What does מוֹעֵד (moed) mean in the Bible?
MOED, H4150, names what is appointed: a fixed time, sacred assembly, feast, meeting, or place where the Lord summons his people. It is a calendar word, but it is more than scheduling.
Hebrew · H4150
מוֹעֵד
Properly, an appointment , i.e. a fixed time or season; specifically, a festival ; conventionally a year ; by implication, an assembly (as convened for a definite purpose); technically the congregation ; by extension, the place of meeting ; also a signal (as appointed beforehand)
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מוֹעֵד H4150
Pronunciation moed
What does מוֹעֵד (moed) mean in the Bible?
MOED, H4150, names what is appointed: a fixed time, sacred assembly, feast, meeting, or place where the Lord summons his people. It is a calendar word, but it is more than scheduling.
Reader summary
Full entry for מוֹעֵד (H4150) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render H4150?
The BSB source-word alignment has 223 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include of Meeting (146), At the appointed time (8), and appointed feasts (5), appointed feasts (3), at its appointed time (3).
Where does מוֹעֵד (moed) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 1:14. Its strongest book concentrations include Numbers (65), Leviticus (49), Exodus (38), 2 Chronicles (8).
What This Word Actually Means
MOED, H4150, names what is appointed: a fixed time, sacred assembly, feast, meeting, or place where the Lord summons his people. It is a calendar word, but it is more than scheduling. Scripture uses it to show that Israel did not invent its worship rhythms. The Lord appointed times for remembrance, atonement, feasting, gathering, and meeting. The same word can be attached to the Tent of Meeting because the issue is not only when people gather, but before whom they gather.
This word helps readers see time as received from God. It also guards teachers from treating worship seasons as empty tradition or as human religious control. God orders worship for remembrance, communion, repentance, joy, and hope.
How the Bible Uses It
H4150 gathers calendar, assembly, and meeting language around divine appointment. It teaches that sacred time and sacred gathering are received from the Lord rather than invented by the community.
- Lev.23.2
“Speak to the Israelites and say to them, ‘These are My appointed feasts, the feasts of the Lord that you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies.
Leviticus identifies the feasts as the Lord's appointed feasts, placing sacred time under divine authority.
- Exod.29.42
For the generations to come, this burnt offering shall be made regularly at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting before the Lord, where I will meet you to speak with you.
The Tent of Meeting carries the same appointment logic: the Lord promises to meet and speak with his people there.
- Num.9.2
“The Israelites are to observe the Passover at its appointed time.
Passover is to be observed at its appointed time, keeping redemption memory ordered by the Lord.
- Ps.74.8
They said in their hearts, “We will crush them completely.” They burned down every place where God met us in the land.
The destruction of meeting places shows how judgment and exile strike at public worship and covenant memory.
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders It of Meeting 146× Exodus 27:21, Exodus 28:43, Exodus 29:4, Exodus 29:10
At the appointed time 8× Genesis 18:14, Exodus 13:10, Exodus 23:15, Exodus 34:18
and appointed feasts 5× 1 Chronicles 23:31, 2 Chronicles 2:4, 2 Chronicles 31:3, Nehemiah 10:33
appointed feasts 3× Leviticus 23:4, Leviticus 23:37, 2 Chronicles 8:13
at its appointed time 3× Numbers 9:2, Numbers 9:13, Numbers 28:2
time 3× Genesis 17:21, 2 Kings 4:16, 2 Kings 4:17
a time 2× Exodus 9:5, Psalms 75:2
her appointed feasts 2× Lamentations 2:6, Hosea 2:11
My appointed feasts 2× Leviticus 23:2, Ezekiel 44:24
of an appointed feast 2× Lamentations 2:7, Lamentations 2:22
the appointed 2× 2 Samuel 24:15, Ezra 3:5
[and] times 1× Daniel 12:7
[the] seasons 1× Genesis 1:14
a signal 1× Judges 20:38
an appointed time 1× Habakkuk 2:3
an army 1× Lamentations 1:15
and your appointed feasts 1× Isaiah 1:14
appointed 1× Job 30:23
appointed feast 1× Numbers 15:3
at an appointed place 1× Joshua 8:14
at the appointed 1× 1 Samuel 13:11
at the appointed feasts 1× Ezekiel 46:9
at the same time 1× Deuteronomy 16:6
at the very time 1× Genesis 21:2
at their appointed times 1× Leviticus 23:4
at your appointed times 1× Numbers 29:39
come at the appointed time 1× Daniel 11:35
during her appointed feasts 1× Ezekiel 36:38
feasts 1× Zechariah 8:19
for the appointment 1× 1 Samuel 20:35
for the time appointed 1× 1 Samuel 13:8
for this occasion 1× 1 Samuel 9:24
he has let the appointed time 1× Jeremiah 46:17
her appointed seasons 1× Jeremiah 8:7
His place of meeting 1× Lamentations 2:6
in its season 1× Hosea 2:9
in the assembly 1× Numbers 16:2
it concerns the appointed time 1× Daniel 8:19
It will be for a time 1× Daniel 12:7
of assembly 1× Isaiah 14:13
of our appointed feasts 1× Isaiah 33:20
of the appointed feast 1× Hosea 12:9
on the appointed 1× Hosea 9:5
over the appointed feasts 1× Zephaniah 3:18
place 1× Psalms 74:8
the appointed [feasts] 1× Leviticus 23:44
the appointed feasts 1× Ezekiel 45:17
the appointed time 1× Psalms 102:13
the feasts 1× Leviticus 23:2
the time 1× 2 Samuel 20:5
their assigned portion 1× 2 Chronicles 30:22
to her appointed feasts 1× Lamentations 1:4
to mark the seasons 1× Psalms 104:19
will come at the appointed time 1× Daniel 11:27
your appointed feasts 1× Numbers 10:10
Your meeting place 1× Psalms 74:4
Show sample aligned rows
Genesis 1:14 וּלְמ֣וֹעֲדִ֔ים to [the] seasons Conjunctive waw, Preposition-l | Noun - masculine plural Genesis 17:21 לַמּוֹעֵ֣ד to time Preposition-l, Article | Noun - masculine singular Genesis 18:14 לַמּוֹעֵ֞ד to At the appointed time Preposition-l, Article | Noun - masculine singular Genesis 21:2 לַמּוֹעֵ֕ד to at the very time Preposition-l, Article | Noun - masculine singular Exodus 9:5 מוֹעֵ֣ד to a time Noun - masculine singular Exodus 13:10 לְמוֹעֲדָ֑הּ to at the appointed time Preposition-l | Noun - masculine singular construct | third person feminine singular Exodus 23:15 לְמוֹעֵד֙ to At the appointed time Preposition-l | Noun - masculine singular Exodus 27:21 מוֹעֵד֩ to of Meeting Noun - masculine singular Exodus 28:43 מוֹעֵ֗ד to of Meeting Noun - masculine singular Exodus 29:4 מוֹעֵ֑ד to of Meeting Noun - masculine singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Genesis 1:14
Aligned rows 223
Books represented 26
Genesis 4 Exodus 38 Leviticus 49 Numbers 65 Deuteronomy 4 Joshua 3 Judges 1 1 Samuel 5 2 Samuel 2 1 Kings 1 2 Kings 2 1 Chronicles 4 2 Chronicles 8 Ezra 1 Nehemiah 1 Job 1 Psalms 5 Isaiah 3 Jeremiah 2 Lamentations 6 Ezekiel 5 Daniel 6 Hosea 4 Habakkuk 1 Zephaniah 1 Zechariah 1
Source forms
מוֹעֵ֑ד 41x mō·w·‘êḏ Exodus 29:4, Exodus 29:10, Exodus 30:16, Exodus 30:26
מוֹעֵֽד׃ 40x mō·w·‘êḏ Exodus 29:11, Exodus 29:32, Exodus 39:40, Exodus 40:2
מוֹעֵ֔ד 25x mō·w·‘êḏ Exodus 30:36, Exodus 33:7, Exodus 38:30, Exodus 40:22
מוֹעֵ֖ד 22x mō·w·‘êḏ Exodus 29:30, Exodus 29:42, Exodus 29:44, Exodus 40:7
מוֹעֵד֙ 7x mō·w·‘êḏ Exodus 30:18, Exodus 35:21, Leviticus 1:3, Leviticus 17:9
מוֹעֵ֗ד 6x mō·w·‘êḏ Exodus 28:43, Exodus 31:7, Exodus 40:32, Leviticus 16:17
מוֹעֵ֛ד 5x mō·w·‘êḏ Exodus 30:20, Leviticus 6:30, Leviticus 16:33, Numbers 2:17
מוֹעֵ֣ד 3x mō·w·‘êḏ Exodus 9:5, Job 30:23, Lamentations 2:6
Parsing patterns
Noun - masculine singular 160x Exodus 9:5, Exodus 27:21, Exodus 28:43, Exodus 29:4
Preposition-l, Article | Noun - masculine singular 12x Genesis 17:21, Genesis 18:14, Genesis 21:2, Joshua 8:14
Noun - masculine plural construct 7x Leviticus 23:2, Leviticus 23:4, Leviticus 23:37, Leviticus 23:44
Preposition-b | Noun - masculine singular construct | third person masculine singular 6x Numbers 9:2, Numbers 9:3, Numbers 9:7, Numbers 9:13
Article | Noun - masculine singular 3x 2 Samuel 20:5, 2 Chronicles 30:22, Jeremiah 46:17
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-l, Article | Noun - masculine plural 3x 1 Chronicles 23:31, 2 Chronicles 8:13, 2 Chronicles 31:3
Preposition-l | Noun - masculine singular 3x Exodus 23:15, Daniel 8:19, Daniel 12:7
Preposition-l | Noun - masculine singular construct 3x Exodus 34:18, 1 Samuel 13:11, 1 Samuel 20:35
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Use this word to show that God orders time for worship and remembrance, while keeping Christ's fulfillment clear and avoiding calendar legalism.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim that H4150 requires Christians to keep Israel's festival calendar as a condition of faithfulness.
- Do not claim that appointed worship rhythms are empty ceremony. In Scripture they train covenant memory before the Lord.
Evidence Summary
Hebrew word. Fixed time divinely appointed for sacred gathering; covenantal rhythm organizing Israel's worship and community identity.
Source Gloss
properly, an appointment , i.e. a fixed time or season; specifically, a festival ; conventionally a year ; by implication, an assembly (as convened for a definite purpose); technically the congregation ; by extension, the place of meeting ; also a signal (as appointed beforehand)
Extended definition Source: Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon + Brown-Driver-Briggs
Fixed time divinely appointed for sacred gathering; covenantal rhythm organizing Israel's worship and community identity.
properly, an appointment, i.e. a fixed time or season; specifically, a festival; conventionally a year; by implication, an assembly (as convened for a definite purpose); technically the congregation; by extension, the place of meeting; also a signal (as appointed beforehand) BDB: appointed time Usage: appointed (sign, time), (place of, solemn) assembly, congregation, (set, solemn) feast, (appointed, due) season, solemn(-ity), synogogue, (set) time (appointed).
Grammatical Forms
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Selected Scripture Witness
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Old Testament Witnesses
appointed festival
Showing 1 selected witness from 223 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
Why This Word Matters
Sacred calendar disrupted by exile. Hosea 9:1-6
Part of These Phrases
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
For the Preacher and Teacher
H4150 joins several ideas that English often separates: an appointed time, an appointed feast, an assembly, and a meeting place. The unifying emphasis is not religious scheduling in the abstract but appointment by the Lord. Leviticus 23 calls the feasts the Lord's appointed times, which means Israel's calendar rehearses His acts and covenant claims. Exodus uses the same word in the Tent of Meeting, where God promises to meet and speak with His people.
Numbers 9 shows that even Passover remembrance is governed by divine appointment rather than convenience. Psalm 74 reveals the grief of losing the public places where God's people gathered. Teachers can therefore affirm ordered rhythms of worship, remembrance, repentance, and joy without treating Israel's calendar as a ladder of merit or transferring every covenant obligation unchanged to the church.
Anchor passage
Lev.23.1-4
Doctrinal connections
- Exodus 29:42-46 - God appoints a meeting place and promises to dwell
- Leviticus 23:1-4 - Israel's feasts belong to the Lord
- Numbers 9:1-14 - Passover remembrance follows God's appointed time
- Psalm 74:4-8 - destroyed meeting places expose the pain of disrupted worship
- Ecclesiastes 3:1-11 - creaturely life unfolds within times God governs
- Colossians 2:16-17 - festival and Sabbath shadows must be read in relation to Christ
The noun can denote an appointed time, festival, assembly, or meeting place. The sense emerges from its construction and setting. The Tent of Meeting and the appointed feasts are related by divine appointment, but they should not be collapsed into one referent.
From Old to New Testament
Israel's appointed times teach remembrance, worship, rest, and covenant identity. The New Testament locates the substance of festival shadows in Christ and gathers the church regularly without making Torah's calendar the ground of justification. The canonical connection should honor both continuity in worship and the covenantal change announced in Christ.
Sources
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (morphhb/OSHB) — CC BY 4.0
Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain