month
cho.desh denotes a calendar month, used for numbered dates, measured durations, and new-moon occasions.
The term most often marks a calendar month as a dated division of a year or as a unit for measuring time; it also occurs in clauses concerning the new moon and its associated meal or observance.
Senses in use
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Calendar month in dates and durations · dominant
Singular forms mark numbered positions in the yearly calendar: in 1 Chronicles 27:2 the APB renders a division assigned "for the first month," while 1 Kings 6:1 places temple building in a named month identified as the second. Plural forms measure elapsed periods in 1 Chronicles 13:14, where the ark remained for "three months," and Ezekiel 47:12 describes fruit bearing "according to its months."
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New-moon occasion · occasional
In the singular forms of 1 Samuel 20:5 and 1 Samuel 20:24, the clause concerns the approaching or arriving "new moon" and the king's meal. In 1 Samuel 20:27 and 1 Samuel 20:34, the same calendar setting is specified as the second day, with David's empty place at the meal and Jonathan's refusal to eat.
In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB commonly presents the term with "month" or "months" in date and duration clauses, while in the Samuel passages it renders the calendar occasion as "new moon." These English expressions reflect the clauses’ presentation rather than a fixed one-to-one rendering.