BIBLE VERSE STUDY
Leviticus 23:5 — The Date of Jehovah's Passover
Leviticus 23:5 sets the specific calendar date for the Passover: the 14th day of the first month at evening, marking it as the first of Jehovah's appointed feasts.
Scripture
5In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, is Jehovah's passover.
What this passage means
Leviticus 23:5 names the Passover and pins it to a precise moment in the calendar year: the fourteenth day of the first month 'at even.' The chapter has just introduced a list of 'set feasts of Jehovah, even holy convocations' (vv. 2, 4), and this verse is the first item in that list. The festival is identified by its specific day rather than by description, which assumes the reader already knows what the Passover involves.
The phrase 'Jehovah's passover' places the day under divine ownership. Because the verse appears in a sequence called 'my set feasts' (v. 2), it is not an optional observance but part of the covenant calendar. Its position at the start of the list — before the Feast of Unleavened Bread (v. 6) and the later feasts in the chapter — establishes it as the opening festival of the liturgical year.
The temporal markers are stated in an unusual order: 'In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even.' Month, then day, then evening fixes the start of the observance at the transition from the 14th to the 15th day. The verse gives no ritual instructions of its own; it functions as a chronological heading under which those instructions are delivered elsewhere in the Torah.
Context
The wider chapter frames the verse as the first item in a calendar of feasts. Verses 2–4 introduce 'set feasts' and 'holy convocations,' then v. 5 begins the list with the Passover. Verse 6 immediately follows with the Feast of Unleavened Bread starting on the fifteenth day, showing that v. 5's 'fourteenth day at even' is the hinge between the two festivals. The chapter later cycles through firstfruits, the seventh-month feasts (trumpets, day of atonement, tabernacles), and closes by summarizing 'the set feasts of Jehovah' (v. 44), confirming the verse's role as the opening entry in that cycle.
The chapter does not give the ritual procedure here, only the timing. The rest of the chapter builds on the calendar established in v. 5 by adding dates, offerings, and convocations for each subsequent festival.
Common questions
Why is the Passover listed first among the feasts in Leviticus 23?
The chapter introduces 'set feasts of Jehovah' in verses 2–4 and then lists them in order. Leviticus 23:5 is the first entry, placing the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month at evening, before the Feast of Unleavened Bread begins on the fifteenth (v. 6).
What does 'at even' indicate about when the Passover begins?
The verse gives the order 'first month, fourteenth day, at even,' fixing the observance at the transition from the fourteenth to the fifteenth day. The Feast of Unleavened Bread on the fifteenth (v. 6) immediately follows this evening marker, confirming that the Passover begins at the start of the fifteenth day.
Does Leviticus 23:5 describe the ritual acts of the Passover?
No. The verse names the festival and fixes its date only. It does not give instructions about the lamb, the blood, or the meal; those details are set out elsewhere in the Torah. Within chapter 23, the verse serves as a calendar entry that frames the surrounding instructions.