What Does Leviticus 23:2 Mean?
Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, Concerning the appointed meetings of the LORD, which you shall call out as set-apart assemblies. These are my appointed meetings.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.THE KEY
The “feasts” are appointments in time, proclaimed as shared gatherings set apart for the LORD.
THE MEANING
These appointed times belong to the LORD: they are called “my feasts.” Their set-apart character is made public as the people gather around them. Time itself becomes marked by an appointment shared with others.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that these days are merely human occasions or private preferences: the verse names them as the LORD’s appointments and calls them public gatherings.
THE ROOT
מוֹעֲדֵי
mo'adei
GROWS FROM
י־ע־ד
y-ʿ-d
To appoint, set a time, or designate a meeting.
“appointed meetings” in this verse is mo'adei. The word rendered “feasts” first names appointments, times set aside to meet. The verse joins those appointments to proclamation and assembly, making the appointed time a shared gathering.
ALSO GROWS
mo'ed: Appointed time; meeting.
מוֹעֵד
The singular form shows the appointment at the heart of the plural translated “feasts.”
ya'ad: To appoint, designate, or meet by appointment.
יָעַד
The verb carries the act of setting a time that the verse calls the LORD’s own.
תִּקְרְאוּ
tiqre'u
GROWS FROM
ק־ר־א
q-r-ʾ
To call, summon, or proclaim; the same root also carries the sense of reading aloud.
“call out” in this verse is tiqre'u. English gives “proclaim” and “convocations” as separate ideas, but Hebrew links them through the same call-root. The appointed times are proclaimed as called assemblies, with “set apart” describing the character of the gathering.
ALSO GROWS
miqra: Calling, reading, or assembly; convocation.
מִקְרָא
This is the root-family behind “convocations,” linking the gathering to the act of calling.
qeri'ah: Calling or reading aloud.
קְרִיאָה
This noun preserves the root’s movement from a voice that calls to a summons people can hear.
THE PATTERN
A God-appointed time becomes a set-apart gathering through public calling.
Three times in the year you shall keep a feast to me.Blow the ram's horn in Zion, set apart a fast, call a restrained assembly.When the day of Pentecost was fully filled, they were all together in one place.THE THREAD
Blow the ram's horn in Zion, set apart a fast, call a restrained assembly.The Hebrew verb translated “proclaim” here and “call” in Joel comes from the same root, קרא (qara), meaning to call or summon. Leviticus names the gatherings with a noun from that same root, so the proclamation and the assembly belong to one movement.
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