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DAY
1. Literal.—The length of the ‘day’ among the ancients was reckoned in various ways: thus, from morning to morning (Babylonians), from sunset to sunset (Athenians), from noon to noon (Umbrians), from midnight to midnight (Egyptians), and from dawn to dark by the common people, ordinarily (see Plin. HN ii. 79). The early Israelites seem to have regarded the morning as the beginning of the day (cf. Gen_1:5; Gen_1:8 ff.), but they likewise (due to the influence of the new moon) reckoned it from ‘even unto even’ (Lev_23:32). In Luk_22:34 also the new day began after sunset (cf. Luk_4:40). In the NT ἡìÝñá was employed to express: (1) the period of light in opposition to night (Luk_6:13 ‘and when it was day,’—a frequent phrase in St. Luke’s writings, cf. Luk_4:42, Luk_22:66, Act_12:18; Act_16:35; Act_23:12; Act_27:29; Act_27:33; Act_27:39, also Joh_9:4, 2Co_11:25); (2) the natural day, including the periods both of light and darkness (Mat_28:1 ἐðéöùóêïýóῃ , cf. Luk_22:34); (3) an indefinite period of time (Luk_1:5; Luk_1:39 ἐí ôáῖò ἠìÝñáéò ôáýôáéò , ‘in those days’; St. Luke is fond of this expression, it is not found in Jn., and occurs but four times in Mt. and the same number of times in Mk.; cf. Luk_2:1; Luk_4:2, Act_2:18; Act_3:24; Act_7:41 etc., also Mat_2:1; Mat_3:1, Mar_1:9; Mar_8:1; Mar_13:17; Mar_13:24 in true Hebraistic style).
Except the Sabbath, the days of the week were numbered by the Israelites, not named. Nor had the Hebrews any precise subdivision of the day, for they had no word for ‘hour’; even the Aramaic ùָׁòָä , which occurs in Dan_4:16; Dan_5:5, has no exact connotation. Like the Greeks, they seem to have learned from the Babylonians how to divide the day into 12 hours,—a division first met with in the NT: ‘Are there not twelve hours in the day?’ (Joh_11:9, cf. Act_2:15, Mat_20:3-6; Mat_27:45-46 etc.). The length of the hour, however, was for a long time a variable quantity, depending, as it did, upon the season of the year, for it was always reckoned as the twelfth part of the light period. It therefore ranged from forty-nine to seventy-one minutes, according to the calendar. The more common divisions of the day among the Hebrews were morning, noonday, and evening (Psa_55:17); but they frequently spoke of ‘sunrise’ and ‘dawn’ (Mar_16:2, Joh_20:1, Rev_22:16), ‘the heat of the day’ (Mat_20:12), ‘noon’ (Gen_43:16, Deu_28:29), ‘the cool of the day’ (Gen_3:8), and ‘between the two evenings,’ .e. towards evening (Exo_12:6; Exo_16:12, cf. Act_3:1; Act_10:3; Act_10:30). The time of incense, and of cock-crowing (wh. see) was in the morning (Mar_14:30; Mar_14:72, Luk_1:10); the time of the ‘meal-offering’ was in the middle of the afternoon (1Ki_18:29; 1Ki_18:36); while ‘the time that women go out to draw water’ was towards evening (Gen_24:11).
2. Figurative.—Figurative and metaphorical uses of the word ‘day’ are also frequent in the NT: e.g. the day of Christ’s appearance, i.e. of His apocalypse, or self-revelation (Luk_17:30 ‘in the day that the Son of Man is revealed,’ ἀðïêáëýðôåôáé , a technical expression: cf. Luk_17:24, Joh_8:56; Joh_14:20; Joh_16:23; Joh_16:26, Rom_13:12, 1Co_1:7-8, 2Th_1:7; 1Pe_1:7; 1Pe_1:13; 1Pe_4:13); ‘the day of his Parousia’ (Mat_7:22; Mat_24:36, Mar_13:32; Mar_14:25, Luk_21:34, 2Th_1:10, 2Ti_1:18, Heb_10:25); the days of His death and departure (Luk_5:35 ἐëåýóïíôáé äὲ ἡìÝñáé , ‘But the days will come,’ i.e. days very different from the joyous days of wedding festivity); the Last, or Judgment day (Joh_6:39; Joh_11:24; Joh_12:48, Mat_11:22, 1Jn_4:17, 1Th_5:2, 2Ti_3:1, Jam_5:3, and by contrast 1Co_4:3 ὑðὸ ἀíèñùðßíçò ἡìÝñáò , which describes human judgment as opposed to Christ’s day of final account, ἡìÝñá ôïῦ êõñßïõ ); His day of the offer of salvation (2Co_6:2, Joh_9:4; Joh_11:9); ‘the day of Christ’ (Php_1:10); ‘the day of the Lord’ (2Th_2:2, Rom_2:10, 2Co_1:14, Rev_6:17); ‘the day of God’ (2Pe_3:12); ‘the Lord’s day,’ ἠ êõñéáêἠ ἡìÝñá (Rev_1:10); the day of the gift of the Spirit (Joh_14:20); the day of completed salvation (Rom_13:12); ‘the evil day,’ of trial and temptation (Eph_6:13); ‘as children of the day,’ i.e. as sons who abstain from doing evil (1Th_5:5; 1Th_5:8, Rom_13:13); a day of fuller knowledge (2Pe_1:19); and, lastly, the somewhat enigmatical passage, ‘Give us this day ( óÞìåñïí ) our daily ( ôὸí ἐðéïýóéïí ) bread’ (Mat_6:11, Luk_11:3); the latter expression (see art. Lord’s Prayer) is not found in classical Greek, and seems to have been specially coined by the Evangelists to convey in this single context the idea of ‘needful’ or ‘the coming day’s’; the Vulgate has supersubstantialem (cf. Amer. (Revised Version margin) ). See, further, artt. Day of Christ, Day (That), Day of Judgment.
Literature.—Art. ‘Day,’ by H. A. White in Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible , by Karl Marti in Encyc. Bibl., and by F. W. Farrar in Smith’s DB [Note: Dictionary of the Bible.] 2 [Note: designates the particular edition of the work referred] ; also ‘Tag’ in Riehm’s HWB [Note: WB Handwörterbunch.] ; esp. Swete’s Com. on St. Mark, and Plummer’s Com. on St. Luke, ad loc.; and cf. the artt. Time, Night, Eschatology.
George L. Robinson.