Leviticus 23:5
in Leviticus 23The Passover to the LORD begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, is Jehovah’s passover.
KJV
In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord’s passover.
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This verse in Leviticus 23
Commentary
6 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
In these verses, the Passover, or Paschal Supper, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, are plainly spoken of as distinct feasts. See Exo 12:6, Exo 12:15, Exo 12:17; Num 28:16-17. Lev 23:5 See Exo 12:6. According to the Hebrew mode of reckoning, the 15th day of the month began on the evening of the 14th. The day of holy convocation with which the Feast of Unleavened Bread commenced Lev 23:7 was the 15th, and that with which it terminated was the 21st. Compare Num 28:16-
This site's exposition
These are the LORD’s appointed feasts
on Leviticus 23:4-6
The yearly dates open with two observances on consecutive days. The Passover is one evening, at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month, and Unleavened Bread is the week beginning on the fifteenth.
This site's exposition
begins at twilight on the fourteenth day
Albert Barnes reads the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread as distinct feasts, as Exodus 12 and Numbers 28 also treat them. Exodus 12:6 fixes the same hour. By the Hebrew reckoning the fifteenth, when verse 6 opens the feast, began on the evening of the fourteenth.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
In the fourteenth day of the first month,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
the Lord's passover--(See Ex 12:2, 14, 18). The institution of the passover was intended to be a perpetual memorial of the circumstances attending the redemption of the Israelites, while it had a typical reference to a greater redemption to be effected for God's spiritual people.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
The Lord’s passover - See this largely explained in the notes on Exo 12:21-27 (note).
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בַּחֹ֣דֶשׁ | bachodesh | [is] in the month | H2320 → | 284 times |
| הָרִאשׁ֗וֹן | harishon | <the> first | H7223 → | 182 times |
| בְּאַרְבָּעָ֥ה | bearbaah | on [day] four- | H702 → | 318 times |
| עָשָׂ֛ר | ʾasar | teen | H6240 → | 338 times |
| לַחֹ֖דֶשׁ | lachodesh | of the month | H2320 → | 284 times |
| בֵּ֣ין | bein | between | H996 → | 407 times |
| הָעַרְבָּ֑יִם | haarbayim | the evenings | H6153 → | 134 times |
| פֶּ֖סַח | pesach | a passover | H6453 → | |
| לַיהוָֽה׃ | layahweh | to Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
בַּחֹ֣דֶשׁ[is] in the month
bachodeshH2320 →284 times
הָרִאשׁ֗וֹן<the> first
harishonH7223 →182 times
בְּאַרְבָּעָ֥הon [day] four-
bearbaahH702 →318 times
עָשָׂ֛רteen
ʾasarH6240 →338 times
לַחֹ֖דֶשׁof the month
lachodeshH2320 →284 times
בֵּ֣יןbetween
beinH996 →407 times
הָעַרְבָּ֑יִםthe evenings
haarbayimH6153 →134 times
פֶּ֖סַחa passover
pesachH6453 →
לַיהוָֽה׃to Yahweh
layahwehH3068 →6520 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
4 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
Joshua 5:10On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while the Israelites were camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, they kept the Passover.
it leads to
- Exodus 12:6
You must keep it until the fourteenth day of the month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel will slaughter the animals at twilight.
- Numbers 9:1–5
In the first month of the second year after Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, the LORD spoke to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai:
- Ezekiel 12:6–16
And as they watch, lift your bags to your shoulder and take them out at dusk; cover your face so that you cannot see the land. For I have made you a sign to…
- Ezekiel 12:3
Therefore, son of man, pack your bags for exile. In broad daylight, set out from your place and go to another as they watch. Perhaps they will understand, though they are a rebellious house.
- Exodus 12:6
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies22
On this verse
On this chapter
About Leviticus
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; 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 Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.