard the tradition of “counting the omer” as scriptural or something we have been instructed by Inspiration to participate in.
