When the feast was half over, Jesus went up to the temple courts ¹  and began to teach. ² 

The whole community of Israel must observe it.

Hezekiah expressed his appreciation to all the Levites, ¹  who demonstrated great skill in serving the Lord. ²  They feasted for the seven days of the festival, ³  and were making peace offerings and giving thanks to the Lord God of their ancestors.

For observing the festival is a requirement for Israel; ¹  it is an ordinance given by the God of Jacob.

festive dresses, robes, shawls, purses,

Look at Zion, the city where we hold religious festivals! You ¹  will see Jerusalem, ²  a peaceful settlement, a tent that stays put; ³  its stakes will never be pulled up; none of its ropes will snap in two.

ד (Dalet) The roads to Zion ¹  mourn ²  because no one ³  travels to the festivals. ⁴  All her city gates ⁵  are deserted; ⁶  her priests groan. ⁷  Her virgins grieve; ⁸  she is in bitter anguish! ⁹ 

Then came the feast of the Dedication ¹  in Jerusalem. ² 

“You must not offer ¹  the blood of my sacrifice with bread containing yeast; the fat of my festal sacrifice must not remain until morning. ² 

When ¹  Aaron saw this, ²  he built an altar before it, ³  and Aaron made a proclamation ⁴  and said, “Tomorrow will be a feast ⁵  to the Lord.”

“Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘These are the Lord’s appointed times which you must proclaim as holy assemblies – my appointed times: ¹ 

Then you are to celebrate the Festival of Weeks ¹  before the Lord your God with the voluntary offering ²  that you will bring, in proportion to how he ³  has blessed you.

You must celebrate the Festival of Temporary Shelters ¹  for seven days, at the time of the grain and grape harvest. ² 

He ¹  commanded them: “At the end of seven years, at the appointed time of the cancellation of debts, ²  at the Feast of Temporary Shelters, ³ 

The entire assembly then decided to celebrate for seven more days; so they joyfully celebrated for seven more days.

“I am the Lord your God ¹  who brought you ²  out of Egypt; I will make you live in tents again as in the days of old. ³ 

“Also in the time when you rejoice, such as ¹  on your appointed festivals or ²  at the beginnings of your months, you must blow with your trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings, so that they may ³  become ⁴  a memorial for you before your God: I am the Lord your God.”

At that time Solomon and all Israel with him celebrated a festival before the Lord our God for two entire weeks. This great assembly included people from all over the land, from Lebo Hamath in the north to the Brook of Egypt ¹  in the south. ² 

On the fifteenth day of the eighth month (a date he had arbitrarily chosen) ¹  Jeroboam ²  offered sacrifices on the altar he had made in Bethel. ³  He inaugurated a festival for the Israelites and went up to the altar to offer sacrifices.

Moses said, “We will go with our young and our old, with our sons and our daughters, and with our sheep and our cattle we will go, because we are to hold ¹  a pilgrim feast for the Lord.”