Compare & Correlate · Measured
The feast calendar
The appointed days as three books of the law give them, and the New Testament days that fall on them. Leviticus and Numbers agree to the day; Deuteronomy names the feasts without numbering their days, and counts the fifty days from a different starting point. The New Testament column says only which day it was, in the words of the verse that says so.
Measured: Numbers the texts state. Stated, derived and unstated are drawn apart.
The feast calendar. Measured — the numbers are the texts' own; stated, derived and unstated are drawn apart.
Where the sources disagree: where the fifty days are counted from. Both are shown; neither is resolved.
- Leviticus 23:15 — from the morrow after the sabbath, the day the sheaf is waved
- Deuteronomy 16:9 — from when the sickle is first put to the standing grain
Where the sources disagree: which evening the last supper fell on. Both are shown; neither is resolved.
- John 19:14 — the day of preparation of the Passover — the lambs not yet killed
- Mark 14:12 — the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb
What this drawing chooses, that the text does not:
- The lanes are drawn apart. No verse here says how many days a month has, so the distance from the first month to the seventh is left undrawn rather than guessed.
- The fifty days are counted with the sheaf as day one. Leviticus 23:15-16 counts from the morrow after the sabbath to the morrow after the seventh; which sabbath is meant is the old dispute named in the sources, and the lane takes no side on it.
Sources:
- Hebrew days and numbers read off the verse cited beside each, and checked against the annotated corpus by tests/test_correlations.py (a stated cell must cite a verse holding a numeral and a unit of time); Greek references checked against SBLGNT for existence only.
- Which sabbath Leviticus 23:15 means was argued in antiquity — the Pharisees counting from the day after the first day of Unleavened Bread, the Boethusians from the Sunday after it (Babylonian Talmud, Menahot 65a–66a). The entry records the dispute and does not settle it.
Row by row
| Leviticus 23 | Numbers 28–29 | Deuteronomy 16 | The New Testament | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Passover | first month, fourteenth day, at twilightLeviticus 23:5stated | first month, fourteenth dayNumbers 28:16stated | in the month of Abib; no day givenunstated | the day of preparation of the PassoverJohn 19:14stated |
| Deuteronomy 16:1 names the month and not the day. The gospels disagree about which evening the meal fell on; both readings are below. | ||||
| Unleavened Bread | from the fifteenth day, seven daysLeviticus 23:6stated | from the fifteenth day, seven daysNumbers 28:17stated | seven daysDeuteronomy 16:3stated | these were the days of Unleavened Bread — Peter is arrestedActs 12:3stated |
| Deuteronomy 16:8 also says six days of unleavened bread and a solemn assembly on the seventh. | ||||
| The fifty days | count fifty days from the morrow after the sabbathLeviticus 23:16stated | the day of first fruits, in your weeks; no count givenunstated | count seven weeks from the first sickleDeuteronomy 16:9stated | when the day of Pentecost had comeActs 2:1stated |
| Numbers 28:26 names the day and gives no count. Pentecost is the Greek for fiftieth; Acts 20:16 has Paul hurrying to reach Jerusalem for it. | ||||
| The trumpet blast | seventh month, first dayLeviticus 23:24stated | seventh month, first dayNumbers 29:1stated | not among Deuteronomy's feastsunstated | no New Testament event is dated to itunstated |
| The Day of Atonement | seventh month, tenth dayLeviticus 23:27stated | seventh month, tenth dayNumbers 29:7stated | not among Deuteronomy's feastsunstated | the Fast was already over, and sailing was dangerousActs 27:9stated |
| Luke says only 'the Fast'. That it is the tenth day of the seventh month is the usual reading, not his words. | ||||
| Booths | seventh month, from the fifteenth day, seven daysLeviticus 23:34stated | seventh month, from the fifteenth day, seven daysNumbers 29:12stated | seven days, at the ingatheringDeuteronomy 16:13stated | the feast of Booths was nearJohn 7:2stated |
| The last day | seven days, then a holy convocation on the eighthLeviticus 23:36stated | on the eighth day, a solemn assemblyNumbers 29:35stated | seven days; no eighth day namedDeuteronomy 16:15stated | on the last day, the great day of the feastJohn 7:37stated |
| John does not say whether his last day is the seventh or the eighth, and this entry does not choose. | ||||
Where it appears in the text
- Leviticus 23 — the appointed feasts, each with its month and day
- Numbers 28 — the offerings for Passover and the day of first fruits, dated as Leviticus dates them
- Numbers 29 — the seventh month's feasts, day by day
- Deuteronomy 16 — the three pilgrim feasts, named without their days
In the app this comparison opens beneath each of those chapters. Open it in TheophilusBible.