The Hebrews attached special significance to each new moon, which was the occasion for sacrifices (Num. 28: 11 ff.), and on the first day of the seventh month no work was to be done (Lev. 23: 24 f.). The moon was a celestial object of awe (Job 31: 26) and moon‐worship was practised by Israel's neighbours. The modern superstition that the moon affects the mind (‘lunatics’) can be discerned in the OT (Ps. 121: 6) and in the Greek word translated ‘epileptics’ (Matt. 4: 24; 17: 15) in modern translation but ‘lunatics’ by AV.