The new moon; by implication, a month
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H2320 is a Hebrew noun for the new moon and, by extension, a month measured within the lunar calendar. Exodus 12:2 marks the exodus month as the beginning of months for Israel, ordering communal time around the LORD's redeeming action.
Reader summary
Full entry for חֹדֶשׁ (H2320) · Open the biblical lexicon
H2320 is a Hebrew noun for the new moon and, by extension, a month measured within the lunar calendar. Exodus 12:2 marks the exodus month as the beginning of months for Israel, ordering communal time around the LORD's redeeming action.
The BSB source-word alignment has 283 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include month (120), months (28), . . . (20), day (18), a month (11).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 7:11. Its strongest book concentrations include Numbers (38), Ezekiel (27), Esther (24), 1 Chronicles (21).
H2320 is a Hebrew noun for the new moon and, by extension, a month measured within the lunar calendar. Exodus 12:2 marks the exodus month as the beginning of months for Israel, ordering communal time around the Lord's redeeming action. Psalm 81:3 calls for the trumpet at the new moon and at the full moon on the feast day, showing time received through public worship.
Nehemiah 1:1 locates Nehemiah's report and grief in the month of Chislev, anchoring prayer and action in remembered history. Hundreds of occurrences simply date reigns, journeys, births, sieges, festivals, waiting periods, and prophetic words. Prophets also condemn new-moon observance joined to injustice or false worship. H2320 opens teaching on time as created, measured, remembered, and offered to God.
It corrects mystical date speculation and the belief that observing a sacred calendar can compensate for disobedience, oppression, or an unchanged heart.
H2320 moves between the visible new moon and the month it marks. Biblical writers use it for ordinary chronology, covenant festivals, royal administration, agricultural seasons, and prophetic judgment. Calendar language gives events historical sequence but does not make every date symbolically predictive.
“This month is the beginning of months for you; it shall be the first month of your year.
The Lord reorders Israel's calendar around the month of deliverance from Egypt, giving communal memory a recurring temporal form.
Sound the ram’s horn at the New Moon, and at the full moon on the day of our Feast.
The worshiping community is summoned by trumpet at the new moon and full moon for the appointed feast.
These are the words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah: In the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa,
The month of Chislev dates the report that moved Nehemiah to mourning, fasting, prayer, and later action.
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.
Hebrew word. Marks temporal divisions through lunar cycles; foundational to Hebrew calendar and festival observance
Marks temporal divisions through lunar cycles; foundational to Hebrew calendar and festival observance
the new moon; by implication, a month BDB: newness Usage: month(-ly), new moon.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 283 lexical occurrence verses.
חֹדֶשׁ is built from this root:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
H2320 shows how Scripture places faith within measured time. Israel's first month becomes a recurring witness to deliverance, not because one portion of the sky is divine, but because the Lord acted and commanded His people to remember. Psalm 81 joins lunar markers to communal praise, making the calendar a means of gathering rather than an object of worship.
Narrative and prophetic books use months to locate events with sober specificity: a report arrives, a siege advances, a prophet speaks, a journey begins, or a period of waiting ends. This chronological work matters because biblical hope is grounded in God's action within history. Yet Isaiah and Hosea warn that new moons and assemblies can become hateful when worship is joined to rebellion and injustice.
Scheduling a sacred day cannot sanctify conduct God condemns. H2320 therefore supports wise rhythms of remembrance, rest, lament, planning, and worship while resisting date-setting and lunar superstition. Christians may order communal time around God's works without claiming that a Hebrew month secretly predicts a personal breakthrough or current event. Calendars serve faith when they help communities remember truth, keep promises, and act justly; they distort faith when dates become tools of fear, control, or speculative certainty.
Exod.12.2
H2320 names both a new moon and the month reckoned from it. Context distinguishes a festival marker from a chronological unit, and construct phrases frequently identify numbered or named months, dates within months, and spans lasting several months.
The New Testament continues to locate God's acts in historical time and addresses days, months, seasons, and festival observance without granting celestial cycles saving power. Christian remembrance centers on Christ while allowing calendar practices to remain servants rather than masters of faith.