Month

A thirty-day period of the year measured from one new moon to the next. There were twelve months in the year, with a thirteenth inserted periodically to bring the lunar calendar into line with the solar year. Early month names may have been linked with the seasons. After the exile, Babylonian names were adopted.

Months marked by the new moon

Numbers 28:11–14 Special sacrifices marked the first day of each month. See also Psalm 81:3; Isaiah 66:23; Ezekiel 46:6; Amos 8:5 No work was done on the first day of the month.

At the beginning of every month, you are to present to the LORD a burnt offering of two young bulls, one ram, and seven male lambs a year old, all unblemished, along with three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering with each bull, two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering with the ram, and a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering with each lamb. This is a burnt offering, a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the LORD. Their drink offerings shall be half a hin of wine with each bull, a third of a hin with the ram, and a quarter hin with each lamb. This is the monthly burnt offering to be made at each new moon throughout the year.

Months as periods of 30 days

Deuteronomy 21:13 The prescribed period of mourning was 30 days (a month). See also Numbers 20:29; Deuteronomy 34:8

and put aside the clothing of her captivity. After she has lived in your house a full month and mourned her father and mother, you may have relations with her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife.

The first month: Abib/Nisan

Exodus 12:2 Abib, meaning “young head of grain” was the Canaanite name for Israel's first month. Modern equivalent: March-April. See also Exodus 40:2; Numbers 9:1

“This month is the beginning of months for you; it shall be the first month of your year.

Feasts in the month of Abib

Deuteronomy 16:1 Passover celebrated on 14th Abib. See also Exodus 13:4, Exodus 23:15 the Feast of Unleavened bread (15th-21st); Leviticus 23:5–6 parallel Numbers 28:16–17; Leviticus 23:10–11 The first sheaf of barley was brought to the priest on 16th Abib.Nehemiah 2:1; Esther 3:7

Observe the month of Abib and celebrate the Passover to the LORD your God, because in the month of Abib the LORD your God brought you out of Egypt by night.

The second month: Ziv

1 Kings 6:1 Ziv was the pre-exilic name; the post-exilic name, Iyyar, does not appear in the Bible. Modern equivalent: April-May. See also 1 Kings 6:37; Numbers 9:11 A late Passover might be held on 14th Ziv; 2 Chronicles 30:13–15 Hezekiah's celebration of the Passover was in the second month.

In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, he began to build the house of the LORD.

The third month: Sivan

Esther 8:9 Modern equivalent: May-June. See also Exodus 19:1; Ezekiel 31:1

At once the royal scribes were summoned, and on the twenty-third day of the third month (the month of Sivan), they recorded all of Mordecai’s orders to the Jews and to the satraps, governors, and princes of the 127 provinces from India to Cush — writing to each province in its own script, to every people in their own language, and to the Jews in their own script and language.

Pentecost celebrated in the month of Sivan

Leviticus 23:15–16 on 6th Sivan

The fourth month: Tammuz

Ezekiel 1:1 modern equivalent: June-July; Ezekiel 8:14 Tammuz was a fertility goddess; her annual death was mourned in the month named after her.

The fifth month

Numbers 33:38 The name of the fifth month, Ab, does not appear in the Bible. Modern equivalent: July-August; 2 Kings 25:8

The sixth month: Elul

Nehemiah 6:15 Modern equivalent: August-September. See also Ezekiel 8:1; Haggai 1:1; Luke 1:26

So the wall was completed in fifty-two days, on the twenty-fifth of Elul.

The seventh month: Ethanim

1 Kings 8:2 Ethanim is the pre-exilic name; its Babylonian equivalent, Tishri, does not appear in the Bible. Modern equivalent: September-October.

And all the men of Israel came together to King Solomon at the feast in the seventh month, the month of Ethanim.

Feasts and sacred days in the month of Ethanim

See also Leviticus 23:23–24 parallel Numbers 29:1 The Feast of Trumpets (1st). This is celebrated today as the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah); Leviticus 23:27 parallel Numbers 29:7 the Day of Atonement (10th); Leviticus 23:34 parallel Numbers 29:12 the Feast of Tabernacles (15th-21st); Leviticus 23:36 Solemn Assembly (22nd)

The eighth month: Bul

1 Kings 6:38 Bul's post-exilic equivalent, Marcheshvan, is not mentioned in the Bible. Modern equivalent: October-November. See also 1 Kings 12:32–33 Jereboam offset Israel's religious calendar by one month. This is the alternative Feast of Tabernacles (15th); Zechariah 1:1

In the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, the eighth month, the temple was finished in every detail and according to every specification. So he built the temple in seven years.

The ninth month: Kislev

Zechariah 7:1 Modern equivalent: November-December. See also Nehemiah 1:1; Haggai 2:18

In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Chislev.

Hanukkah celebrated in the month of Kislev

John 10:22 the Feast of Dedication of the Temple (25th)

The tenth month: Tebeth

Esther 2:16 modern equivalent: December-January; Jeremiah 39:1

The eleventh month: Shebat

Deuteronomy 1:3 modern equivalent: January-February; Zechariah 1:7

The twelfth month: Adar

Esther 8:12 Modern equivalent: February-March. See also Esther 3:13, Esther 9:1

The single day appointed throughout all the provinces of King Xerxes was the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar.

Purim celebrated in the month of Adar

Esther 9:20–22 the Feast of Purim (14th-15th)