Exodus 23:14
New International Version
“Three times a year you are to celebrate a festival to me.

New Living Translation
“Each year you must celebrate three festivals in my honor.

English Standard Version
“Three times in the year you shall keep a feast to me.

Berean Standard Bible
Three times a year you are to celebrate a feast to Me.

King James Bible
Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.

New King James Version
“Three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year:

New American Standard Bible
“Three times a year you shall celebrate a feast to Me.

NASB 1995
“Three times a year you shall celebrate a feast to Me.

NASB 1977
“Three times a year you shall celebrate a feast to Me.

Legacy Standard Bible
“Three times a year you shall celebrate a feast to Me.

Amplified Bible
“Three times a year you shall celebrate a feast [dedicated] to Me.

Christian Standard Bible
“Celebrate a festival in my honor three times a year.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Celebrate a festival in My honor three times a year.

American Standard Version
Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.

Contemporary English Version
Celebrate three festivals each year in my honor.

English Revised Version
Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
"Three times a year you must celebrate a pilgrimage festival in my honor.

Good News Translation
"Celebrate three festivals a year to honor me.

International Standard Version
"Three times a year you are to celebrate a festival for me.

Majority Standard Bible
Three times a year you are to celebrate a feast to Me.

NET Bible
"Three times in the year you must make a pilgrim feast to me.

New Heart English Bible
"You shall observe a feast to me three times a year.

Webster's Bible Translation
Three times thou shalt keep a feast to me in the year.

World English Bible
“You shall observe a feast to me three times a year.
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
You keep a celebration to Me three times in a year:

Young's Literal Translation
'Three times thou dost keep a feast to Me in a year;

Smith's Literal Translation
Three times thou shalt keep a festival to me in the year.
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
Three times every year you shall celebrate feasts to me.

Catholic Public Domain Version
Three times in each year, you shall celebrate feasts to me.

New American Bible
Three times a year you shall celebrate a pilgrim feast to me.

New Revised Standard Version
Three times in the year you shall hold a festival for me.
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
Three times in the year you shall celebrate a festival for me.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
Make to me a feast three times in a year.
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto Me in the year.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Keep ye a feast to me three times in the year.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Three Yearly Feasts
14Three times a year you are to celebrate a feast to Me. 15You are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread as I commanded you: At the appointed time in the month of Abib you are to eat unleavened bread for seven days, because that was the month you came out of Egypt. No one may appear before Me empty-handed.…

Cross References
Deuteronomy 16:16
Three times a year all your men are to appear before the LORD your God in the place He will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles. No one should appear before the LORD empty-handed.

Leviticus 23:4-44
These are the LORD’s appointed feasts, the sacred assemblies you are to proclaim at their appointed times. / The Passover to the LORD begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month. / On the fifteenth day of the same month begins the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD. For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. ...

2 Chronicles 8:13
He observed the daily requirement for offerings according to the commandment of Moses for Sabbaths, New Moons, and the three annual appointed feasts—the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles.

Numbers 28:16-25
The fourteenth day of the first month is the LORD’s Passover. / On the fifteenth day of this month, there shall be a feast; for seven days unleavened bread is to be eaten. / On the first day there is to be a sacred assembly; you must not do any regular work. ...

Numbers 29:12-40
On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, you are to hold a sacred assembly; you must not do any regular work, and you shall observe a feast to the LORD for seven days. / As a pleasing aroma to the LORD, you are to present a food offering, a burnt offering of thirteen young bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs a year old, all unblemished, / along with the grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil with each of the thirteen bulls, two-tenths of an ephah with each of the two rams, ...

Deuteronomy 16:1-17
Observe the month of Abib and celebrate the Passover to the LORD your God, because in the month of Abib the LORD your God brought you out of Egypt by night. / You are to offer to the LORD your God the Passover sacrifice from the herd or flock in the place the LORD will choose as a dwelling for His Name. / You must not eat leavened bread with it; for seven days you are to eat with it unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you left the land of Egypt in haste—so that you may remember for the rest of your life the day you left the land of Egypt. ...

1 Kings 9:25
Three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar he had built for the LORD, burning incense with them before the LORD. So he completed the temple.

2 Chronicles 30:21-23
The Israelites who were present in Jerusalem celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with great joy, and the Levites and priests praised the LORD day after day, accompanied by loud instruments of praise to the LORD. / And Hezekiah encouraged all the Levites who performed skillfully before the LORD. For seven days they ate their assigned portion, sacrificing peace offerings and giving thanks to the LORD, the God of their fathers. / The whole assembly agreed to observe seven more days, so they observed seven days with joy.

2 Chronicles 35:17-19
The Israelites who were present also observed the Passover at that time, as well as the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days. / No such Passover had been observed in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet. None of the kings of Israel ever observed a Passover like the one that Josiah observed with the priests, the Levites, all Judah, the Israelites who were present, and the people of Jerusalem. / In the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign, this Passover was observed.

Ezra 6:19-22
On the fourteenth day of the first month, the exiles kept the Passover. / All the priests and Levites had purified themselves and were ceremonially clean. And the Levites slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the exiles, for their priestly brothers, and for themselves. / The Israelites who had returned from exile ate it, together with all who had separated themselves from the uncleanness of the peoples of the land to seek the LORD, the God of Israel. ...

Matthew 26:17-19
On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?” / He answered, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him that the Teacher says, ‘My time is near. I will keep the Passover with My disciples at your house.’” / So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover.

Mark 14:12-16
On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb was to be sacrificed, Jesus’ disciples asked Him, “Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?” / So He sent two of His disciples and told them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jug of water will meet you. Follow him, / and whichever house he enters, say to the owner, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is My guest room, where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?’ ...

Luke 22:7-13
Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb was to be sacrificed. / Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.” / “Where do You want us to prepare it?” they asked. ...

John 2:13-23
When the Jewish Passover was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. / In the temple courts He found men selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and money changers seated at their tables. / So He made a whip out of cords and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle. He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. ...

John 6:4
Now the Jewish Feast of the Passover was near.


Treasury of Scripture

Three times you shall keep a feast to me in the year.

Exodus 34:22
And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end.

Leviticus 23:5,16,34
In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD'S passover…

Deuteronomy 16:16
Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty:

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Exodus 23
1. Of slander, false witness, and partiality
4. Of charitableness
6. Of justice in judgment
8. Of taking bribes
9. Of oppressing a stranger
10. Of the year of rest
12. Of the Sabbath
13. Of idolatry
14. Of the three feasts
18. Of the blood and the fat of the sacrifice
20. An angel is promised, with a blessing, if they obey him














Three times a year
This phrase sets the stage for the establishment of a rhythm of worship and remembrance in the life of the Israelites. The Hebrew root for "times" is "פְּעָמִים" (pe'amim), which can also mean "steps" or "occasions," indicating a deliberate and repeated action. Historically, these three annual festivals were central to the communal and spiritual life of Israel, serving as reminders of God's provision and deliverance. They were opportunities for the Israelites to pause and reflect on their relationship with God, reinforcing their identity as His chosen people.

you are to celebrate
The Hebrew word used here is "חָגַג" (chagag), which means to hold a feast or to celebrate. This is not merely a suggestion but a command, emphasizing the importance of joy and gratitude in worship. Celebrations were not just personal but communal, fostering unity and shared faith among the people. The act of celebrating was a way to acknowledge God's sovereignty and goodness, reinforcing the covenant relationship between God and Israel.

a feast to Me
The phrase underscores that these celebrations are directed towards God, not merely social gatherings. The Hebrew word for "feast" is "חַג" (chag), which implies a sacred festival. These feasts were acts of worship, designed to honor God and remember His mighty acts. The focus on "to Me" highlights the theocentric nature of these festivals, reminding the Israelites that their lives and celebrations are ultimately for God's glory.

(14-17) The first great festival--the Passover festival--had been already instituted (Exodus 12:3-20; Exodus 13:3-10). It pleased the Divine Legislator at this time to add to that festival two others, and to make all three equally obligatory. There is some reason to suppose that, in germ, the "feast of harvest" and the "feast of ingathering" already existed. All nations, from the earliest time to which history reaches back, had festival seasons of a religious character; and no seasons are more suitable for such festivities than the conclusion of the grain-harvest, and the final completion of the entire harvest of the year. At any rate, whatever the previous practice, these three festival-seasons were now laid down as essential parts of the Law, and continued--supplemented by two others--the national festivals so long as Israel was a nation. In other countries such seasons were more common. Herodotus says that the Egyptians had six great yearly festival-times (ii. 59); and in Greece and Rome there was never a month without some notable religious festivity. Such institutions exerted a political as well as a religious influence, and helped towards national unity. This was more especially the case when, as in the present instance, they were expressly made gatherings of the whole nation to a single centre. What the great Greek panegyries, Olympic, Pythian, &c., were to Hellas, that the three great annual gatherings to the place where God had fixed His name were to Israel--a means of drawing closer the national bond, and counteracting those separatist tendencies which a nation split into tribes almost necessarily developed.

Verses 14-17. - Law of Festivals. "The sanctification of days and times," says Richard Hooker, "is a token of that thankfulness and a part of that public honour which we owe to God for admirable benefits, whereof it doth not suffice that we keep a secret calendar, taking thereby our private occasions as we list ourselves to think how much God hath done for all men; but the days which are chosen out to serve as public memorials of such his mercies ought to be clothed with those outward robes of holiness whereby their difference from other days may be made sensible" (Eccles. Pol. 5:70, § 1). All ancient religions had solemn festival seasons, when particular mercies of God were specially commemorated, and when men, meeting together in large numbers, mutually cheered and excited each other to a warmer devotion and a more hearty pouring forth of thanks than human weakness made possible at other times. In Egypt such festivals were frequent, and held a high place in the religion (Herod. 2:58-64:). Abraham's family had probably had observances of the kind in their Mesopotamian home. God's providence saw good now to give supernatural sanction to the natural piety which had been accustomed thus to express itself. Three great feasts were appointed, of which the most remarkable features were -

1. That they were at once agricultural and historical - connected with the regularly recurrent course of the seasons, and connected also with great events in the life of the nation;

2. That they could be kept only at one spot, that namely where the tabernacle was at the time located;

3. That they were to be attended by the whole male population. The three festivals are here called - . . .

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Three
שָׁלֹ֣שׁ (šā·lōš)
Number - feminine singular
Strong's 7969: Three, third, thrice

times
רְגָלִ֔ים (rə·ḡā·lîm)
Noun - feminine plural
Strong's 7272: A foot, a step, the pudenda

a year
בַּשָּׁנָֽה׃ (baš·šā·nāh)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 8141: A year

you are to celebrate a feast
תָּחֹ֥ג (tā·ḥōḡ)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - second person masculine singular
Strong's 2287: To make a pilgrimage, keep a pilgrim feast

to Me.
לִ֖י (lî)
Preposition | first person common singular
Strong's Hebrew


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OT Law: Exodus 23:14 You shall observe a feast to me (Exo. Ex)
Exodus 23:13
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