A festival
Reading a lexicon entry
What this page is: Each lexicon entry shows the original Hebrew or Greek word behind the English translation: its meaning, its range of use, and where it appears in Scripture.
Strong's number: The Strong's code (H- or G-) is the standard reference number for this word. It connects this entry to chapter and passage language tabs.
Where it appears: The witness passages show where this word is used in context. Click any to open the study page for that passage.
This lexicon entry is part of our ongoing editorial review. If you notice missing content, unclear wording, or a possible correction, please send us a note through theConnect page. Screenshots are helpful.
Ἑορτή means a feast, festival, or appointed celebration, especially Israel's covenantal gatherings. Leaders plot around the feast because crowds are present, Jesus' family travels to Passover according to custom, and John's Gospel repeatedly locates Jesus' signs and teaching within Passover and Tabernacles.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἑορτή (G1859) · Open the biblical lexicon
Ἑορτή means a feast, festival, or appointed celebration, especially Israel's covenantal gatherings. Leaders plot around the feast because crowds are present, Jesus' family travels to Passover according to custom, and John's Gospel repeatedly locates Jesus' signs and teaching within Passover and Tabernacles.
The BSB source-word alignment has 25 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include feast (20), [the] feast (2), a feast (2), [there] (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 26:5. Its strongest book concentrations include John (17), Luke (3), Mark (2), Matthew (2).
Ἑορτή means a feast, festival, or appointed celebration, especially Israel's covenantal gatherings. Leaders plot around the feast because crowds are present, Jesus' family travels to Passover according to custom, and John's Gospel repeatedly locates Jesus' signs and teaching within Passover and Tabernacles. The crowd wonders whether He will appear at the feast while authorities seek Him.
Paul tells Gentile believers not to submit to judgment concerning feast, new moon, or Sabbath observance because the substance belongs to Christ. The noun names real sacred times in Israel's story; it does not make them empty or make calendar observance the ground of justification. Covenant setting, fulfillment, worship, and communal pressure govern each use.
Ἑορτή names an appointed feast. Pilgrimage, public expectation, hostile plotting, Jesus' fulfillment, and freedom from calendar judgment show sacred time interpreted through Christ.
“But not during the feast,” they said, “or there may be a riot among the people.”
Leaders delay their arrest plan because feast crowds may riot, revealing political calculation inside the very season recalling God's saving deliverance.
And when He was twelve years old, they went up according to the custom of the Feast.
Jesus' household goes to Jerusalem according to Passover custom, placing His growth and temple conversation within faithful participation in Israel's worship calendar.
However, the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was near.
John identifies Tabernacles as the setting for debates about Jesus, His teaching, living water, and the divided response to His identity.
They kept looking for Jesus and asking one another as they stood in the temple courts, “What do you think? Will He come to the feast at all?”
Pilgrims search for Jesus in the temple courts before Passover, while official orders seek His arrest and the Gospel moves toward His appointed death.
Therefore let no one judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a feast, a New Moon, or a Sabbath.
Paul forbids condemnation over feast observance because calendar shadows point to the reality found in Christ, protecting believers from imposed spiritual status systems.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Greek word. A Jewish religious observance gathering, typically requiring pilgrimage to Jerusalem for ceremonial worship and celebration.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 27 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
a festival, feast
Read versea festival, feast
Read versea festival, feast
Read versea festival, feast
Read versea festival, feast
Read versea festival, feast
Read versea festival, feast
Read versea festival, feast
Read versea festival, feast
Read versea festival, feast
Read versea festival, feast
Read versea festival, feast
Read versea festival, feast
Read versea festival, feast
Read versea festival, feast
Read versea festival, feast
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 4 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 4 selected witnesses from 25 lexical occurrence verses.
ἑορτή is of uncertain origin - no further derivation.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Biblical feasts train God's people to remember salvation in time. Passover brings Jesus' family to Jerusalem and later gathers the crowds among whom leaders calculate how to arrest Him. Tabernacles provides John with a setting where Jesus teaches and promises living water, drawing the feast's hopes toward Himself. Colossians does not declare Israel's calendar worthless; it refuses to let shadows become a tribunal over those whose substance is Christ.
Churches should honor the scriptural history of appointed feasts, reject antisemitic caricature, and keep Christ's saving work central. Voluntary remembrance may instruct and bless, but no calendar practice can replace faith, create superior standing, or bind consciences beyond apostolic command.
Matt.26.5
Ἑορτή is the standard noun for religious feast or festival and often refers to Jewish pilgrimage feasts. An article or context may identify a specific observance.
The Lord appoints feasts to remember exodus, provision, harvest, and covenant fellowship. Jesus fulfills their saving hopes without licensing contempt for Israel's worship history.