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Jubilee
[Bible]The Jubilee was an Old Testament institution established in Leviticus 25. In the fiftieth year, after seven sabbatical cycles, land that had been sold returned to the family that originally held it, Israelites who had become servants were set free, and the land was left to rest.
Book of Enoch
[Bible]The Book of Enoch is an ancient Jewish apocalyptic work transmitted under the name of Enoch, the figure in Genesis. One of its passages is quoted in Jude 1:14-15, but neither Protestants nor Catholics regard it as canonical.
Jewish Calendar
[Bible]The Jewish calendar is the calendar used by ancient Israel and the Jewish people. It reckons months by the waxing and waning of the moon and adjusts the year to keep pace with the seasons. All the feast dates of the Old Testament follow this calendar.
Genesis 1
[Bible]The first chapter of Genesis, which recounts how God, by His word, made light, the sky, the land and seas, the heavenly bodies, and living creatures over six days, and created male and female in His own image.
Ram's Horn Trumpet
[Bible]The ram's horn trumpet, known in Hebrew as the shofar, is a trumpet made from the horn of a ram. It is best known from the account of the fall of Jericho in Joshua 6, in which priests blew it before the Ark of the Covenant.
Servant (Bible)
[Bible]In the Bible, a servant is a person bound to serve another. The term can refer to the institution of slavery in the Old Testament, and it is also used in a religious sense for those who serve God and for the servanthood of Jesus Christ.
Revelation 7:3
[Bible Verses]Revelation 7:3 is the verse in which another angel cries out to the four angels who have been given power to hurt the earth, telling them to do no harm "till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads." It is commonly read as signifying the protection of God's people in the midst of judgment, and together with the passage on the 144,000 that follows, it has served as the basis for a variety of interpretations.
Mount Ararat
[Bible]Mount Ararat is the name of the mountainous region where Noah's ark came to rest after the Flood, as recorded in Genesis 8:4. The biblical "Ararat" originally referred to an ancient region in what is today eastern Turkey and Armenia.
Ezra 3
[Bible]Ezra 3 recounts how the people who had returned from Babylon rebuilt the altar in Jerusalem, offered burnt offerings, and kept the Feast of Tabernacles, and how in the following year they laid the foundation of the temple amid both praise and weeping.
Ararat
[Bible]Ararat is an Old Testament place name that refers both to the mountainous region where Noah's ark came to rest (Genesis 8:4) and to a nation of the ancient Near East. It is generally identified with the highland region of present-day eastern Turkey and Armenia.
Revelation 6
[Bible]Revelation 6 depicts the Lamb opening the first through the sixth of the seven seals. In succession appear the four horses and their riders, the cry of the martyrs beneath the altar, cosmic upheaval, and "the great day of his wrath."
Revelation 12
[Bible]Revelation 12 contains the vision of a woman clothed with the sun who gives birth to a son, a great red dragon who seeks to harm the child and the woman, and a war in heaven between Michael and the dragon, in which the dragon is cast down to the earth.
Jericho
[Bible]Jericho was an oasis city in the Jordan Valley, west of the Jordan River. It was the first city Israel captured after entering Canaan, as recounted in Joshua 6. In the New Testament it is the setting of the stories of Bartimaeus and Zacchaeus.
Vashti
[People]Vashti was the queen of Ahasuerus, king of Persia, who was deposed after refusing the king's summons. Her removal opened the way for Esther to become queen. She appears in Esther 1–2 in the Old Testament.
Joshua 6
[Bible]Joshua 6 recounts how Israel marched around the city of Jericho for seven days, brought down its walls with trumpet blasts and a great shout, and took the city. Rahab the harlot and her family were spared, in keeping with the promise made by the spies.
2 Kings 12
[Bible]Second Kings 12 recounts the forty-year reign of Joash, king of Judah. It records his repair of the temple with silver gathered in a collection chest, his sending of sacred treasures to Hazael king of Aram to induce him to withdraw, and his death in a conspiracy by his servants.
2 Chronicles 23
[Bible]2 Chronicles 23 tells how the priest Jehoiada gathered the captains of hundreds and the Levites, made the hidden prince Joash king in the temple, and put to death Athaliah, who had seized the throne. He then renewed the covenant, and the people abolished the worship of Baal.
Haggai 2
[Bible]Haggai 2 records three messages that Haggai received while the rebuilding of the temple was underway. It presents the promise of the latter glory of the new temple, a question-and-answer exchange on the law concerning holiness and uncleanness, and God's promise to make Zerubbabel as a signet.
Pentecost
[Feasts & Seasons]Pentecost is a church festival observed on the Sunday that falls on the fiftieth day after Easter. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Jesus Christ (Acts 2). It is also called Pentecost Sunday.
Haggai 2:4–5
[Bible Verses]Haggai 2:4–5 is a word of encouragement to the leaders and people who had returned from exile and had grown discouraged while rebuilding the temple, urging them to "be strong … and work" and to "fear ye not." Because it grounds this encouragement in God's presence and the Exodus covenant, it is frequently cited as a text of encouragement for church building projects and new ministries.