Counting the three days and three nights

Each entry marks Day 1 using this calendar’s Jerusalem conjunction rule: a conjunction during the night begins Day 1 with that same night; a conjunction during daylight begins Day 1 at the following sundown. Month 1 is identified as Aviv/Abib (Deuteronomy 16:1). The Torah gives a work restriction for Day 1 of Month 7; it does not state a general work prohibition for every beginning of a month.

Leviticus 23 presents the weekly Shabbat and the annual appointed times as YHVH’s appointed times and repeatedly uses language such as “throughout your generations” and “statute forever.” This calendar presents them from a Torah-observant, Yeshua-centered perspective.

Spring appointed times: the Apostolic Writings explicitly connect Yeshua with Pesach (Passover) (1 Corinthians 5:7) and Firstfruits/resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:20), while Acts 2 records the giving of the Holy Spirit at Shavuot (Feast of Weeks/Pentecost). Hag Matzot (Feast of Unleavened Bread) also carries the biblical picture of removing leaven and walking in sincerity and truth (1 Corinthians 5:8).

Autumn appointed times: many believers understand these as prophetic pictures pointing toward events associated with Yeshua’s return. This is an interpretive framework rather than an explicit one-to-one timetable stated in Leviticus 23. Common connections include the trumpet at the Lord’s descent (1 Thessalonians 4:16), repentance and mourning for the pierced one (Zechariah 12:10), and the future observance of Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) by the nations (Zechariah 14:16). Colossians 2:16–17 also describes festivals, new moons, and Sabbaths as a shadow of things to come, with the substance belonging to Messiah.

Day boundary: Leviticus 23:32 explicitly gives an evening-to-evening boundary for the Day of Atonement. This calendar uses the same sundown-to-sundown convention when presenting biblical days. For each lunar reference, if conjunction occurs during the Jerusalem night, that night begins Day 1; if conjunction occurs during daylight, Day 1 begins at the following sundown.

Yom HaBikurim (Feast of Firstfruits) and Shavuot (Feast of Weeks): Leviticus 23:11, 15–16 places the wave sheaf on the day after the Sabbath and then commands a count of seven complete Sabbaths / fifty days. This calendar uses the weekly Sabbath occurring during Unleavened Bread, placing Yom HaBikurim (Feast of Firstfruits) on the first day of the week after that Sabbath and Shavuot (Feast of Weeks) on the fiftieth day. This is identified as an interpretive choice because other readings exist.

Shabbat is the seventh day. Genesis 2:2–3 establishes the seventh-day pattern; Exodus 20:8–11 commands Israel to remember and sanctify the seventh day; Exodus 31:16–17 calls Shabbat a perpetual covenant and sign throughout Israel’s generations. Leviticus 23:3 lists the weekly Shabbat before the annual appointed times and prohibits work.

When: this calendar follows the biblical evening-to-evening pattern, so weekly Shabbat begins at local sundown on Friday and ends at local sundown on Saturday. Use the location button above when you want the calendar to calculate sunset for where you are physically located.

Saturday, not Sunday: the New Testament itself distinguishes the Sabbath from “the first day of the week.” Luke 23:56 says Yeshua’s followers rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment, and Luke 24:1 then identifies the following day as the first day of the week. This calendar therefore does not redefine the seventh-day Shabbat as Sunday. Christians have different theological traditions concerning Sabbath observance, so this section states the Torah-observant interpretation used by this calendar rather than claiming that all Christian traditions agree.

References: Genesis 2:2–3; Exodus 20:8–11; Exodus 31:13–17; Leviticus 23:3; Luke 23:54–24:1.

Work restrictions: Hag Matzot (Feast of Unleavened Bread) Days 1 and 7, Shavuot (Feast of Weeks), Yom Teruah (Feast of Trumpets) on Month 7 Day 1, Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) Day 1, and Shemini Atzeret (Eighth-Day Assembly) prohibit servile/customary work. The Day of Atonement is stricter: Leviticus 23:28 commands that no work be done. Pesach (Passover) on Day 14 and the wave-sheaf day do not contain an express feast-day work prohibition in Leviticus 23. Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) Day 7 is likewise not identified there as a no-work day; the prohibitions apply to Day 1 and Day 8.

Work timing: The civil date shown with WORK NOT PERMITTED is the daytime date contained within the sundown-to-sundown biblical day. Anyone whose work shift extends past sundown on the preceding civil date should also account for that portion of the previous evening.