The Three Feasts
Exodus 23:14-19
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Joshua
Judges
Ruth
1 Samuel
2 Samuel
1 Kings
2 Kings
1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
Ezra
Nehemiah
Esther
Job
Psalm
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Lamentations
Ezekiel
Daniel
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi
Matthew
Mark
Luke
John
Acts
Romans
1 Corinthians
2 Corinthians
Galatians
Ephesians
Philippians
Colossians
1 Thessalonians
2 Thessalonians
1 Timothy
2 Timothy
Titus
Philemon
Hebrews
James
1 Peter
2 Peter
1 John
Jude
Revelation
Exo.23.14 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- שלש: NUM,card,f,sg
- רגלים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- תחג: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- לי: PREP+PRON,1,sg
- בשנה: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- Exodus 34:23 (verbal): Repeats the command that each male must appear before the LORD three times a year — a near‑verbatim parallel prescribing the pilgrimage festivals.
- Deuteronomy 16:16 (verbal): Reiterates the obligation to appear three times a year (Passover, Weeks, Tabernacles) and specifies the males' required attendance — a restatement and legal development of the command.
- Leviticus 23:4 (structural): Frames the LORD's appointed festivals/holy convocations; provides the cultic calendar and context in which the three annual pilgrimages belong.
- 2 Chronicles 8:13 (thematic): Reports Solomon offering sacrifices three times annually at the major feasts — reflects historical/royal observance of the three pilgrimage festivals.
- Psalm 81:4 (thematic): Calls for blowing the trumpet at the appointed time and on our solemn feast day — echoes the cultic celebration and timing of Israel's festival seasons.
Alternative generated candidates
- Three times in the year you shall hold a festival to me.
- Three times you shall hold a festival to me in the year.
Exo.23.15 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- את: PRT,acc
- חג: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- המצות: NOUN,f,pl,def
- תשמר: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- שבעת: NUM,card,construct
- ימים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- תאכל: VERB,qal,impf,2,ms
- מצות: NOUN,f,pl,abs
- כאשר: CONJ
- צויתך: VERB,qal,perf,1,m,sg
- למועד: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- חדש: ADJ,m,sg,abs
- האביב: NOUN,m,sg,def
- כי: CONJ
- בו: PREP+PRON,3,m,sg
- יצאת: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
- ממצרים: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,abs
- ולא: CONJ
- יראו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- פני: NOUN,m,sg,cons
- ריקם: ADV
Parallels
- Exodus 12:15-17 (verbal): Commands to observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days and to remove leaven—closely parallels Exodus 23:15's instruction to eat unleavened bread and keep the seven-day festival.
- Exodus 34:18-20 (allusion): Repeats the observance of the Feast of Unleavened Bread 'for in this month you came out of Egypt' and links the festival to the Exodus; echoes both motive and ritual language of Exod 23:15.
- Leviticus 23:6-8 (quotation): Sets out the liturgical regulations for the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread (holy convocations, prohibition of leaven), paralleling the cultic prescription in Exod 23:15.
- Deuteronomy 16:3-4 (thematic): Instructs Israelites to eat unleavened bread for seven days and to remember the exodus—reiterates the same rationale and observance found in Exod 23:15.
- Deuteronomy 16:16-17 (verbal): Speaks of appearing before the LORD at the pilgrimage festivals and states 'no one shall appear before the LORD empty-handed,' directly paralleling the Exod 23:15 phrase about not appearing empty-handed.
Alternative generated candidates
- You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread; seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time of the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt; and none shall appear before me empty-handed.
- You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread; seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in it you came out from Egypt; and none shall appear before me empty-handed.
Exo.23.16 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- וחג: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- הקציר: NOUN,m,sg,def
- בכורי: NOUN,m,pl,cons
- מעשיך: NOUN,m,sg,abs+2ms
- אשר: PRON,rel
- תזרע: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- בשדה: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- וחג: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- האסף: NOUN,m,sg,def
- בצאת: PREP+VERB,qal,infc
- השנה: NOUN,f,sg,def
- באספך: PREP+VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
- את: PRT,acc
- מעשיך: NOUN,m,sg,abs+2ms
- מן: PREP
- השדה: NOUN,m,sg,def
Parallels
- Exod.34:22 (verbal): Repeats the same festivals — 'Feast of Harvest (firstfruits)' and 'Feast of Ingathering' — using nearly identical language, making this a close verbal parallel.
- Lev.23:10-11 (verbal): Prescribes the offering of the wave‑sheaf as the 'firstfruits' of the harvest, directly related to the 'firstfruits of your labors' mentioned in Exod 23:16.
- Lev.23:15-21 (structural): Gives the laws for counting the Omer and celebrating the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot), the festival associated with the harvest/firstfruits referenced in Exod 23:16.
- Deut.16:13-15 (thematic): Describes the Feast of Booths (Tabernacles) as a time of rejoicing at the ingathering of produce at year's end, echoing the 'Feast of Ingathering' in Exod 23:16.
Alternative generated candidates
- And the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your work, what you sow in the field; and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your work from the field.
- And you shall keep the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors, of what you sow in the field; and the Feast of Ingathering at the going out of the year, when you gather in your produce from the field.
Exo.23.17 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- שלש: NUM,card,f,sg
- פעמים: NOUN,m,du,abs
- בשנה: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- יראה: VERB,qal,perf,1,_,sg
- כל: DET
- זכורך: NOUN,m,sg,abs,poss:2ms
- אל: NEG
- פני: NOUN,m,sg,cons
- האדן: NOUN,m,sg,def
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Exod.34:23 (verbal): Nearly identical restatement of the command: ‘three times in the year shall all your men appear before the LORD,’ repeating the pilgrimage requirement.
- Deut.16:16 (verbal): Deuteronomic restatement of the instruction that ‘three times a year all your men shall appear before the LORD’ (adds the specification of the chosen place of worship).
- Lev.23:4 (structural): Lists the LORD’s appointed feasts (‘these are the appointed feasts of the LORD’), providing the festival framework (Passover, Weeks, Tabernacles) that underlies the three annual pilgrimages.
- Luke 2:41 (thematic): Describes Jewish practice of pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the festival (Jesus’ parents ‘went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover’), illustrating the ongoing observance of the pilgrimage command.
Alternative generated candidates
- Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord YHWH.
- Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord GOD.
Exo.23.18 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- לא: PART_NEG
- תזבח: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- על: PREP
- חמץ: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- דם: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- זבחי: NOUN,m,sg,suff1s
- ולא: CONJ
- ילין: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- חלב: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- חגי: NOUN,m,sg,suff1s
- עד: PREP
- בקר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Exod.34:25 (verbal): Nearly identical wording and command: prohibits offering the blood of the sacrifice with leaven and forbids leaving the sacrifice (Passover) until morning — a close verbal/legislative parallel.
- Exod.12:10 (structural): Passover instruction that none of the lamb may remain until morning (leftovers must be burned); parallels the prohibition against the sacrificial feast/fat remaining until morning.
- Deut.12:16 (thematic): Prohibits eating blood and prescribes careful handling of blood; thematically related to Exodus' concern about proper treatment of sacrificial blood.
- Lev.3:17 (thematic): Establishes a perpetual statute about not eating fat or blood in the dwellings of Israel; connects to Exodus' regulation about the fat of the feast and sacrificial blood.
- Acts 15:20 (allusion): The Jerusalem Council's requirement that Gentile converts abstain from blood echoes the Torah's prohibition(s) regarding blood — an early Christian application/allusion to the biblical bans on blood.
Alternative generated candidates
- You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened; and the fat of my festival offering shall not remain until morning.
- You shall not sacrifice the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened; and the fat of my feast shall not remain until morning.
Exo.23.19 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ראשית: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- בכורי: NOUN,m,pl,cstr
- אדמתך: NOUN,f,sg,cstr+2ms
- תביא: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- בית: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- אלהיך: NOUN,m,sg,prsuf-2ms
- לא: PART_NEG
- תבשל: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- גדי: NOUN,m,sg,cons
- בחלב: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- אמו: NOUN,f,sg,abs+PRON,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Exod.34:26 (verbal): Repeats the same pair of injunctions — bring the firstfruits to the house of the LORD and do not boil a kid in its mother’s milk (nearly identical wording).
- Deut.14:21 (verbal): Restates the prohibition against boiling a young goat in its mother’s milk within the Deuteronomic law code (same formulaic command).
- Lev.23:10-11 (structural): Prescribes the offering of the firstfruits (the omer) to the LORD and the priestly procedure for presenting grain — parallels the obligation to bring the first of the land to God’s house.
- Deut.26:1-11 (thematic): Sets out the ritual of bringing firstfruits to the priest with a declaration of gratitude — thematically parallel to the command to present the first produce to the LORD.
- Lev.27:30-33 (thematic): Affirms that the first and best of produce and certain animals are holy to the LORD and details rules for tithes/redemption — relates to the sanctity and obligation concerning first portions of the land.
Alternative generated candidates
- The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring to the house of YHWH your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.
- The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring to the house of the LORD your God; you shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.
Three times in the year you shall keep a feast to me.
You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread; seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in it you came out from Egypt; and none shall appear before me empty-handed.
You shall keep the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labor, what you sow in the field; and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your produce from the field.
Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord, YHWH.
You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened; nor shall the fat of my feast remain until morning.
The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring to the house of YHWH your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.