Define

• Specifically the three pilgrimage feasts where all males had to go up to Jerusalem

  • Passover & Feast of Unleavened Bread
  • Pentecost / Feast of Weeks
  • Feast of Tabernacles / Booths

• Hebrew: ḥag / ḥaggim (חַג / חַגִּים) “festival”, literally “circle dance” or “pilgrimage feast”

• Greek:

Related words

• Festival
• Holy Convocation
• Appointed Time
• SabbathS
• New Moon

Additional Info

• The narrowest category — only three are ever called ḥag in the Bible.
• These are the three occasions when every male Israelite was required to appear before the Lord at the place He chose (later the temple in Jerusalem).
• Explicit biblical references:
  • Exodus 23:14–17: “Three times thou shalt keep a feast/ḥag unto me in the year… the feast of unleavened bread… the feast of harvest… the feast of ingathering… Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord GOD.”
  • Exodus 34:18–23 (same three)
  • Deuteronomy 16:16: “Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God… in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles.”

Connections