Times of Refreshing: Key Scriptures related to Pentecost

Exodus 23:14-16
Three times a year you are to celebrate a festival to me.

Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in that month you came out of Egypt. ...

Celebrate the Feast of Harvest [Pentecost] with the firstfruits of the crops you sow in your field.

Celebrate the Feast of Ingathering [Tabernacles/Booths] at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field.

For the most complete overview in the Bible regarding the whole collection of biblical Feasts and Holy Days, see These are My Appointed Feasts...elsewhere on this Times of Refreshing website. For clarification of these terms see the articles What is a "Feast"? and What is a "Holy Day"?.

The following are the key passages in the Old and New Testaments
directly referring to the observance of the
Feast of Pentecost

The Feast of Pentecost is also called the Feast of Weeks and Feast of Firstfruits, in English, and Shavuot in Hebrew.

See the article What are "Firstfruits"? for an explanation of this term and its biblical relevance.

Old Testament

Leviticus 23:9-14
The beginning of the count toward Pentecost, at the time of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

The LORD said to Moses, "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'When you enter the land I am going to give you and you reap its harvest, bring to the priest a sheaf of the first grain you harvest. He is to wave the sheaf before the LORD so it will be accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath.

On the day you wave the sheaf, you must sacrifice as a burnt offering to the LORD a lamb a year old without defect, together with its grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil-an offering made to the LORD by fire, a pleasing aroma-and its drink offering of a quarter of a hin of wine.

You must not eat any bread, or roasted or new grain, until the very day you bring this offering to your God. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.

Leviticus 23:15-21
The original command to observe the Feast of Pentecost.

From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks. Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the LORD . From wherever you live, bring two loaves made of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour, baked with yeast, as a wave offering of firstfruits to the LORD . Present with this bread seven male lambs, each a year old and without defect, one young bull and two rams. They will be a burnt offering to the LORD , together with their grain offerings and drink offerings-an offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to the LORD . Then sacrifice one male goat for a sin offering and two lambs, each a year old, for a fellowship offering. The priest is to wave the two lambs before the LORD as a wave offering, together with the bread of the firstfruits. They are a sacred offering to the LORD for the priest. On that same day you are to proclaim a sacred assembly and do no regular work. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.

Numbers 28:26

Another mention of the need to observe this Feast.

On the day of firstfruits, when you present to the LORD an offering of new grain during the Feast of Weeks, hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work.

Exodus 34:26

The first command to offer firstfruits, which was eventually traditionally done on Pentecost.

Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God.

Deuteronomy 8:7-10
The description of the primary crops of the Promised Land, offered traditionally as "firstfruits," which are given the name "the seven species" by the Jews.
For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with streams and pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys and hills; a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and [date] honey; a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.
When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.

New Testament

Acts 1:1-8
Jesus tells the disciples to wait for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.

After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.

On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit."

So when they met together, they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?"

He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

Many people who accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, whether they refer to themselves as "Christian" or "Messianic," observe Pentecost and the other biblical Feasts and Holy Days as times of worship, fellowship, and celebration. They believe that these celebrations are shadows pointing to the reality of Jesus. And they believe that there are valuable spiritual lessons to be learned year by year through actually physically setting aside these Times of Refreshing as "appointments with God."

For more about the biblical Feasts in general, see the article Theme Times elsewhere on this Times of Refreshing website.

For an explanation of the Christian observance of each of the Feasts and Holy Days as they come in their seasons, explore the links on the navigation bar above.

For sources of the Hebrew, Greek, and English definitions in this and other articles on this website, see the Information page.

Click each title below to go to a collection of
Old and New Testament passages related to that specific Time of Refreshing.

All of the articles on this Times of Refreshing website were written by Pam Dewey, with the support and sponsorship of Common Ground Christian Ministries. For more of Pam's inspirational and educational writings, visit The Oasis website at