Feasts of Israel

The feasts of Israel are the appointed times God gave Israel to gather before him each year, from Passover in the spring to Tabernacles in the autumn. This page lists verses on the appointed feasts, each feast in turn, Purim, Jesus at the feasts, and the feasts in Acts and the letters.

The appointed feasts

• Leviticus 23:1-4
  ¹And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,Then the LORD said to Moses, ²Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.“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. ³Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.For six days work may be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of complete rest, a day of sacred assembly. You must not do any work; wherever you live, it is a Sabbath to the LORD. ⁴These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.These are the LORD’s appointed feasts, the sacred assemblies you are to proclaim at their appointed times.
  Show context · Read Leviticus 23 →
• Exodus 23:14-17
  ¹⁴Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.Three times a year you are to celebrate a feast to Me. ¹⁵Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty:)You are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread as I commanded you: At the appointed time in the month of Abib you are to eat unleavened bread for seven days, because that was the month you came out of Egypt. No one may appear before Me empty-handed. ¹⁶And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.You are also to keep the Feast of Harvest with the firstfruits of the produce from what you sow in the field. And keep the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather your produce from the field. ¹⁷Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord God.Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord GOD.
  Show context · Read Exodus 23 →
• Deuteronomy 16:16-17
  ¹⁶Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the Lord empty: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 of Tabernacles. No one should appear before the LORD empty-handed. ¹⁷Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee.Everyone must appear with a gift as he is able, according to the blessing the LORD your God has given you.
  Show context · Read Deuteronomy 16 →

Passover

• Leviticus 23:5
  In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord’s passover.The Passover to the LORD begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month.
  Show context · Read Leviticus 23 →
• Exodus 12:14
  And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.And this day will be a memorial for you, and you are to celebrate it as a feast to the LORD, as a permanent statute for the generations to come.
  Show context · Read Exodus 12 →
• Exodus 12:26-27
  ²⁶And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service?When your children ask you, ‘What does this service mean to you?’ ²⁷That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped.you are to reply, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when He struck down the Egyptians and spared our homes.’” Then the people bowed down and worshiped.
  Show context · Read Exodus 12 →
• Numbers 9:2-3
  ²Let the children of Israel also keep the passover at his appointed season.“The Israelites are to observe the Passover at its appointed time. ³In the fourteenth day of this month, at even, ye shall keep it in his appointed season: according to all the rites of it, and according to all the ceremonies thereof, shall ye keep it.You are to observe it at the appointed time, at twilight on the fourteenth day of this month, in accordance with its statutes and ordinances.”
  Show context · Read Numbers 9 →

Unleavened Bread

• Leviticus 23:6-8
  ⁶And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.On the fifteenth day of the same month begins the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD. For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. ⁷In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.On the first day you are to hold a sacred assembly; you are not to do any regular work. ⁸But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.For seven days you are to present an offering made by fire to the LORD. On the seventh day there shall be a sacred assembly; you must not do any regular work.’”
  Show context · Read Leviticus 23 →
• Exodus 12:15
  Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. On the first day you are to remove the leaven from your houses. Whoever eats anything leavened from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel.
  Show context · Read Exodus 12 →
• Exodus 12:17
  And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever.So you are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your divisions out of the land of Egypt. You must keep this day as a permanent statute for the generations to come.
  Show context · Read Exodus 12 →
• Deuteronomy 16:3
  Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste: that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life.You must not eat leavened bread with it; for seven days you are to eat with it unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you left the land of Egypt in haste—so that you may remember for the rest of your life the day you left the land of Egypt.
  Show context · Read Deuteronomy 16 →

Firstfruits

• Leviticus 23:10-11
  ¹⁰Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:“Speak to the Israelites and say, ‘When you enter the land that I am giving you and you reap its harvest, you are to bring to the priest a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest. ¹¹And he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD so that it may be accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath.
  Show context · Read Leviticus 23 →
• Leviticus 23:14
  And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.You must not eat any bread or roasted or new grain until the very day you have brought this offering to your God. This is to be a permanent statute for the generations to come, wherever you live.
  Show context · Read Leviticus 23 →

Weeks (Pentecost)

• Leviticus 23:15-17
  ¹⁵And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete:From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, you are to count off seven full weeks. ¹⁶Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord.You shall count off fifty days until the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the LORD. ¹⁷Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the Lord.Bring two loaves of bread from your dwellings as a wave offering, each made from two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour, baked with leaven, as the firstfruits to the LORD.
  Show context · Read Leviticus 23 →
• Leviticus 23:21
  And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.On that same day you are to proclaim a sacred assembly, and you must not do any regular work. This is to be a permanent statute wherever you live for the generations to come.
  Show context · Read Leviticus 23 →
• Deuteronomy 16:9-11
  ⁹Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee: begin to number the seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn.You are to count off seven weeks from the time you first put the sickle to the standing grain. ¹⁰And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the Lord thy God with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto the Lord thy God, according as the Lord thy God hath blessed thee:And you shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks to the LORD your God with a freewill offering that you give in proportion to how the LORD your God has blessed you, ¹¹And thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are among you, in the place which the Lord thy God hath chosen to place his name there.and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God in the place He will choose as a dwelling for His Name—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite within your gates, as well as the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widows among you.
  Show context · Read Deuteronomy 16 →
• Exodus 34:22
  And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year’s end.And you are to celebrate the Feast of Weeks with the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year.
  Show context · Read Exodus 34 →
• Acts 2:1
  And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.
  Show context · Read Acts 2 →

Trumpets

• Leviticus 23:24-25
  ²⁴Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.“Speak to the Israelites and say, ‘On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly announced by trumpet blasts. ²⁵Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord.You must not do any regular work, but you are to present an offering made by fire to the LORD.’”
  Show context · Read Leviticus 23 →
• Numbers 29:1
  And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work: it is a day of blowing the trumpets unto you.“On the first day of the seventh month, you are to hold a sacred assembly, and you must not do any regular work. This will be a day for you to sound the trumpets.
  Show context · Read Numbers 29 →
• Nehemiah 8:2
  And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month.On the first day of the seventh month, Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly of men and women and all who could listen and understand.
  Show context · Read Nehemiah 8 →

Day of Atonement

• Leviticus 23:27-28
  ²⁷Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord.“The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. You shall hold a sacred assembly and humble yourselves, and present an offering made by fire to the LORD. ²⁸And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the Lord your God.On this day you are not to do any work, for it is the Day of Atonement, when atonement is made for you before the LORD your God.
  Show context · Read Leviticus 23 →
• Leviticus 16:29-30
  ²⁹And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you:This is to be a permanent statute for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month, you shall humble yourselves and not do any work—whether the native or the foreigner who resides among you— ³⁰For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the Lord.because on this day atonement will be made for you to cleanse you, and you will be clean from all your sins before the LORD.
  Show context · Read Leviticus 16 →
• Leviticus 16:34
  And this shall be an everlasting statute unto you, to make an atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year. And he did as the Lord commanded Moses.This is to be a permanent statute for you, to make atonement once a year for the Israelites because of all their sins.” And all this was done as the LORD had commanded Moses.
  Show context · Read Leviticus 16 →
• Hebrews 9:7
  But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people:But only the high priest entered the second room, and then only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.
  Show context · Read Hebrews 9 →

Tabernacles

• Leviticus 23:34
  Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the Lord.“Speak to the Israelites and say, ‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the Feast of Tabernacles to the LORD begins, and it continues for seven days.
  Show context · Read Leviticus 23 →
• Leviticus 23:40-43
  ⁴⁰And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days.On the first day you are to gather the fruit of majestic trees, the branches of palm trees, and the boughs of leafy trees and of willows of the brook. And you are to rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days. ⁴¹And ye shall keep it a feast unto the Lord seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month.You are to celebrate this as a feast to the LORD for seven days each year. This is a permanent statute for the generations to come; you are to celebrate it in the seventh month. ⁴²Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths:You are to dwell in booths for seven days. All the native-born of Israel must dwell in booths, ⁴³That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.so that your descendants may know that I made the Israelites dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.’”
  Show context · Read Leviticus 23 →
• Deuteronomy 16:13-15
  ¹³Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine:You are to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress. ¹⁴And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates.And you shall rejoice in your feast—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite, as well as the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widows among you. ¹⁵Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the Lord thy God in the place which the Lord shall choose: because the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the works of thine hands, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice.For seven days you shall celebrate a feast to the LORD your God in the place He will choose, because the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that your joy will be complete.
  Show context · Read Deuteronomy 16 →
• Nehemiah 8:14-17
  ¹⁴And they found written in the law which the Lord had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month:And they found written in the Law, which the LORD had commanded through Moses, that the Israelites were to dwell in booths during the feast of the seventh month. ¹⁵And that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, Go forth unto the mount, and fetch olive branches, and pine branches, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written.So they proclaimed this message and spread it throughout their towns and in Jerusalem, saying, “Go out to the hill country and bring back branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and other leafy trees, to make booths, as it is written.” ¹⁶So the people went forth, and brought them, and made themselves booths, every one upon the roof of his house, and in their courts, and in the courts of the house of God, and in the street of the water gate, and in the street of the gate of Ephraim.And the people went out, brought back branches, and made booths on their own rooftops, in their courtyards, in the court of the house of God, and in the squares by the Water Gate and by the Gate of Ephraim. ¹⁷And all the congregation of them that were come again out of the captivity made booths, and sat under the booths: for since the days of Jeshua the son of Nun unto that day had not the children of Israel done so. And there was very great gladness.The whole assembly who had returned from exile made booths and lived in them. From the days of Joshua son of Nun until that day, the Israelites had not celebrated like this. And there was great rejoicing.
  Show context · Read Nehemiah 8 →
• Zechariah 14:16
  And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.Then all the survivors from the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD of Hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.
  Show context · Read Zechariah 14 →

Purim

• Esther 9:20-22
  ²⁰And Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters unto all the Jews that were in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, both nigh and far,Mordecai recorded these events and sent letters to all the Jews in all the provinces of King Xerxes, both near and far, ²¹To stablish this among them, that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly,to establish among them an annual celebration on the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar ²²As the days wherein the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day: that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor.as the days on which the Jews gained rest from their enemies and the month in which their sorrow turned to joy and their mourning into a holiday. He wrote that these were to be days of feasting and joy, of sending gifts to one another and to the poor.
  Show context · Read Esther 9 →
• Esther 9:26-28
  ²⁶Wherefore they called these days Purim after the name of Pur. Therefore for all the words of this letter, and of that which they had seen concerning this matter, and which had come unto them,Therefore these days are called Purim, from the word Pur. Because of all the instructions in this letter, and because of all they had seen and experienced, ²⁷The Jews ordained, and took upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined themselves unto them, so as it should not fail, that they would keep these two days according to their writing, and according to their appointed time every year;the Jews bound themselves to establish the custom that they and their descendants and all who join them should not fail to celebrate these two days at the appointed time each and every year, according to their regulation. ²⁸And that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city; and that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews, nor the memorial of them perish from their seed.These days should be remembered and celebrated by every generation, family, province, and city, so that these days of Purim should not fail to be observed among the Jews, nor should the memory of them fade from their descendants.
  Show context · Read Esther 9 →

Jesus at the feasts

• Luke 2:41-42
  ⁴¹Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover.Every year His parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. ⁴²And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.And when He was twelve years old, they went up according to the custom of the Feast.
  Show context · Read Luke 2 →
• John 2:13
  And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem,When the Jewish Passover was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
  Show context · Read John 2 →
• John 5:1
  After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.Some time later there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
  Show context · Read John 5 →
• John 7:2
  Now the Jews’ feast of tabernacles was at hand.However, the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was near.
  Show context · Read John 7 →
• John 7:37-38
  ³⁷In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and called out in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. ³⁸He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said: ‘Streams of living water will flow from within him.’”
  Show context · Read John 7 →
• John 10:22-23
  ²²And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.At that time the Feast of Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, ²³And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon’s porch.and Jesus was walking in the temple courts in Solomon’s Colonnade.
  Show context · Read John 10 →

The feasts in Acts and the letters

• Acts 18:21
  But bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem: but I will return again unto you, if God will. And he sailed from Ephesus.But as he left, he said, “I will come back to you if God is willing.” And he set sail from Ephesus.
  Show context · Read Acts 18 →
• Acts 20:16
  For Paul had determined to sail by Ephesus, because he would not spend the time in Asia: for he hasted, if it were possible for him, to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost.Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in the province of Asia, because he was in a hurry to reach Jerusalem, if possible, by the day of Pentecost.
  Show context · Read Acts 20 →
• 1 Corinthians 5:7-8
  ⁷Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:Get rid of the old leaven, that you may be a new unleavened batch, as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. ⁸Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.Therefore let us keep the feast, not with the old bread, leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and of truth.
  Show context · Read 1 Corinthians 5 →
• Romans 14:5-6
  ⁵One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.One person regards a certain day above the others, while someone else considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. ⁶He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.He who observes a special day does so to the Lord; he who eats does so to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.
  Show context · Read Romans 14 →
• Galatians 4:9-10
  ⁹But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?But now that you know God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you are turning back to those weak and worthless principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? ¹⁰Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.You are observing special days and months and seasons and years!
  Show context · Read Galatians 4 →
• Colossians 2:16-17
  ¹⁶Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:Therefore let no one judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a feast, a New Moon, or a Sabbath. ¹⁷Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.These are a shadow of the things to come, but the body that casts it belongs to Christ.
  Show context · Read Colossians 2 →

See also

• Passover
• Pentecost
• Sabbath
• Law of Moses
• Atonement
• Year of Jubilee

Notes

1. Verses are quoted in the translation chosen in the Translation menu at the top of the page. See Translations for sources and copyright notices.
2. Each reference links to the full chapter so the verse can be read in context.