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 precise Torah instructions for when Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) observance begins (“On exactly the tenth day of this seventh month … on the ninth of the month at evening, from evening until evening,” Lev. 23:27, 32) and the time limitation for hanging of condemned prisoners (Deut. 21:22–23).

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.

Centuries-old view

Abraham ibn Ezra wrote the following commentary on Ex. 16:25:

Many lacking in faith erred because of this verse and said that a person is obligated to keep the Sabbath day plus the night which follows it [i.e., Saturday sunrise to Sunday sunrise], because Moses said, for to-day and not the night before is a sabbath unto the Lord. Additionally, Moses said, Tomorrow is a solemn rest (Ex. 16:23). They interpreted, in accordance with their view, And there was evening and there was morning one day (Gen. 1:5) to mean that the first day was not finished until the morning of the second day. However, they spoke incorrectly. As I have already made mention to you, Moses spoke to Israel only in accordance with their practice. Now the manner of the land of the uncircumcised with regard to their food, their dress, their buildings, and affairs is not the same as that of the Land of Israel. It is the practice in the Land of Israel that no one bakes, cooks, or does any other work, both in summer or winter, at any time but during the day. Hence Moses said, Tomorrow is a solemn rest. Now pay close attention to understand the stupidity of those who explain and there was evening and there was morning in the manner which I noted above. For Scripture says, And God called the light day (Gen. 1:8), the reference being from the time that the sun rises until the time that it sets; and to the darkness He called night, the reference being from the time that the sun sets until the time that it rises. The night is thus the opposite of day, as the darkness is the opposite of the light. This being the case, how can Scripture refer to the evening, which commences at the time that the sun sets and lasts until the morning, as “day” when it is then night? Behold, concerning such people Scripture states, They change the night into day (Job 17:12). Now note that the word day is used in Hebrew in two ways. I have already mentioned one of them, viz., as long as the light of the sun is over any place on the earth. Therefore Scripture states, three days, night and day (Esth. 4:16) and, and night and day (Gen. 8:22). Now if the measure of the day includes the night in it, why mention night? It is also incorrect from the point of view of the science of linguistics for a noun to refer to two things which are the opposite of each other. The word day is used secondarily in the sense of close or far-off time, as in on the day that I smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt (Num. 3:13); thou art to pass over the Jordan this day (Deut. 9:1); and cast them into another land, as it is this day (Deut. 29:27); And it shall come to pass in that day (Is. 7:21). There are many other similar instances. Now let us leave all these things aside and seek, as I have said, only after the day of the Torah, for our years are not established according to the movement of the sun and moon but rather according to what the Bet Din decrees. Now we find that Scripture states, Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread (Ex. 12:15). Scripture then goes on to explain that this number begins on the evening of the fourteenth of the first month (Ex. 12:18). Scripture also states, from even unto even, shall ye keep your sabbath (Lev. 23:32). Furthermore, a man who has a seminal emission during the night or day, for it is so written, viz., that which chanceth him by night (Deut. 23:11), does not become “clean” until sunset, which is the end of the first day. Now if it were so, namely, that the first day ends on the morning of the next day, then it is only fit for the one who experienced an emission to immerse himself in the morning. For if we say that the day and the night which follows it make up one day then the one who experienced an emission will be “unclean” for half a day and clean for half a day. And one who experienced an emission at the beginning of the night will be unclean for half of a day that passed and also for half of the coming day. This is the opinion of those who err. I have already explained to you the meaning of and there was evening and there was morning (Gen. 1:5) in its place.

Ibn Ezra’s commentary on the Pentateuch, translation by H. Norman Strickman and Arthur M. Silver. Menorah Pub., 1988-2004. Source: Sefaria.org. Accessed December 6, 2025.

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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. ↩︎