When does Biblical day begin? At evening or morning?

The beginning of Shabbat (Sabbath) at sunset on the sixth day of the week (Friday) is attested by practices recorded in the Gospels and in other Hebrew and Roman literature of the 1st century and before. But there are a number of teachings circulating that question this practice as truly Biblical. Could Shabbat really start on the morning of the seventh day (Saturday)?

This study explores when a day begins, focusing on translation and interpretation issues in Gospel and Torah passages. It analyzes Hebrew and Greek words indicating evening and morning, and examines Scriptural instructions for observing the Shabbat, Pesach (Passover) and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). We’ll see if the traditional belief that a day starts in the evening makes the Torah stand up or fall down.

Question: “I’m looking at John 20:1 and the companion verses from Matt, Luke and Mark. I thought John was pretty irrefutable that the day begins with the sunset not the sunrise. The person I was talking to said that it’s a translation issue that the day is ‘dawning’ because it’s the same word used in the passage about taking Yeshua off the cross. Which they believe happened at sunrise.”

Question: “Looking at Scripture to really look at the Sabbath, or in particular the days. The starting point. Could it be that the day actually starts in the morning?”

Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb. … So when it was evening [ὄψιος] on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

John 20:1, 19 NASB 1995

Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn [ἐπιφώσκω] toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave.

Matt. 28:1 NASB 1995

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, so that they might come and anoint Him. Very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen.

Mark 16:1–2 NASB 1995

It was the preparation day, and the Sabbath was about to begin [ἐπιφώσκω]. Now the women who had come with Him out of Galilee followed, and saw the tomb and how His body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and perfumes. And on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment. But on the first day of the week, at early dawn [ὄρθρος], they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.

Luke 23:54–24:1 NASB 1995

The phrase in Luke 23:54 translated “was about to begin” comes from the Greek word ἐπιφώσκω epiphṓskō (epi = “upon, over” or “denoting accession, coming or drawing toward” + phosko = “to shine”). And that word is also used in Matt. 28:1 “began to dawn.” 

Did the translators mangle Luke 23:54? The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament makes a great observation about the selection of “begin” versus “dawn”:

“ ἐπιφώσκω epiphṓskō; fut. epiphaúsō, from epı́ (1909), upon or besides, denoting accession, coming or drawing toward, and phṓskō (n.f.), to shine. In Luke 23:54 the verb has the meaning to draw near, as the Jewish Sabbath which began in the evening (Lev. 23:32 [cf. John 19:31 with Deut. 21:22, 23]). To dawn as the daylight, to grow toward daylight (Matt. 28:1). In the evening of the Sabbath when the Jewish day was drawing on towards the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went (or better, set out). It does not appear that they actually came at this time to visit the sepulcher, perhaps being delayed by the great earthquake (Matt. 28:2) which preceded our Lord’s resurrection.” (“ἐπιφώσκω,” The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament, 645.)

This is a key observation about the Torah instructions for Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) observance and the hanging of condemned prisoners.

When does Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) begin?

Multiple witnesses exist for Genesis 1’s foundation that the darkening period (עֶרֶב erev, “evening” or “twilight”¹) and the brightening period (בֹּקֶר boqer, “morning”) together form one yom (“day”). Those include Torah instructions for these timings:

• of Yom Kippur (“Day of Atonement”; Lev. 23:27, 29, 32)
• of Pesach/Matzot (Passover/Unleavened Bread; Ex. 12:18)
• of the seven-day period for cleansing someone who had corpse contact (Num. 19:19). Sprinkling of the red heifer ash-water on the seventh day brings cleansing by evening.

Yes, there are boqer-to-erev periods and boqer-to-boqer periods for certain offerings and Tabernacle/Temple functions (e.g., lighting of the Menorah/Lampstand), but those instructions aren’t determinants for the timing of “the appointed times of the LORD” (Leviticus 23).

Some scholars view “there was an evening and there was a morning” (Gen. 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31) as saying that the day ended or began with the boqer:

“This phrase would indicate that in ancient Israel a day began with sunrise. Some have felt this at variance with the Jewish practice of regarding sunset as the beginning of the next day. Cassuto, after dealing with the biblical data and the Jewish custom, concludes that there was ‘only one system of computing time: the day is considered to begin in the morning; but in regard to the festivals and appointed times, the Torah ordains that they shall be observed also on the night of the preceding day’ (U. Cassuto, Genesis, I, p. 29 [his emphasis]). This judgment appears vindicated in the employment of עֶרֶב in Levitical legislation respecting uncleanness. One was considered unclean because of certain acts ‘until the evening’ (Lev 11:24, plus thirty times). That is, one was unclean for the duration of the day.”²

Yet as was noted earlier from the Numbers 19 red heifer ash-water cleansing, the third- and seventh-day sprinklings concluded with the person becoming cleansed at the erev of the seventh day, not the boqer of the eighth day.

And the Yom Kippur instructions are doubly emphatic on the timing of the start of this very special day, because the timing is stated two ways: 

“On exactly [אַךְ akh] the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement … on the ninth of the month at evening, from evening until evening you shall keep your sabbath.”

Leviticus 23:27, 32 NASB 1995

Some people have tried to argue from this that Yom Kippur really starts on the ninth day of the seventh month, rather than the 10th day. But we agree with commentators who say this mention of the day before emphasizes that one should be preparing for “The Fast” before it אַךְ akh (“surely (affirmative emphasis),” Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament) begins and for the weekly Shabbat (Sabbath) before it starts.

When was the condemned’s body to be removed after a hanging?

The cursed-on-the-tree Torah rule requires removal of the corpse “that day” or “the same day” (Deut. 21:22–23), it can’t “hang all night.” The Hebrew verb translated “hang all night” — לִין lien — means to “lodge, spend the night.”³ Thus, the corpse can’t “lodge” on the tree, like a visitor at an inn, as night arrives.

So the coming of Shabbat at night required the removal of condemned prisoners’ bodies before nightfall. That fits with John 19:31–33, where the legs of Yeshua (Jesus) and the other two crucified with Him were to be broken “so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath.”

Some dispute dark vs. light being the day start time in Genesis 1–2. But the Shabbat command (Ex. 20:8–11) plus the second, third and fourth witnesses in Leviticus 23, Numbers 19 and Deuteronomy 21 point to the traditional view’s being correct on when the Bible teaches the day begins.

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Footnotes

1. “It is cognate to Akkadian erēbu, a common verb of wide usage which includes ‘to enter, go down (of the sun).’ Akkadian erib ŝamši means ‘sunset.’” (Allen, Ronald B. Harris, R. Laird, Gleason L. Archer, and Bruce K. Waltke, eds. Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (TWOT). Accordance electronic edition, version 2.8. Chicago: Moody Press, 1980. Paragraph 13590.) ↩︎
2. TWOT, paragraph 13591. ↩︎