א׳ בניסן 1st 𝑜𝑓 NisanPrecision: recurring-day · Basis: not-assessed
Chronology in
מגילת המקדש
MEGILAT HAʾMIKDAŜ
מגילת המקדש MEGILAT HAʾMIKDAŜ (the Temple Scroll) orders worship around an ideal בית המקדש BEIT HAʾMIKDAŜ. The sequence joins priestly consecration and harvest offerings to familiar festivals. These are prescribed rites, not reports that every community among יהודים YEHUDIM performed them.1
The dates belong to a reconstructed 364-day calendar, not the later fixed עברית IVRIT calendar. Month names provide navigation for the scroll's numbered months; no absolute year is implied. Links to existing observances identify the related festival, not identical calendar reckoning.2
ט״ו בניסן 15th 𝑜𝑓 NisanPrecision: recurring-day · Basis: not-assessed
The seven-day Festival of Unleavened Bread begins, following the פסח PESAḤ sacrifice on י״ד בניסן 14th 𝑜𝑓 Nisan.
ט״ו בניסן 15th 𝑜𝑓 Nisan: The seven-day Festival of Unleavened Bread begins, following the פסח PESAḤ sacrifice on י״ד בניסן 14th 𝑜𝑓 Nisan.4
כ״א בניסן 21st 𝑜𝑓 NisanPrecision: recurring-day · Basis: not-assessed
The seventh day concludes the festival week.
כ״א בניסן 21st 𝑜𝑓 Nisan: The seventh day concludes the festival week. The barley offering follows on the next Sunday.5
כ״ו בניסן 26th 𝑜𝑓 NisanPrecision: recurring-day · Basis: not-assessed
The barley עומר OMER (sheaf offering) begins the first count toward the wheat festival.
כ״ו בניסן 26th 𝑜𝑓 Nisan: The barley עומר OMER (sheaf offering) begins the first count toward the wheat festival. Its placement follows the reconstructed Sunday after the week of unleavened bread.6
ט״ו בסיון 15th 𝑜𝑓 SivanPrecision: recurring-day · Basis: not-assessed
New Wheat brings the first produce as leavened bread.
ט״ו בסיון 15th 𝑜𝑓 Sivan: New Wheat brings the first produce as leavened bread. This is the scroll's placement of שבועות ŜAVUʾOT, distinct from its later recurring observance on ו׳ בסיון 6th 𝑜𝑓 Sivan.7
ג׳ באב 3rd 𝑜𝑓 AvPrecision: recurring-day · Basis: not-assessed
New Wine extends the first-produce sequence from grain to grapes.
ג׳ באב 3rd 𝑜𝑓 Av: New Wine extends the first-produce sequence from grain to grapes. Another count leads onward to oil.8
כ״ב באלול 22nd 𝑜𝑓 ElulPrecision: recurring-day · Basis: not-assessed
New Oil completes the three successive fifty-day counts.
כ״ב באלול 22nd 𝑜𝑓 Elul: New Oil completes the three successive fifty-day counts. The calendar joins the land's principal harvests to offerings at בית המקדש BEIT HAʾMIKDAŜ.9
כ״ג באלול 23rd 𝑜𝑓 ElulPrecision: recurring-day · Basis: not-assessed
The six-day Wood Offering begins, continuing through כ״ח באלול 28th 𝑜𝑓 Elul.
כ״ג באלול 23rd 𝑜𝑓 Elul: The six-day Wood Offering begins, continuing through כ״ח באלול 28th 𝑜𝑓 Elul. The fragmentary passage places the provision of altar fuel alongside the harvest rites.10
א׳ בתשרי 1st 𝑜𝑓 TiŝreiPrecision: recurring-day · Basis: not-assessed
The seventh month opens with the observance associated with ראש השנה ROŜ HAʾŜANA.
א׳ בתשרי 1st 𝑜𝑓 Tiŝrei: The seventh month opens with the observance associated with ראש השנה ROŜ HAʾŜANA. The scroll's damaged passage requires textual restoration.11
י׳ בתשרי 10th 𝑜𝑓 TiŝreiPrecision: recurring-day · Basis: not-assessed
יום הכיפורים YOM HAʾKIPURIM brings atonement and abstention from work into the annual sequence.
י׳ בתשרי 10th 𝑜𝑓 Tiŝrei: יום הכיפורים YOM HAʾKIPURIM brings atonement and abstention from work into the annual sequence.12
ט״ו בתשרי 15th 𝑜𝑓 TiŝreiPrecision: recurring-day · Basis: not-assessed
סוכות SUKOT begins, with its sequence of festival offerings.
ט״ו בתשרי 15th 𝑜𝑓 Tiŝrei: סוכות SUKOT begins, with its sequence of festival offerings.13
What does this sequence establish?
The sequence connects the produce of ארץ ישראל EREẒ YISRAʾEL with priestly service and communal sacred time. It preserves an argument within יהדות YAHADUT about how the year should be ordered, not an interchangeable list of festivals.
The principal witness is 11Q19. Other manuscripts can help restore damaged passages or corroborate dates, but a composite edition is not one continuously preserved scroll. Detailed reconstructions belong beside the original text and translation in the linked articles.14
Footnotes
- Sweeney,
Three Shavuot Festivals,
; Alex P. Jassen, “The Wood Offering Celebration – ‘As Written in the Torah’” (2018) ↩ - Beckwith,
The ‘Temple’ Scroll,
17–18; Sweeney,Three Shavuot Festivals,
Calendar appendix ↩ - Alex P. Jassen, “The Wood Offering Celebration – ‘As Written in the Torah’” (2018) Discussion of 11Q19 15:3–17:4; Jacob Milgrom, “New Temple Festivals in the Temple Scroll” (1984), 125–133 ↩
- Sweeney,
Three Shavuot Festivals,
Calendar appendix ↩ - Beckwith,
The ‘Temple’ Scroll,
17–18 ↩ - Beckwith,
The ‘Temple’ Scroll,
16–18 ↩ - Sweeney,
Three Shavuot Festivals,
11Q19 18:10–19:9 and calendar appendix ↩ - Sweeney,
Three Shavuot Festivals,
11Q19 19:11–21:10 ↩ - Sweeney,
Three Shavuot Festivals,
11Q19 21:11–16 ↩ - Alex P. Jassen, “The Wood Offering Celebration – ‘As Written in the Torah’” (2018) 11Q19 23:2–7 ↩
- Michael Owen Wise, A Critical Study of the Temple Scroll from Qumran Cave 11 (1990) Compositional appendix, p. 219, 11Q19 25:9–10 ↩
- Michael Owen Wise, A Critical Study of the Temple Scroll from Qumran Cave 11 (1990) Compositional appendix, p. 219, 11Q19 25–27 ↩
- Michael Owen Wise, A Critical Study of the Temple Scroll from Qumran Cave 11 (1990) Compositional appendix, pp. 219–220, 11Q19 27–29 ↩
- Sweeney,
Three Shavuot Festivals,
Notes 12 and 16 ↩
The annual consecration of the כהנים KOHANIM (priests) begins.
The seven-day Festival of Unleavened Bread begins, following the פסח PESAḤ sacrifice on י״ד בניסן 14th 𝑜𝑓 Nisan.
The seventh day concludes the festival week.
The barley עומר OMER (sheaf offering) begins the first count toward the wheat festival.
New Wheat brings the first produce as leavened bread.
New Wine extends the first-produce sequence from grain to grapes.
New Oil completes the three successive fifty-day counts.
The six-day Wood Offering begins, continuing through כ״ח באלול 28th 𝑜𝑓 Elul.
The seventh month opens with the observance associated with ראש השנה ROŜ HAʾŜANA.
יום הכיפורים YOM HAʾKIPURIM brings atonement and abstention from work into the annual sequence.
סוכות SUKOT begins, with its sequence of festival offerings.