Leviticus 23:4
in Leviticus 23These are the LORD’s appointed feasts, the sacred assemblies you are to proclaim at their appointed times.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
These are the set feasts of Jehovah, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their appointed season.
KJV
These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.
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This verse in Leviticus 23
Commentary
7 notes on this verseA commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Divine wisdom was manifested in fixing them at those periods; in winter, when the days were short and the roads broken up, a long journey was impracticable; while in summer the harvest and vintage gave busy employment in the fields. Besides, another reason for the choice of those seasons probably was to counteract the influence of Egyptian associations and habits.
This site's exposition
These are the feasts of the LORD
on Leviticus 23:4-6
Verse 4 begins the list again, and the annual dates open with two observances on consecutive days. The passover is a single evening, the fourteenth day of the first month at even, and the feast of unleavened bread is the week that runs from the fifteenth. Paul takes up the first of them plainly at 1 Corinthians 5:7, where Christ our passover is sacrificed for us, and he tells the Corinthians on that ground to keep the feast.
The record, by era
The Reformation1 voice
And surely it is plain that the Fourth Commandment had no other object or use except to exercise the people in the service of God; but since the killing of the lamb represented the grace of adoption whereby God had bound them to Himself, it was necessary to annex it to the First Commandment.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
These are the feasts of the Lord - Or rather, the solemnities: (for the day of atonement was a fast:) and so the word is used, Isaiah xxxiii, 20, where Zion is called the city of our solemnities.
These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations,.... What follow besides the sabbath mentioned: which ye shall proclaim in their seasons; the proper times of the year, the day or days, and month in which they are to be observed; these were to be proclaimed by the priests with the sound of trumpet, namely, what follow, for they are put together, which had been before for the most part singly delivered.
They were most of them times of joy and rejoicing. The weekly sabbath is so, and all their yearly solemnities, except the day of atonement. God would thus teach them that wisdom's ways are pleasantness, and engage them to his service by encouraging them to be cheerful in it and to sing at their work.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The recurrence of the sabbatical number in the five annual days of holy convocation should be noticed.
How the passage was read
On Leviticus 23:1-44On Leviticus 23:1-44
The year Israel keeps
This chapter is the calendar of the whole Jewish year, and every feast in it is still on the calendar today. In order: the weekly Sabbath; Passover and Unleavened Bread in spring (now kept as the seder meal and a week without leavened bread); Firstfruits (the first sheaf of barley waved before God); Weeks, in Hebrew Shavuot, fifty days later (Christians know the Greek name: Pentecost); then in autumn the Day of Trumpets (now Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, announced by the ram's-horn trumpet called a shofar), the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur, the great fast), and Tabernacles, in Hebrew Sukkot, when families still build and eat in leafy backyard booths for a week, remembering the wilderness.
So when the New Testament says Jesus or Paul went up for “the feast,” it means one of these appointments: the same calendar, kept for over three thousand years.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Sources: The Feasts of the LORD (this site's study of all seven) · Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 1:1 (the four new years)
The words behind it
9 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אֵ֚לֶּה | ʾeleh | these | H428 → | 746 times |
| מוֹעֲדֵ֣י | moadei | [are] [the] appointed feasts of | H4150 → | 223 times |
| יְהוָ֔ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| מִקְרָאֵ֖י | mikraei | convocations of | H4744 → | 23 times |
| קֹ֑דֶשׁ | kodesh | holiness | H6944 → | 469 times |
| אֲשֶׁר־ | ʾasher- | which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| תִּקְרְא֥וּ | tikreu | you will proclaim | H7121 → | 733 times |
| אֹתָ֖ם | ʾotam | <obj.> them | H853 → | 10935 times |
| בְּמוֹעֲדָֽם׃ | bemoadam | at appointed time their | H4150 → | 223 times |
אֵ֚לֶּהthese
ʾelehH428 →746 times
מוֹעֲדֵ֣י[are] [the] appointed feasts of
moadeiH4150 →223 times
יְהוָ֔הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
מִקְרָאֵ֖יconvocations of
mikraeiH4744 →23 times
קֹ֑דֶשׁholiness
kodeshH6944 →469 times
אֲשֶׁר־which
ʾasher-H834 →5497 times
תִּקְרְא֥וּyou will proclaim
tikreuH7121 →733 times
אֹתָ֖ם<obj.> them
ʾotamH853 →10935 times
בְּמוֹעֲדָֽם׃at appointed time their
bemoadamH4150 →223 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Leviticus 23:37These are the LORD’s appointed feasts, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies for presenting offerings by fire to the LORD—burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each on its designated…
it leads to
- Leviticus 23:2
“Speak to the Israelites and say to them, ‘These are My appointed feasts, the feasts of the LORD that you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies.
- Ecclesiastes 3:1
To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven:
- Leviticus 23:2
Through
Leviticus 23:2“Speak to the Israelites and say to them, ‘These are My appointed feasts, the feasts of the LORD that you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies.
it leads to
- Leviticus 23:37
These are the LORD’s appointed feasts, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies for presenting offerings by fire to the LORD—burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each on its designated…
- Hosea 2:11
I will put an end to all her exultation: her feasts, New Moons, and Sabbaths—all her appointed feasts.
- Numbers 29:39
You are to present these offerings to the LORD at your appointed times, in addition to your vow and freewill offerings, whether burnt offerings, grain offerings, drink offerings, or peace offerings.”
- Psalms 81:3
Sound the ram’s horn at the New Moon, and at the full moon on the day of our Feast.
- Exodus 23:14–17
Three times a year you are to celebrate a feast to Me.
- Leviticus 23:37
Through
Exodus 23:14Three times a year you are to celebrate a feast to Me.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 16:16
Three times a year all your men are to appear before the LORD your God in the place He will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast…
- Deuteronomy 16:16
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies10
About Leviticus
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.