Bible Dictionaries
Feast

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words

"a feast of festival," is used (a) especially of those of the Jews, and particularly of the Passover; the word is found mostly in John's Gospel (seventeen times); apart from the Gospels it is used in this way only in Acts 18:21; (b) in a more general way, in Colossians 2:16 , AV, "holy day," RV, "a feast day."

denotes (a) "the chief meal of the day," dinner or supper, taken at or towards evening; in the plural "feasts," Matthew 23:6; Mark 6:21; 12:39; Luke 20:46; otherwise translated "supper," Luke 14:12,16,17,24; John 12:2; 13:2,4; 21:20; 1 Corinthians 11:21 (of a social meal); (b) "the Lord's Supper," 1 Corinthians 11:20; (c) "the supper or feast" which will celebrate the marriage of Christ with His spirtual Bride, at the inauguration of His Kingdom, Revelation 19:9; (d) figuratively, of that to which the birds of prey will be summoned after the overthrow of the enemies of the Lord at the termination of the war of Armageddon, Revelation 19:17 (cp. Ezekiel 39:4,17-20 ). See SUPPER.

"a reception feast, a banquet" (from dechomai, "to receive"), Luke 5:29; 14:13 (not the same as No. 2; see ver. 12).

"a wedding," especially a wedding "feast" (akin to gameo, "to marry"); it is used in the plural in the following passages (the RV rightly has "marriage feast" for the AV, "marriage," or "wedding"), Matthew 22:2,3,4,9 (in verses Matthew 22:11,12 , it is used in the singular, in connection with the wedding garment); 25:10; Luke 12:36; 14:8; in the following it signifies a wedding itself, John 2:1,2; Hebrews 13:4; and figuratively in Revelation 19:7 , of the marriage of the Lamb; in Revelation 19:9 it is used in connection with the supper, the wedding supper (or what in English is termed "breakfast"), not the wedding itself, as in ver. 7.

"love," is used in the plural in Jude 1:12 , signifying "love feasts," RV (AV, "feasts of charity"); in the corresponding passage, 2 Peter 2:13 , the most authentic mss. have the word apate, in the plural, "deceivings."

Notes: (1) In 1 Corinthians 10:27 the verb kaleo, "to call," in the sense of inviting to one's house, is translated "biddeth you (to a feast);" in the most authentic texts there is no separate phrase representing "to a feast," as in some mss., eis deipnon (No. 2). (2) In Mark 14:2; John 2:23 the AV translates heorte (see No. 1) by "feast day" (RV, "feast"). (3) For the "Feast of the Dedication," John 10:22 , see DEDICATION.

"to keep festival" (akin to A, No. 1) is translated "let us keep the feast," in 1 Corinthians 5:8 . This is not the Lord's Supper, nor the Passover, but has reference to the continuous life of the believer as a festival or holy-day (see AV, margin), in freedom from "the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."

"to entertain sumptuously with," is used in the Passive Voice, denoting "to feast sumptuously with" (sun, "together," and euochia, "good cheer"), "to revel with," translated "feast with" in 2 Peter 2:13; Jude 1:12 .