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The Hebrew Calendar
The Jewish people used two basic calendars:	SACRED — for sacred festivals CIVIL — official calendar of kings, childbirth, and contracts

Names of Months	Roman Months	Month of Sacred Year	Month of Civil Year	Sacred Festivals/Biblical References	Corresponding Agricultural Seasons
Abib or Nisan	Mar/Apr	1^st	7^th	Ex. 12:2, 13:4 1^st—New Moon; Sacred Year begins 14^th—Passover Feast 15^th—Holy Convocation; Week of Unleavened Bread begins 16^th—Offering of Omer or First Sheaf (Lev. 23:10-12) 21^st—Holy Convocation	Latter or spring rains (Deut. 11:14) Barley Harvest
Iyyar or Zif	Apr/May	2^nd	8^th	1 Kings 6:1	Barley harvest (Ruth 1:22)
Sivan	May/June	3^rd	9^th	Esther 8:9 Feast of Pentecost
Tammuz	June/July	4^th	10^th	Jeremiah 52:5-7	Wheat Harvest
Ab	July/Aug	5^th	11^th	Not Mentioned
Elul	Aug/Sep	6^th	12^th	Nehemiah 6:15
Tishri	Sep/Oct	7^th	1^st	1 Kings 8:2 1^st—Beginning of Civil Year 1^st—Feast of Trumpets 10^th—Day of Atonement 15^th—Feast of Tabernacles begins 21^st—Feast of Branches or Palms	Former or early rains (Joel 2:23) Plowing and sowing begin
Bul (Marcheshvan)	Oct/Nov	8^th	2^nd	1 Kings 6:38	Wheat and barley sown
Kislev	Nov/Dec	9^th	3^rd	Jer 36:9, 22; Zech 7:1
Tebeth Sebat	Dec/Jan Jan/Feb	10^th 11^th	4^th 5^th	Esther 2:16 1 Chron. 17:14; Zech. 1:7
Adar	Feb/Mar	12^th	6^th	Esther 3:7	Almond trees blossom
*Ve-adar	Intercalary	13^th		Not Mentioned
Hebrew months were alternately 30 and 29 days long. Their year, shorter than ours, had 354 days. Therefore, about every 3 years (7 times in 19 years) an extra 29-day month, Ve-Adar,* was added between Adar and Nisan.


The Jewish day, from sunset, was divided into 8 equal parts:
Night:	First Watch Second Watch Third Watch Fourth Watch	Sunset to 9 P.M. 9 P.M. to Midnight Midnight to 3 A.M. 3 A.M. to Sunrise	Day:	First Watch Second Watch Third Watch Fourth Watch	Sunrise to 9 A.M. 9 A.M. to Noon Noon to 3 P.M. 3 P.M. to Sunset
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