THE HEBREW CALENDAR 1 - 3

0. Introduction

a) A Hebrew month began in the middle of a month on our calendar today. Crops are planted in November and December and harvested in March and April.

Month 1: Nisan (Abib)

a) Today's calendar

i) March - April 

b) Bible reference: Exodus 13:4; 23:15; 34:18; Deuteronomy 16:1

i) ⁴ On this day you are going out, in the month Abib. (Exodus 13:4 NKJV)

ii) ¹⁵ You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread  - you shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt; none shall appear before Me empty. (Exodus 23:15 NKJV)

iii) ¹⁸ “The Feast of Unleavened Bread you shall keep. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, in the appointed time of the month of Abib; for in the month of Abib you came out from Egypt. (Exodus 34:18 NKJV)

iv) “Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night. (Deuteronomy 16:1)

c) Israel's holidays

i) Passover (Leviticus 23:5)

@1. ⁵ On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the Lord’s Passover. (Leviticus 23:5 NKJV)

ii) Unleavened Bread (Leviticus 23:6)

@1. ⁶ And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; seven days you must eat unleavened bread. (Leviticus 23:6 NKJV)

iii) Firstfruits (Leviticus 23:10)

@1. ¹⁰ “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest. (Leviticus 23:10 NKJV)

Month 2: Iyyar (Ziv)

a) Today's calendar

i) April - May

b) Bible reference: 1 Kings 6:1, 37

i) And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the Lord. (1 Kings 6:1 NKJV)

ii) ³⁷ In the fourth year the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid, in the month of Ziv. (1 Kings 6:37 NKJV)

c) Israel's holidays

i) Second Passover (Numbers 9:10-11)

@1. ¹⁰ “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘If anyone of you or your posterity is unclean because of a corpse, or is far away on a journey, he may still keep the Lord’s Passover. ¹¹ On the fourteenth day of the second month, at twilight, they may keep it. They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. (Numbers 9:10-11 NKJV)

Month 3: Sivan 

a) Today's calendar

i) May - June

b) Bible reference: Esther 8:9

i) ⁹ So the king’s scribes were called at that time, in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day; and it was written, according to all that Mordecai commanded, to the Jews, the satraps, the governors, and the princes of the provinces from India to Ethiopia, one hundred and twenty-seven provinces in all, to every province in its own script, to every people in their own language, and to the Jews in their own script and language. (Esther 8:9 NKJV)

c) Israel's holidays

i) Pentecost - Weeks (Leviticus 23:16)

@1. ¹⁶ Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord. (Leviticus 23:16 NKJV)