• Beginning of the Year
  Ez 40:1 references “the beginning of the year on the 10^th day of the month”.  This would be the Day of Atonement, or the 10^th of Ethanim.  The word “beginning” is the Hebrew word “roshe” which means principal, sum or top (H7218).  The word “year” is the Hebrew word “shawneh” and combined as in Rosh Hashanah, commonly known as the Feast of Trumpets.  This sets the principal, top or beginning of the year as the month of Ethanim.  It is during the month of Ethanim that the beginning of the year is established, after the Feast of Tabernacles.  There is no other scriptural reference for the beginning of the year.

•  Both Ex 23:16 and Ex 34:22 (KJV) reference the Feast of Tabernacles (Ethanim 15-22) as being “in the end of the year” and “at years end” respectively.  The Hebrew Roots Bible better translates these two verses as “the going out of the year” and “after the turn of the year”.  In Ex 23:16, the Hebrew word for “end” is “yawtsaw” (H3318) and means to go out, go forth, come forth or appear.  The word “end” in    Ex 34:22 is from the Hebrew “tequphah” (H8622) and means a complete cycle or revolution of the sun.  The Hebrew Roots Bible translates these verses as “at the going out of the year” and “after the turn of the year”.  This is referring to the cycle of the old year going out and the new year coming in.  The Feast of Tabernacles is the festival at which the harvest is celebrated.  The preparation and planting of next year’s harvest would commence immediately after the Feast of Tabernacles.

• The end of the 6th year of sowing and reaping initiates the Sabbatical year which starts on the Day of Atonement.  The scriptural instruction shows us that the trumpet (shofar) is blown to initiate the Jubilee year (Lev 25:8-10).  By necessity, the previous year, whether Sabbatical or not must end the day before. The result is the new Sabbatical or Jubilee year begins on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur).  This is the start of the new (agricultural) year.  The scripture below (Deu 31:9-11) instructs the Israelite’s to read the law 4 days later at the Feast of Tabernacles at the end of the Sabbatical year that had just completed:
  
  And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it unto the priests the sons of Levi, which bare the ark of the covenant of YHWH, and unto all the elders of Israel. And Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of every seven years, in the solemnity of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles, When all Israel is come to appear before YHWH thy Eloah in the place which he shall choose, thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their hearing. (Deu 31:9-11 KJV) 

• Implied in the following scripture is the beginning of the year is the season of the “first rain” (IE. early rain).  The autumn rains (also called the early rains) come in September-October, and the spring rains are in March-April.  Those rains begin and end the rainy season.  It follows in the context of this scripture that the beginning of the year is when the first rains (early rains) occur.
  
  For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs: But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven: A land which YHWH thy Eloah careth for: the eyes of YHWH thy Eloah are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.  And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love YHWH your Eloah, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.
  (Deu 11:10-14 KJV)
  1. Beginning of year = first rain
  2. Middle of year = latter rain and beginning of harvest (grain crops)
  3. End of year = completion of harvest (grapes & olives)

• It is written in Joel that the latter rains come in the first month  as follows: Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in YHWH your Eloah: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month (the word month is added in KJV).
  (Joe 2:23 KJV)
  Note – some Bible versions translation first month “as before”

• Beginning of months
  This month is to be the beginning of months for you; it is the first month of your year. (Ex 12:2 HCSB)
  The word “beginning” is the same Hebrew word “roshe” used in Ez 40:1.  It means the principal or top of months (new moons) or “roshe khodesh”.  The beginning of months does not necessarily mean beginning of the year.  The beginning of months is simply the number one month.  The Gregorian calendar has conditioned us to associate the beginning month (January) with the beginning of the year (New Years).  This is a completely arbitrary association that is made by tradition and has no associated scriptural calendar practice.

• The Biblical calendar numbers the months starting in the middle of the year (agriculture cycle).  The 1^st month (Abib) comes in the middle of the year.

Notice the Hebrew Roots Bible translation:

And you shall observe a Feast of Weeks for yourself, the first-fruits of the harvest of wheat; also the Feast of Ingathering after the turn of the year. (Ex 34:22 HRB)

There is zero scriptural evidence for 2 separate calendars; one for a civil year (starting in Ethanim) and one for a sacred year (starting in Abib).  This is a man made distinction not supported by scripture.  There is no scripture that states the new year starts with Abib.  More specifically, Abib is referred to as the beginning of months (not the new year as we think of January on the Gregorian calendar).  In other words, month number one is Abib, not the new year.  The Gregorian calendar has conditioned us to correlate the new year with the first month (January).  This custom has been carried over to YHWY’s calendar but simply has no basis.

The biblical agricultural/farming calendar cycle offsets the numbering of the months by 7 months.  The new year starts in Ethanim with the time of sowing immediately after the FOT.  The agricultural/farming/Jubilee cycle is marked by The Blowing of a Trumpet at Atonement (Lev 25:9).  Also see the in depth study titled  Sabbatical and Jubilee Analysis Pt 1.

Biblical Calendar
Number of month	Hebrew Name	Babylonian Name	Gregorian Name
7 Roshe Shawneh	Ethanim	Tishri	Sep-Oct	Beginning of Year Sabbatical & Jubilee cycle starts	Ex 23:16 Ex 34:22 Lev 25:9
8	Bul	Kheshvan	Oct-Nov		Start Sowing
9	9th	Kislev	Nov-Dec		Sowing
10	10th	Tevet	Dec-Jan		Sowing
11	11th	Shevat	Jan-Feb		Sowing
12	12th	Adar	Feb-Mar
13 *	13th	Adar II	Mar-Apr	*** as needed
1 Roshe Khodesh	Abib	Nisan	Mar–Apr	Beginning of months	Ex 12:2 Start Reaping
2	Ziv	Iyyar	Apr-May		Reaping
3	3rd	Sivan	May-Jun		Reaping
4	4th	Tammuz	Jun-Jul		Reaping
5	5th	Av	Jul-Aug		Reaping
6	6th	Elul	Aug-Sep		Reaping

Tishri to Tishri Calendar Accounting

A good example of Biblical Calendar dating is found in Nehemiah, chapters 1 and 2:

In this account, after the return of the Israelite’s from exile in Babylon, Nehemiah received word that the inhabitants in Jerusalem were experiencing severe harassment from the local Samaritans and gentiles as a result of the poor repair of the city walls and fortifications. Notice that it is the 20th year in the month Chisleu (Kislev, month 9)

• The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. And it came to pass in the month Chisleu (Kislev, month 9 above) , in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace, That Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire. (Neh 1:1-3 KJV)

As a result, Nehemiah leverages his position as King Artaxerxes’s cup bearer to secure the King’s financial assistance and a leave of absence to return to Jerusalem and oversee the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. Notice it is still the 20th year in the month Nisan (month 1) and not the 21st year.

• And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence. Wherefore the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid, And said unto the king, Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire? (Neh 2:1-3 KJV)

It is notable that the month Chisleu (Kislev) came before Nisan in the same calendar year. The only possible reconciliation to the dating of these events being both the 20th year, is for the year to begin with Tishri, the 7th month numerically. Nisan cannot be the beginning of the year or else it would not be possible to include Chisleu (Kislev) and Nisan as the same 20th year. By reckoning the beginning of the year with Tishri, in the fall, it is easy to see that the month Chisleu comes before Nisan in any given calendar year.

This account additionally shows us that the Kingdom of Judah utilized a Tishri to Tishri (fall to fall) calendar for regnal anniversary dates. In the case of King Artaxerxes, the 20th year of his reign was reconciled from Tishri to Tishri, not Nisan to Nisan.