Reference: Year
American
The Hebrews always had years of twelve months. But at the beginning, as some suppose, they were solar years of twelve months, each month having thirty days, excepting the twelfth, which had thirty-five days. We see, by the enumeration of the days of the deluge, Ge 7-8, that the original year consisted of three hundred and sixty-five days. It is supposed that they had an intercalary month at the end of one hundred and twenty years, at which time the beginning of their year would be out of its place full thirty days. Subsequently, however, and throughout the history of the Jews, the year was wholly lunar, having alternately a full month of thirty days, and a defective month of twenty-nine days, thus completing their year in three hundred and fifty-four days. To accommodate this lunar year to the solar year, (365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 47.7 seconds,) or the period of the revolution of the earth around the sun, and to the return of the seasons, they added a whole month after Adar, usually once in three years. This intercalary month they call Ve-adar. See MONTH.
The ancient Hebrews appear to have had no formal and established era, but to have dated from the most memorable events in their history; as from the exodus out of Egypt, Ex 19:1; Nu 33:38; 1Ki 6:1; from the erection of Solomon's temple, 1Ki 8:1; 9:10; and from the Babylonish captivity, Eze 33:21; 40:1. See SABBATICAL YEAR, and JUBILEE.
The phrase, "from two years old and under," Mt 2:16, that is, "from a child of two years and under," is thought by some to include all the male children who had not entered their second year; and by others, all who were near the beginning of their second year, within a few months before or after. The cardinal and ordinal numbers are often used indiscriminately. Thus in Ge 7:6,11, Noah is six hundred years old, and soon after in his six hundredth year; Christ rose from the dead "three days after," Mt 27:63, and "on the third day," Mt 16:21; circumcision took place when the child was "eight days old," Ge 17:11, and "on the eighth day," Le 12:3. Compare Lu 1:59; 2:21. Many slight discrepancies in chronology may be thus accounted for.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Now, Noah, was six hundred years old, - when, the flood, came, even waters on the earth.
In the six hundredth year, the year of the life of Noah. in the second month on the seventeenth day of the month on this day, were burst open all the fountains of the great roaring deep, and the windows of the heavens, were set open.
So shall ye be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, - So shall it become a sign of a covenant, betwixt me and you.
In the third month, by the coming forth of the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt, on this day, came they into the desert of Sinai:
And, on the eighth day, shall the flesh of his foreskin be circumcised.
and Aaron the priest went up into Mount Hor, at the bidding of Yahweh, and died there, in the fortieth year, by the coming forth of the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt, in the fifth month, on the first of the month.
Then, did Solomon call together the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, chiefs of the fathers of the sons of Israel, unto King Solomon in Jerusalem, - that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, out of the city of David, the same is Zion.
And it came to pass, at the end of twenty years, when Solomon had built the two houses, - the house of Yahweh, and the house of the king;
And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the tenth month on the fifth of the month of our exe, that there came unto me one that had escaped out of Jerusalem saying. Smitten is the city!
In the twenty-fifth year of our exe at the beginning of the year. on the tenth of the month in the fourteenth year, after the city was smitten, on this selfsame day, came upon me the hand of Yahweh, and he brought me thither:
Then Herod, seeing that he had been mocked by the wise men, was exceedingly enraged, - and sent and slew all the male children that were in Bethlehem, and in all its bounds, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had ascertained from the wise men.
From that time, began Jesus Christ to be pointing out to his disciples that he must needs, into Jerusalem, go away, and, many things, suffer, from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, - and on, the third day, arise.
saying - Sir! we have been put in mind that, that deceiver, said, while yet living, - After three days, will I, arise.
And it came to pass, on the eighth day, that they came to circumcise the child, and were calling it, after the name of its father, Zachariah.
And, when eight days were fulfilled for circumcising him, then was his name called, Jesus, - which it was called by the messenger, before he was conceived in the womb.
Easton
Heb shanah, meaning "repetition" or "revolution" (Ge 1:14; 5:3). Among the ancient Egyptians the year consisted of twelve months of thirty days each, with five days added to make it a complete revolution of the earth round the sun. The Jews reckoned the year in two ways, (1) according to a sacred calendar, in which the year began about the time of the vernal equinox, with the month Abib; and (2) according to a civil calendar, in which the year began about the time of the autumnal equinox, with the month Nisan. The month Tisri is now the beginning of the Jewish year.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And God said - Let there be luminaries in the expanse of the heavens, to divide between the day and the night, - and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years;
And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his likeness after his image, - and called his name Seth:
Fausets
shanah, a repetition, like the Latin annus, "year." Literally, a circle, namely, of seasons, in which the same recur yearly. The 360 day year, 12 months of 30 days each, is indicated in Da 7:25; 12:7, time (i.e. one year) times and dividing of a time, or 3 1/2 years; the 42 months (Re 11:2), 1260 days (Re 5:3; 12:6). The Egyptian vague year was the same, without the five intercalary days. So the year of Noah in Ge 7:11-24; 8:3-4,13; the interval between the 17th day of the second month and the 17th of the seventh month being stated as 150 days, i.e. 30 days in each of the five months. Also between the tenth month, first day, and the first day of the first month, the second year, at least 54 days, namely, 40 + 7 + 7 (oxen. Ge 8:5-6,10,12-13). Hence, we infer a year of 12 months. The Hebrew month at the time of the Exodus was lunar, but their year was solar.
(See WEIGHTS AND MEASURES, on P. Smyth's view of the year marked in the great pyramid). The Egyptian vague year is thought to be as old as the 12th dynasty. (See EGYPT.) The Hebrew religious year began in spring, the natural beginning when all nature revives; the season also of the beginning of Israel's national life, when the religious year's beginning was transferred from autumn to spring, the month Abib or Nisan (the name given by later Hebrew: Ex 12:2; 13:4; 23:15-16; 34:18,22). The civil year began at the close of autumn in the month Tisri, when, the fruits of the earth having been gathered in, the husbandman began his work again preparing for another year's harvest, analogous to the twofold beginning of day at sunrise and sunset. "The feast of ingathering in the end of the year" (Ex 23:16) must refer to the civil or agrarian year.
The Egyptian year began in June at the rise of the Nile. Hebrew sabbatic years and Jubilees were counted from the beginning of Tisri (Le 25:9-17). The Hebrew year was as nearly solar as was compatible with its commencement coinciding with the new moon or first day of the month. They began it with the new moon nearest to the equinox, yet late enough to allow of the firstfruits of barley harvest being offered about the middle of the first month. So Josephus (Ant. 3:10, section 5) states that the Passover was celebrated when the sun was in Aries. They may have determined their new year's day by observing the heliacal or other star risings or settings marking the right time of the solar year (compare Jg 5:20-21; Job 38:31). They certainly after the captivity, and probably ages before, added a 13th month whenever the 12th ended too long before the equinox for the offering of the firstfruits to be made at the time fixed. (See JUBILEE.)
In Ex 23:10; De 31:10; 15:1, the sabbatical year appears as a rest to the land (no sowing, reaping, planting, pruning, gathering) in which its ownership was in abeyance, and its chance produce at the service of all comers. Debtors were released from obligations for the year, except when they could repay without impoverishment (De 15:2-4). Trade, handicrafts, the chase, and the care of cattle occupied the people during the year. Education and the reading of the law at the feast of tabernacles characterized it (De 31:10-13). The soil lay fallow one year out of seven at a time when rotation of crops and manuring were unknown; the habit of economizing grain was fostered by the institution (Ge 41:48-56).
Israel learned too that absolute ownership in the land was Jehovah's alone, and that the human owners held it in trust, to be made the most of for the good of every creature which dwelt upon it (Le 25:23,1-7,11-17; Ex 23:11, "that the poor may eat, and what they leave the beasts," etc.). The weekly sabbath witnessed the equality of the people as to the covenant with Jehovah. The Jubilee year witnessed that every Israelite had an equal claim to the Lord's land, and that the hired servant, the foreigner, the cattle, and even wild beasts, had a claim. The whole thus indicates what a blessed state would have followed the Sabbath of Paradise, had not sin disturbed all. During 70 Sabbath years, i.e. 490, the period of the monarchy, the Sabbath year was mainly slighted, and so 70 years' captivity was the retributive punishment (2Ch 36:20-21; Le 26:34-35,43).
Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar exempted the Jews from tribute on the sabbatical year (Josephus Ant. 11:8, section 6, 14:10, section 6; compare 16, Section 2; 15:1, section 2; compare also under Antiochus Epiphanes, 1Ma 4:49); the institution has no parallel in the world's history, and would have been submitted to by no people except under a divine revelation. The day of atonement on which the sabbatical year was proclaimed stood in the same relation to the civil year that the Passover did to the religious year. The new moon festival of Tisri is the only one distinguished by peculiar observance, which confirms the view that the civil year began then. The Hebrew divided the year into "summer and winter "(Ge 8:22; Ps 74:17; Zec 14:8), and designated the earth's produce as the fruits of summer (Jer 8:20; 40:10-12; Mic 7:1).
Abib "the month of green ears" commenced summer; and the seventh month, Ethanim, "the month of flowing streams," began winter. The 'atsereth or "concluding festival" of the feast of tabernacles closed the year (Le 23:34). Both the spring feast in Abib and the autumn feast in Ethanim began at the full moon in their respective months. (See MONTH; SABBATICAL YEAR; JUBILEE.) The observances at the beginning festival of the religious year resemble those at the beginning festival of the civil year. The Passover lamb in the first month Abib corresponds to the atonement goats on the tenth of Tisri, the seventh month. The feast of unleavened bread from the 15th to the gist of Abib answers to the feast of tabernacles from the 15th to 22nd of Tisri. As there is a Sabbath attached to the first day as well as to the seventh, so the first and the seventh month begin respectively the religious and the civil year.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
In the six hundredth year, the year of the life of Noah. in the second month on the seventeenth day of the month on this day, were burst open all the fountains of the great roaring deep, and the windows of the heavens, were set open. (And it came to pass that the heavy rain was on the earth, - forty days and forty nights.) read more. On this selfsame day, entered Noah, and Shem and Ham and Japheth. Noah's sons, - and Noah's wife, and his sons' three wives with them into the ark: they, and all the wild-beasts after their kind and all the tame-beasts after their kind, and all the creeping things that creep on the earth after their kind, - and all the birds after their kind, every bird of every wing. So they entered in unto Noah, into the ark, - two and two of all flesh, wherein was the spirit of life. And, they that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered, as God commanded him, - and Yahweh shut him in round about. And it came to pass, that the flood was forty days on the earth, - and the waters increased and bare up the ark, and it was lifted high above the earth, And the waters prevailed and increased greatly, on the earth, - and the ark went its way on the face of the waters. Yea the waters, prevailed very greatly, on the earth, - so that all the high mountains became covered, that were under all the heavens: fifteen cubits upwards, prevailed the waters, so that the mountains became covered. And all flesh ceased to breathe that moved on the earth, of birds and of tame-beasts and of wild-beasts, and of all the swarming things that swarm on the earth, - land all mankind. All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life of all that were on the dry ground died. Thus was wiped out all that existed on the face of the ground, from man unto beast unto creeping thing, and unto the bird of the heavens, thus were they wiped out from the earth, - so that there was left - only Noah and they that were with him in the ark. Thus prevailed the waters on the earth, - a hundred and fifty days.
and the waters returned from off the earth they went on returning, - and so the waters decreased at the end of a hundred and fifty days. And the ark rested, in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, - on the mountains of Ararat. read more. But, the waters went on decreasing, until the tenth month, - in the tenth month , on the first of the month, were seen the tops of the mountains. And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made;
Then stayed he yet seven days more, - and, again sent forth the dove out of the ark.
And he stayed yet seven days more, - and sent forth the dove, but she returned not again unto him any more. So it came to pass in the six hundred and first year at the beginning, on the first of the month, that the waters had dried up from off the earth, - and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked and lo! the face of the ground was dried.
So it came to pass in the six hundred and first year at the beginning, on the first of the month, that the waters had dried up from off the earth, - and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked and lo! the face of the ground was dried.
During all the days of the earth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease.
And he gathered up all the food of the seven years in which there was plenty in the land of Egypt, and laid up food in cities - the food of the fields of the city. which were round about it, laid he up within it. Thus did Joseph heap up corn like the sand of the sea making it exceeding abundant, - until one hath left off reckoning, because it cannot be reckoned. read more. Now to Joseph, were born two sons, ere yet came in the year of famine, - whom Asenath daughter of Poti-phera priest of On, bare to him. And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh, - For God hath made me forget all my trouble, and all the house of my father. And, the name of the second, called he Ephraim, For God hath made me fruitful in the land of my humiliation. Then came to an end the seven years of the plenty, - which was in the land of Egypt; and the seven years of famine began to come in, according as Joseph had said, - and it came to pass that there was a famine in all the lands, but in all the land of Egypt, there was bread. Yet was famine felt in all the land of Egypt, and the people made outcry; unto Pharaoh for bread, - and Pharaoh said to all Egypt, - Go ye unto Joseph, that which he saith to you, shall ye do. Now, the famine, was over all the face of the land, - so Joseph opened all places wherein it was and sold corn to the Egyptians, and the famine laid fast hold of the land of Egypt.
This month, is, to you, a beginning of months, - the first, it is, to you, of the months of the year.
And six years, shalt thou sow thy land, - and shalt gather the yield thereof; but the seventh year, shalt thou let it rest and be still so shall the needy of thy people eat, and what they leave, shall the wild-beast of the field eat, - in like manner, shalt thou deal with thy vineyard with thine oliveyard.
The festival of unleavened cakes, shalt thou keep, - seven days, shalt thou eat unleavened cakes, as I commanded thee at the appointed time of the month Abib; for, therein, camest thou forth out of Egypt, - and they shall not see my face, empty-handed. And the festival of harvest with the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou shalt sow in the field, And the festival of ingathering - at the outgoing of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.
And the festival of harvest with the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou shalt sow in the field, And the festival of ingathering - at the outgoing of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.
The festival of unleavened cakes, shalt thou keep, seven days, shalt thou eat unleavened cakes, which I commanded thee, at the set time, in the month Abib, - for in the month Abib, camest thou forth out of Egypt.
And the festival of weeks, shalt thou make to thee, the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, - and the festival of ingathering, at the closing in of the year:
Speak unto the sons of Israel, saying: - On the fifteenth day of this seventh month, shall be the festival of booths, for seven days, unto Yahweh.
And Yahweh spake unto Moses in Mount Sinai, saying - Speak unto the sons of Israel, and thou shalt say unto them: - When ye enter into the land which, I, am giving you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto Yahweh. read more. Six years, shalt thou sow thy field, and, six years, shalt thou prune thy vineyard, - and gather the increase thereof; but, in the seventh year - a sabbath of sacred rest, shall there be unto the land, a sabbath unto Yahweh: thy field, shalt thou not sow, and, thy vineyard, shalt thou not prune; that which groweth of itself of thy harvest, shalt thou not reap; and the grapes of thine unpruned vines, shalt thou not cut off: a year of sacred rest, shall there be to the land. So shall the sabbath of the land be unto you for food: unto thee, and unto thy servant and unto thy handmaid, - and unto thy hireling, and unto thy settlers that are sojourning with thee; and unto thy tame-beasts, and unto the wild-beasts that are in thy land, shall belong all the increase thereof for food.
Then shalt thou cause a signal-horn to pass through in the seventh month, on the tenth of the month: on the Day of Propitiation, shall ye cause a horn to pass throughout all your land. So shall ye hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim freedom throughout the land to all the dwellers thereof, - a jubilee, shall it be unto you, and ye shall return, every man unto his possession, and every man unto his family, shall ye return. read more. A jubilee, shall that fiftieth year be unto you, - ye shall not sow, neither shall ye reap the self-grown corn thereof, nor cut off the grapes of the unpruned vines thereof.
A jubilee, shall that fiftieth year be unto you, - ye shall not sow, neither shall ye reap the self-grown corn thereof, nor cut off the grapes of the unpruned vines thereof. For, a jubilee, it is, holy, shall it be unto you, - out of the field, shall ye eat her increase.
For, a jubilee, it is, holy, shall it be unto you, - out of the field, shall ye eat her increase. In this same jubilee year, shall ye return every man unto his possession.
In this same jubilee year, shall ye return every man unto his possession. And when ye sell anything to thy neighbour, or buy aught at thy neighbour's hand, do not overreach one another.
And when ye sell anything to thy neighbour, or buy aught at thy neighbour's hand, do not overreach one another. By the number of years after the jubilee, shalt thou buy of thy neighbour, - by the number of the years of increase, shall he sell unto thee;
By the number of years after the jubilee, shalt thou buy of thy neighbour, - by the number of the years of increase, shall he sell unto thee; according to the multitude of the years, shalt thou increase the price thereof, and, according to the fewness of the years, shalt thou diminish the price thereof, - because the sum of the increase, it is that he selleth thee.
according to the multitude of the years, shalt thou increase the price thereof, and, according to the fewness of the years, shalt thou diminish the price thereof, - because the sum of the increase, it is that he selleth thee. So then ye shall not overreach one another; but thou shalt stand in awe of thy God, - for, I - Yahweh, am your God.
So then ye shall not overreach one another; but thou shalt stand in awe of thy God, - for, I - Yahweh, am your God.
The land moreover shall not be sold beyond recovery, for, mine, is the land, - for, sojourners and settlers, ye are with me.
Then, shall the land be paid her sabbaths, All the days she lieth desolate, While, ye, are in the land of your fees, - Then, shall the land keep sabbath, And pay off her sabbaths: All the days she lieth desolate, shall she keep sabbath, - the which she kept not as your sabbaths, - while ye dwelt thereupon.
For, the land, shall be left of them, And shall be paid her sabbaths, while she lieth desolate without them, They also, accepting, as a payment, the punishment of their iniquity, Because, yea because, my regulations, they refused, And my statutes, their soul abhorred.
At the end of seven years, shalt thou make a release. And, this, shall be the manner of the release, Every creditor who lendeth aught to his neighbour, his hand shall release it, - he shall not exact it of his neighbour or his brother, because there hath been proclaimed a release unto Yahweh. read more. Of a foreigner, thou mayest exact it, - but, what thou hast with thy brother, thy hand shall release; save, when there shall be among you no needy person, - for Yahweh will indeed bless, thee, in the land which Yahweh thy God is giving unto thee as an inheritance to possess it:
And Moses commanded them, saying, - At the end of seven years in the appointed season of the year of release, during the festival of booths;
And Moses commanded them, saying, - At the end of seven years in the appointed season of the year of release, during the festival of booths; when all Israel cometh in to see the face of Yahweh thy God, in the place which he shall choose, thou shalt lead this law before all Israel, in their hearing. read more. Call together the people - the men and the women and the little ones, and thy sojourner who is within thy gates, - that they may hear, and that they may learn, so shall they revere Yahweh your God, and observe to do all the words of this law; and that their children who know not, may hear and learn, that they may revere Yahweh your God, - all the days that ye are living upon the soil, which ye are passing over the Jordan to possess.
From heaven, was the battle fought, - The stars in their courses, fought against Sisera. The torrent of Kishon, swept them away, the torrent of olden times, the torrent of Kishon! Let my soul march along, with victorious strength!
and he exiled the remnant left from the sword, into Babylon, - where they became his and his sons, as servants, until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: to fulfil the word of God, by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had paid off her sabbaths, - all the days of her lying desolate, she kept sabbath, to fulfil seventy years.
Canst thou bind the fetters of the Pleiades? Or, the bands of Orion, canst thou unloose?
Thou, didst set up all the bounds of the earth, As for summer and winter, thou, didst form them!
The harvest is passed, The fruit-gathering, is ended; And we are not saved!
But as for me, behold me! remaining in Mizpah, to stand before the Chaldeans who may come unto us, Ye, however, gather ye wine and summer fruits and oil, and put them in your vessels, and dwell in your reties which ye have seized. Likewise also, all the Jews, who were in Moab and among the sons of Ammon and in Edom and who were in any of the lands, when they heard that the king of Babylon had granted a remnant to Judah, and that he had set in charge over them Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan, read more. yea, then returned all the Jews out of all the places whither they had been driven, and came into the land of Judah unto Gedaliah, in Mizpah, - and gathered wine and summer fruits in great abundance.
and, words against the Most High, will he speak, and, the holy ones of the Highest, will he afflict, - and will hope to change times and law, and they will be given into his hand, for a season and seasons and the dividing of a season,
And I heard the man clothed with linen who was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left unto the heavens, and sware by him that liveth unto times age-abiding, - For a set time and times and a half, and, when the dispersion of a part of the holy people, is brought to an end, then shall come to an end all these things.
Alas for me! for I am become as gatherings of summer fruit, as gleaning-grapes in harvest, there is no cluster to eat, the first ripe fruit, my soul, craved.
And it shall come to pass, in that day, that there shall go forth living waters out of Jerusalem, half of them unto the sea before, and half of them unto the sea behind, in summer and in winter, shall it he.
And, no one, was able, in heaven, or on earth, or under the earth, to open the scroll, or, to look thereon.
and, the court that is outside the Sanctuary, cast thou outside, and do not measure, it, because it hath been given unto the nations, and, the holy city, shall they tread under foot, forty and two months.
And, the woman, fled into the desert, where she hath a place prepared of God, that, there, they should nourish her a thousand, two hundred, and sixty days.
Hastings
Morish
Under the word MONTHS it has been stated that the Jews reckoned the months to consist alternately of twenty-nine and thirty days, being therefore in twelve months eleven and a quarter days short of the year. To remedy this an additional month was added about every three years. In the various data given for the last half of the last of Daniel's Seventy Weeks, it will be seen that all the months are reckoned as having thirty days; thus 'a time, times, and a half' in Da 12:7 and Re 12:14 point out three and a half years: this period is again called forty two months in Re 11:2; 13:5; and again twelve hundred and sixty days in Re 11:3; 12:6. The prophetic year may therefore be called three hundred and sixty days. See MONTHS and SEASONS.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And I heard the man clothed with linen who was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left unto the heavens, and sware by him that liveth unto times age-abiding, - For a set time and times and a half, and, when the dispersion of a part of the holy people, is brought to an end, then shall come to an end all these things.
and, the court that is outside the Sanctuary, cast thou outside, and do not measure, it, because it hath been given unto the nations, and, the holy city, shall they tread under foot, forty and two months. And I will give unto my two witnesses, that they shall prophesy, a thousand two hundred and sixty days, arrayed in sackcloth.
And, the woman, fled into the desert, where she hath a place prepared of God, that, there, they should nourish her a thousand, two hundred, and sixty days.
And there were given unto the woman the two wings of the great eagle, that she might fly into the desert, into her place, - where she is nourished, a season and seasons and half a season, from the face of the serpent.
And there was given unto him, a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and it was given unto him to act, forty and two months.
Smith
Year,
the highest ordinary division of time. Two years were known to, and apparently used by, the Hebrews.
1. A year of 360 days appears to have been in use in Noah's time.
2. The year used by the Hebrews from the time of the exodus may: be said to have been then instituted, since a current month, Abib, on the 14th day of which the first Passover was kept, was then made the first month of the year. The essential characteristics of this year can be clearly determined, though we cannot fix those of any single year. It was essentially solar for the offering of productions of the earth, first-fruits, harvest produce and ingathered fruits, was fixed to certain days of the year, two of which were in the periods of great feasts, the third itself a feast reckoned from one of the former days. But it is certain that the months were lunar, each commencing with a new moon. There must therefore have been some method of adjustment. The first point to be decided is how the commencement of each gear was fixed. Probably the Hebrews determined their new year's day by the observation of heliacal or other star-risings or settings known to mark the right time of the solar year. It follows, from the determination of the proper new moon of the first month, whether by observation of a stellar phenomenon or of the forwardness of the crops, that the method of intercalation can only have been that in use after the captivity, --the addition of a thirteenth month whenever the twelfth ended too long before the equinox for the offering of the first-fruits to be made at the time fixed. The later Jews had two commencements of the year, whence it is commonly but inaccurately said that they had two years, the sacred year and the civil. We prefer to speak of the sacred and civil reckonings. The sacred reckoning was that instituted at the exodus, according to which the first month was Abib; by the civil reckoning the first month was the seventh. The interval between the two commencements was thus exactly half a year. It has been supposed that the institution at the time of the exodus was a change of commencement, not the introduction of a new year, and that thenceforward the year had two beginnings, respectively at about the vernal and the autumnal equinox. The year was divided into --
1. Seasons. Two seasons are mentioned in the Bible, "summer" and "winter." The former properly means the time of cutting fruits, the latter that, of gathering fruits; they are therefore originally rather summer and autumn than summer and winter. But that they signify ordinarily the two grand divisions of the year, the warm and cold seasons, is evident from their use for the whole year in the expression "summer and winter."
2. Months. [MONTHS]
3. Weeks. [WEEKS]
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Thou, didst set up all the bounds of the earth, As for summer and winter, thou, didst form them!
And, if the family of Egypt shall not come up, and shall not enter in, upon whom there falleth none, then shall smite them the plague wherewith Yahweh, did plague, the nations, because they came not up to celebrate the festival of booths.
Watsons
YEAR. The Hebrews had always years, of twelve months each. But at the beginning, and in the time of Moses, these were solar years, of twelve months; each having thirty days, except the twelfth, which had thirty-five. We see, by the reckoning that Moses gives us of the days of the deluge, Genesis vii, that the Hebrew year consisted of three hundred and sixty-five days. It is supposed that they had an intercalary month at the end of one hundred and twenty years; at which time the beginning of their year would be out of its place full thirty days. But it must be owned, that no mention is made in Scripture of the thirteenth month, or of any intercalation. It is not improbable that Moses retained the order of the Egyptian year, since he himself came out of Egypt, was born in that country, had been instructed and brought up there, and since the people of Israel, whose chief he was, had been for a long time accustomed to this kind of year. But the Egyptian year was solar, and consisted of twelve months of thirty days each, and that for a very long time before. After the time of Alexander the Great, and the reign of the Grecians in Asia, the Jews reckoned by lunar months, chiefly in what related to religion, and the order of the festivals. St. John, in his Re 11:2-3; 12:6,14; 13:5, assigns but twelve hundred and sixty days to three years and a half, and consequently just thirty days to every month, and just three hundred and sixty days to every year. Maimonides tells us, that the years of the Jews were solar, and their months lunar. Since the completing of the Talmud, they have made use of years that are purely lunar, having alternately a full month of thirty days, and then a defective month of twenty-nine days. And to accommodate this lunar year to the course of the sun, at the end of three years their intercalate a whole month after Adar; which intercalated month they call Ve-adar, or the second Adar.
The beginning of the year was various among different nations: the ancient Chaldeans, Babylonians, Medes, Persians, Armenians, and Syrians, began their year about the vernal equinox; and the Chinese in the east, and Latins and Romans in the west, originally followed the same usage. The Egyptians, and from them the Jews, began their civil year about the autumnal equinox. The Athenians and Greeks in general began theirs about the summer solstice; and the Chinese, and the Romans after Numa's correction, about the winter solstice. At which of these the primeval year, instituted at the creation, began, has been long contested among astronomers and chronologers. Philo, Eusebius, Cyril, Augustine, Abulfaragi, Kepler, Capellus, Simpson, Lange, and Jackson, contend for the vernal equinox; and Josephus, Scaliger, Petavius, Usher, Bedford, Kennedy, &c, for the autumnal. The weight of ancient authorities, and also of argument, seems to preponderate in favour of the former opinion.
1. All the ancient nations, except the Egyptians, began their civil year about the vernal equinox: but the deviation of the Egyptians from the general usage may easily be accounted for, from a local circumstance peculiar to their country; namely, that the annual inundation of the Nile rises to its greatest height at the autumnal equinox.
2. Josephus, the only ancient authority of any weight on the other side, seems to be inconsistent with himself, in supposing that the deluge began in the second civil month, Dius, or Markeshvan, rather than in the second sacred month; because Moses, throughout the Pentateuch, uniformly adopts the sacred year; and fixes its first month by an indelible and unequivocal character, calling it Abib, as ushering in the season of green corn. And as Josephus calls the second month elsewhere Artemisius, or Iar, in conformity with Scripture, there is no reason why he should deviate from the same usage in the case of the deluge.
3. To the authority of Josephus, we may oppose that of the great Jewish antiquary, Philo, in the generation before him; who thus accounts for the institution of the sacred year by Moses:
See Verses Found in Dictionary
So it came to pass, after certain days, that Cain brought in of the fruit of the ground, a present to Yahweh:
Now, Noah, was six hundred years old, - when, the flood, came, even waters on the earth.
In the six hundredth year, the year of the life of Noah. in the second month on the seventeenth day of the month on this day, were burst open all the fountains of the great roaring deep, and the windows of the heavens, were set open.
So it came to pass in the six hundred and first year at the beginning, on the first of the month, that the waters had dried up from off the earth, - and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked and lo! the face of the ground was dried.
So shall ye be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, - So shall it become a sign of a covenant, betwixt me and you.
When thou shalt acquire a servant who is a Hebrew, six years, shall he serve, - but in the seventh shall he go out freely - for nought.
And the festival of harvest with the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou shalt sow in the field, And the festival of ingathering - at the outgoing of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.
And the festival of weeks, shalt thou make to thee, the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, - and the festival of ingathering, at the closing in of the year:
And, on the eighth day, shall the flesh of his foreskin be circumcised.
And Yahweh spake unto Moses in Mount Sinai, saying - Speak unto the sons of Israel, and thou shalt say unto them: - When ye enter into the land which, I, am giving you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto Yahweh. read more. Six years, shalt thou sow thy field, and, six years, shalt thou prune thy vineyard, - and gather the increase thereof; but, in the seventh year - a sabbath of sacred rest, shall there be unto the land, a sabbath unto Yahweh: thy field, shalt thou not sow, and, thy vineyard, shalt thou not prune; that which groweth of itself of thy harvest, shalt thou not reap; and the grapes of thine unpruned vines, shalt thou not cut off: a year of sacred rest, shall there be to the land. So shall the sabbath of the land be unto you for food: unto thee, and unto thy servant and unto thy handmaid, - and unto thy hireling, and unto thy settlers that are sojourning with thee; and unto thy tame-beasts, and unto the wild-beasts that are in thy land, shall belong all the increase thereof for food. And thou shalt count to thee seven weeks of years, seven years, seven times, - so shall the days of the seven weeks of years become to thee forty-nine years.
And thou shalt count to thee seven weeks of years, seven years, seven times, - so shall the days of the seven weeks of years become to thee forty-nine years. Then shalt thou cause a signal-horn to pass through in the seventh month, on the tenth of the month: on the Day of Propitiation, shall ye cause a horn to pass throughout all your land.
Then shalt thou cause a signal-horn to pass through in the seventh month, on the tenth of the month: on the Day of Propitiation, shall ye cause a horn to pass throughout all your land. So shall ye hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim freedom throughout the land to all the dwellers thereof, - a jubilee, shall it be unto you, and ye shall return, every man unto his possession, and every man unto his family, shall ye return.
So shall ye hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim freedom throughout the land to all the dwellers thereof, - a jubilee, shall it be unto you, and ye shall return, every man unto his possession, and every man unto his family, shall ye return.
So shall ye hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim freedom throughout the land to all the dwellers thereof, - a jubilee, shall it be unto you, and ye shall return, every man unto his possession, and every man unto his family, shall ye return. A jubilee, shall that fiftieth year be unto you, - ye shall not sow, neither shall ye reap the self-grown corn thereof, nor cut off the grapes of the unpruned vines thereof.
A jubilee, shall that fiftieth year be unto you, - ye shall not sow, neither shall ye reap the self-grown corn thereof, nor cut off the grapes of the unpruned vines thereof. For, a jubilee, it is, holy, shall it be unto you, - out of the field, shall ye eat her increase. read more. In this same jubilee year, shall ye return every man unto his possession.
In this same jubilee year, shall ye return every man unto his possession. And when ye sell anything to thy neighbour, or buy aught at thy neighbour's hand, do not overreach one another. read more. By the number of years after the jubilee, shalt thou buy of thy neighbour, - by the number of the years of increase, shall he sell unto thee; according to the multitude of the years, shalt thou increase the price thereof, and, according to the fewness of the years, shalt thou diminish the price thereof, - because the sum of the increase, it is that he selleth thee. So then ye shall not overreach one another; but thou shalt stand in awe of thy God, - for, I - Yahweh, am your God.
And since ye may say, What shall we eat in the seventh year? Lo! we are not to sow, neither are we to gather our increase! Therefore will I command my blessing upon you, in the sixth year, - and it shall make the increase of three years; read more. and ye shall sow, the eighth year, and eat of old store, - until the ninth year until the coming in of the increase thereof, shall ye eat old store. The land moreover shall not be sold beyond recovery, for, mine, is the land, - for, sojourners and settlers, ye are with me. And, in all the land of your possession, a right of redemption, shall ye give to the land.
And, in all the land of your possession, a right of redemption, shall ye give to the land. When thy brother waxeth poor, and so selleth aught of his possession, then may his kinsman that is near unto him come in, and redeem that which was sold by his brother. read more. And, when, any man, hath no kinsman, - but his own hand getteth enough, so that he findeth what is needed to redeem it, then shall he reckon the years since he sold it, and restore the overplus to the man to whom he sold it, - and shall return to his possession. But, if his hand have not found enough to get it back unto him, then shall that which he sold remain in the hand of him that bought it, until the year of the jubilee, - and shall go out in the jubilee, and he shall return unto his possession.
And when thy brother waxeth poor with thee, and so selleth himself unto thee, thou shalt not bind him with the bondage of a bondman: as a hired servant, as a settler, shall he remain with thee, - until the year of the jubilee, shall he serve with thee: read more. then shall he go forth from thee, he and his sons with him, - and shall return unto his family, and unto the possession of his fathers, shall he return. For, my bondmen, they are, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt, - they shall not sell themselves with the sale of a bondman. Thou shalt not rule over him with rigour, - so shalt thou stand in awe of thy God. And as for thy bondman and thy bond-maid which thou shalt have, of the nations that are round about you - from them, may ye buy bondman and bond-maid. Moreover also, of the sons of the settlers who are sojourning with you - of them, may ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they have begotten in your land, - so shall they become yours, as a possession; and ye may take them as an inheritance for your sons after you to inherit as a possession, unto times age-abiding, of them, may ye take to be bondmen, - but, over your brethren the sons of Israel - a man over his brother, ye shall not rule, over him with rigour.
Then, shall the land be paid her sabbaths, All the days she lieth desolate, While, ye, are in the land of your fees, - Then, shall the land keep sabbath, And pay off her sabbaths: All the days she lieth desolate, shall she keep sabbath, - the which she kept not as your sabbaths, - while ye dwelt thereupon.
And if of the field of his possession any man would hallow unto Yahweh, then shall thine estimate be according to the seed thereof, - the seed of a homer of barley, at fifty shekels of silver. If, from the year of jubilee, he would hallow his field, according to thine estimate, shall it stand. read more. But if after the jubilee he would hallow his field, then shall the priest reckon to him the silver, according to the years that remain, until the year of the jubilee, - and it shall be abated from thine estimate. But, if he that hath hallowed it should be pleased to redeem, the field, then shall he add the fifth part of the silver of thine estimate thereunto and it shall be assured to him. But if he will not redeem the field, but have sold the field to another man, it shall be redeemable no longer; so shall the field, when it goeth out in the jubilee, be holy unto Yahweh as a devoted, field, - to the priest, shall belong the possession thereof.
In the year of the jubilee, shall the field return unto him from whom he bought it to him whose it was as a possession in the land.
Then said Balaam unto Balak: Build me here seven altars, - and prepare me here, seven bullocks and seven rams.
and Aaron the priest went up into Mount Hor, at the bidding of Yahweh, and died there, in the fortieth year, by the coming forth of the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt, in the fifth month, on the first of the month.
And when the jubilee shall come to the sons of Israel, then shall their inheritance be added unto the inheritance of the tribe to which they shall be received - and, out of the, inheritance of the tribe of our fathers, shall their inheritance disappear.
At the end of seven years, shalt thou make a release.
At the end of seven years, shalt thou make a release. And, this, shall be the manner of the release, Every creditor who lendeth aught to his neighbour, his hand shall release it, - he shall not exact it of his neighbour or his brother, because there hath been proclaimed a release unto Yahweh.
And, this, shall be the manner of the release, Every creditor who lendeth aught to his neighbour, his hand shall release it, - he shall not exact it of his neighbour or his brother, because there hath been proclaimed a release unto Yahweh. Of a foreigner, thou mayest exact it, - but, what thou hast with thy brother, thy hand shall release; read more. save, when there shall be among you no needy person, - for Yahweh will indeed bless, thee, in the land which Yahweh thy God is giving unto thee as an inheritance to possess it: only if thou do hearken unto the voice of Yahweh thy God, - to observe to do - all this commandment which I am commanding time to-day. When, Yahweh thy God, hath blessed thee, as he spake unto thee, then shalt thou lead unto many nations but thou, shalt not borrow, and, thou shalt rule over many nations but over thee, shall they not rule. When there cometh to be among you a needy person any one of thy brethren within any one of thy gates, in thy land, which Yahweh thy God is giving unto thee, thou shalt not harden thy heart nor shut thy hand from thy needy brother; but thou shalt, open, thy hand unto him, - and, lend, him enough to meet the poverty which doth impoverish him. Take thou heed to thyself lest there be something near thine abandoned heart, saying - Drawing nigh, is the seventh year the year of release, and so thine eye be evil, against thy needy brother, and thou give not unto him, - and he cry out against thee unto Yahweh, and it become in thee a sin!
Take thou heed to thyself lest there be something near thine abandoned heart, saying - Drawing nigh, is the seventh year the year of release, and so thine eye be evil, against thy needy brother, and thou give not unto him, - and he cry out against thee unto Yahweh, and it become in thee a sin! Thou shalt, give, unto him, and thy heart shall not be evil when thou givest unto him, - for on account of this very thing, will Yahweh thy God bless thee, in all that thou doest and in all whereunto thou puttest thy hand.
When thy brother a Hebrew man (or a Hebrew woman) selleth himself unto thee, then shall he serve thee six years, - and in the seventh year, shalt thou let him go out free from thee;
And Moses commanded them, saying, - At the end of seven years in the appointed season of the year of release, during the festival of booths;
And Moses commanded them, saying, - At the end of seven years in the appointed season of the year of release, during the festival of booths; when all Israel cometh in to see the face of Yahweh thy God, in the place which he shall choose, thou shalt lead this law before all Israel, in their hearing.
when all Israel cometh in to see the face of Yahweh thy God, in the place which he shall choose, thou shalt lead this law before all Israel, in their hearing. Call together the people - the men and the women and the little ones, and thy sojourner who is within thy gates, - that they may hear, and that they may learn, so shall they revere Yahweh your God, and observe to do all the words of this law;
Call together the people - the men and the women and the little ones, and thy sojourner who is within thy gates, - that they may hear, and that they may learn, so shall they revere Yahweh your God, and observe to do all the words of this law; and that their children who know not, may hear and learn, that they may revere Yahweh your God, - all the days that ye are living upon the soil, which ye are passing over the Jordan to possess.
and that their children who know not, may hear and learn, that they may revere Yahweh your God, - all the days that ye are living upon the soil, which ye are passing over the Jordan to possess.
And so it was that, when God helped the Levites, who were bearing the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, they sacrificed seven bullocks and seven rams.
And it came to pass, at the end of twenty years, wherein Solomon had built the house of Yahweh, and his own house,
to fulfil the word of God, by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had paid off her sabbaths, - all the days of her lying desolate, she kept sabbath, to fulfil seventy years.
Now, therefore, take unto you seven bullocks and seven rams, and go unto my servant Job, and ye shall offer up an ascending-sacrifice in your own behalf, and, Job my servant, shall pray over you, - for, him, will I accept, that I may not deal out to you disgrace, because ye have not spoken concerning me the thing that is right, like my servant Job.
The spirit of My Lord Yahweh, is upon me, - Because Yahweh Hath anointed me to tell good tidings to the oppressed, lath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, To proclaim To captives, liberty, To them who are bound, the opening of the prison; To proclaim - The year of acceptance of Yahweh, and The day of avenging of our God: To comfort all who are mourning;
when, the force of the king of Babylon, was fighting against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Judah that were left, - against Lachish and against Azekah, for they, remained among the cities of Judah as fortified cities.
At the end of seven years, shall ye let go every man his brother, being a Hebrew, who shall sell himself unto thee and serve thee, six years, then shalt thou let him go, free, from thee, Howbeit your fathers hearkened not unto me neither inclined their ear.
And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the tenth month on the fifth of the month of our exe, that there came unto me one that had escaped out of Jerusalem saying. Smitten is the city!
In the twenty-fifth year of our exe at the beginning of the year. on the tenth of the month in the fourteenth year, after the city was smitten, on this selfsame day, came upon me the hand of Yahweh, and he brought me thither:
From that time, began Jesus Christ to be pointing out to his disciples that he must needs, into Jerusalem, go away, and, many things, suffer, from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, - and on, the third day, arise.
And, after six days, Jesus taketh with him, Peter and James and John his brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain, apart;
saying - Sir! we have been put in mind that, that deceiver, said, while yet living, - After three days, will I, arise.
And he began to be teaching them - The Son of Man, must needs suffer many things, and be rejected by the Elders and the High-priests and the Scribes, - and be slain; and, after three days, arise.
And, after six days, Jesus taketh with him Peter and James and John, and bringeth them up into a high mountain, apart, alone, - and he was transformed before them;
And, when eight days were fulfilled for circumcising him, then was his name called, Jesus, - which it was called by the messenger, before he was conceived in the womb.
saying - The Son of Man must needs suffer, many things, and be rejected by the Elders and High priests and Scribes, and be slain, - and, on the third day, arise.
And it came to pass, after these words, about eight days, taking with him Peter and John and James, he went up into the mountain to pray.
And, after not many days, the younger son, gathering all together, left home for a country far away, and, there, squandered his substance with riotous living.
And, after certain days, Paul, said unto Barnabas - Let us now return, and visit the brethren in every city in which we have declared the word of the Lord, and see how they are.
and, the court that is outside the Sanctuary, cast thou outside, and do not measure, it, because it hath been given unto the nations, and, the holy city, shall they tread under foot, forty and two months. And I will give unto my two witnesses, that they shall prophesy, a thousand two hundred and sixty days, arrayed in sackcloth.
And, the woman, fled into the desert, where she hath a place prepared of God, that, there, they should nourish her a thousand, two hundred, and sixty days.
And there were given unto the woman the two wings of the great eagle, that she might fly into the desert, into her place, - where she is nourished, a season and seasons and half a season, from the face of the serpent.
And there was given unto him, a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and it was given unto him to act, forty and two months.