When Does a Day Begin? Sunrise? Sunset? Or…?
When the clock strikes midnight, one day ends and another begins. So it is in the modern world, and so it’s been throughout most of western society since the invention of mechanical clocks. But we all know this isn’t the system God established in the Bible. So when does a day begin and end, according to Scripture?
It’s generally accepted that a Biblical day begins and ends at sunset. The seventh-day Sabbath, then, begins at sunset on Friday and ends at sunset on Saturday.
But there are others who assert that a Biblical day begins at sunrise and ends at the next sunrise. They then assert that we ought to keep the Sabbath from sunrise on Saturday until sunrise on Sunday.
Obviously, it’s important for us to know when a day begins and ends. Otherwise, we might only be keeping half of the Sabbath holy and profaning the other half!
There are other variations as well, and you can probably find them all on the Internet. Afterall, if a thought has ever popped into anyone’s head at any time, you can probably find someone somewhere on the Internet proclaiming it to be the gospel truth!
As we go through this study, I think we’ll find those other variations to be irrelevant, and the Scriptures to be plain. The primary issue is this: Does a day begin at sunset or sunrise?
The answer to that question is, Yes. A day begins at sunset and also at sunrise. But it depends on what you mean by “day.”
What Do You Mean By “Day”?
In the Bible, just as in modern parlance, the word “day” can mean either a 24-hour day or merely the hours of daylight. Just as we might refer to a whole 24-hour period as one day, so does the Bible. And just as we might speak of “day and night,” “day” being the light portion of a day, so does the Bible. This fact is perhaps the primary source of confusion on this issue. Let’s look at some examples of both uses of the word.
At the beginning, when God created the earth, He said, “‘Let there be light’; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night” (Gen. 1:3-5). In these verses, only the light is called “day,” and it stands in contrast to the night.
Yeshua/Jesus gave us another example, teaching, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him” (John 11:9-10). This day, then, is 12 hours long, half of a full day, and it is the hours of daylight only.
In a separate parable, found in Matthew 20, Jesus described laborers toiling in a vineyard for those 12 hours of daylight. At the end of the day, as we all probably remember, those who were hired at the eleventh hour and worked only one hour were paid the same as those who worked all day (vv. 9-12).
As we’ve seen previously, in New Testament times, when Jesus walked this earth, the first hour marked one hour after sunrise, the second hour marked two hours after sunrise, and so on. The twelfth hour, of course, was sunset. Each day, no matter what season it was, always had twelve hours between sunrise and sunset. Thus, an “hour” in the middle of summer, when there’s more daylight, might be about 75 minutes. An hour in the middle of winter, when there’s less daylight, might be about 45 minutes.
Many more passages in Scripture contrast day with night, and light with darkness. In fact, the Hebrew word for day, יום yom (Strong’s # H3117), comes from a root word that means “to be hot.” So in this context, it’s obvious that a “day” is simply daylight.
What about a full, 24-hour day?
In Lev. 8:35, when Aaron and his sons were consecrated as priests, Moses delivered these instructions from Almighty God: “Therefore you shall stay at the door of the tabernacle of meeting day and night for seven days.” In this context, the time period of “seven days” encompassed both day and night — seven full 24-hour days.
Similarly, in 1 Kings 8:59, King Solomon prayed, “And may these words of mine, with which I have made supplication before the LORD, be near the LORD our God day and night, that He may maintain the cause of His servant and the cause of His people Israel, as each day may require.” It’s plain that “day and night” corresponds to “each day.”
In Est. 4:16, Esther asked her people to “fast for me; neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day.” Just as in the other two examples, a day includes both day and night — 24 hours.
It stands to reason, then, that a day of the week or of the month would also be a 24-hour day. Nowhere in Scripture will you find the phrase “the first night of the week” or “the seventh night of the week,” but only “the first day of the week” and “the seventh day of the week.” Nowhere in Scripture will you find the phrase “the first night of the month,” but only “the first day of the month.” The first day of the week includes both day and night, a full 24 hours. The first day of the month includes both day and night, a full 24 hours.
Indeed, the Creation account in Genesis 1 illustrates this further. Let’s take a look.
Evening and Morning
At the end of each day of Creation, we’re told, “the evening and the morning were the first day” (Gen. 1:5), “the evening and the morning were the second day” (v. 8), and so on. The Hebrew word for evening is ערב erev (Strong’s # H6153), and for morning it’s בקר boqer (Strong’s # H1242).
The narrowest meaning of erev, as Hebrew lexicons confirm, is “dusk.” It stems from the root word arav (Strong’s # H6150), which the Brown-Driver-Briggs and Gesenius Hebrew lexicons define as “to mix, to weave, to exchange, to give in pledge.” In other words, erev is the time when light and darkness mix together as the sun sets.
As for boqer, its narrowest meaning is “daybreak.” It stems from the root word baqar (Strong’s # H1239), which means “to cleave, to open, to plow, to seek or inquire, to break forth.” Thus, it describes the time when light breaks forth as the sun rises.
The plainest meaning of Genesis 1, then, is that dusk and daybreak defined each day. Dusk and daybreak were the first day, dusk and daybreak were the second day, and so on. The beginning of night and the beginning of day, or simply night and day. A full 24 hours. All this seems pretty straightforward.
Now, this isn’t all there is to it. Remember that, depending on the context, a “day” can mean different periods of time, either the 12 hours of daylight or a full 24-hour day. It’s absolutely critical to note that something similar is true of erev (evening) and boqer (morning). They have other meanings besides dusk and daybreak, or sunrise and sunset. This is probably the second source of confusion about the beginning and end of a day, second only to the meaning of a “day” itself.
Depending on the context, erev can mean not only the time of sunset, but it can also include several hours before and after sunset. This writer has written extensively about this before (links below), but for now, let’s just look at a few examples.
In Jer. 6:4, evening falls between noon and night, and we find, “The shadows of the evening are lengthening.” If shadows are lengthening, then clearly it’s late in the day before the sun has set! As we’ve noted previously, the three parts of an Old Testament day were morning, the heat of the day, and evening. Likewise, in Deut. 23:11, an unclean man is commanded to wash his clothes in the evening and return to the camp after the sun sets. When Yeshua/Jesus was crucified, He died and was buried during the evening (Mat. 27:57) but before sunset (Luke 23:52-54). And there are many more examples, but this should suffice.
In both Old and New Testaments, the first few hours of the night are also called “the evening watch,” or simply “evening,” as, again, we’ve noted previously. In Prov. 7:9, we find this phrase: “In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night.” Again, during his affliction, Job lamented, “When I lie down, I say, ‘When shall I arise, and the night [erev; “evening”] be ended?’ For I have had my fill of tossing till dawn” (Job 7:4). And finally, King David wrote in Psa. 30:5, “For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; weeping may endure for a night [erev; “evening”], but joy comes in the morning.”
So evening can mean dusk or sunset, but it can also include a few hours before and after sunset.
As for boqer, or daybreak, it can likewise apply to several hours before and after sunrise. For example, Ruth rose early in the morning (boqer), but it was so long before sunrise and still so dark that it was “before one could recognize another” (Ruth 3:14). Job 38:7 mentions the “morning stars,” and stars, of course, are not visible after sunrise. But in Ex. 16:21, the Israelites gathered manna every morning until the sun became hot. And in 2 Kings 3:22, the Israelites ambushed the Moabites early in the morning, after the sun had risen and was shining on the water.
So just as “day” has more than one meaning in Scripture, so do “evening” and “morning.” Understanding this point will help avoid much confusion. Now, then, when does a day begin or end? When the sun rises, or when it sets?
Beginning and End of a Day
A 12-hour day begins at sunrise. God established this at Creation, as we read in Gen. 1:16: “Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also.” And Psa. 136:8 agrees that God made “the sun to rule by day.” Now, if the sun rules over the day, then it’s readily apparent that the day begins at sunrise and ends at sunset.
But what about a full, 24-hour day? It, too, ends at sunset — which means that it also begins at sunset! Each day begins at sunset and ends 24 hours later — at sunset. Let’s look at some examples.
Regarding the Day of Atonement, God said, “Also the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement. And you shall do no work on that same day, for it is the Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the LORD your God” (Lev. 23:27, 28).
So the Day of Atonement is one full 24-hour day, the tenth day of the seventh month. It doesn’t cover more than one day, but is one day and one day only. THE DAY of Atonement.
A few verses later, in Lev. 23:32, we’re further instructed, “It shall be to you a sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict your souls; on the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall celebrate your sabbath.” In order for the Day of Atonement to be the tenth day of the month and also begin on the ninth day at evening, the evening must be the end of the day. The Day of Atonement is celebrated from the end of the ninth day until the end of the tenth day — the full duration of the tenth day. It begins as the sun sets at the end of the ninth day, and ends as the sun sets at the end of the tenth day.
We see this exact same pattern with the Feast of Unleavened Bread. In Ex. 12:18-19, God said, “In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses.”
Of this same Feast, we read again, “On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight [literally, “between the two evenings”] is the LORD’s Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; seven days you must eat unleavened bread.” (Lev. 23:5-6). And again, “On the fourteenth day of the first month is the Passover of the LORD. And on the fifteenth day of this month is the feast; unleavened bread shall be eaten for seven days” (Num. 28:16-17).
So the Feast of Unleavened Bread is seven days, and seven days only. No more, no less. Exodus 12 tells us that the Feast of Unleavened Bread begins “on the fourteenth day of the month at evening,” while Leviticus 23 and Numbers 28 tell us that the Feast begins “on the fifteenth day.” Again, just as is true of the Day of Atonement, evening marks the end of the day. The 15th day of the month begins when the 14th ends — at sunset. The Feast of Unleavened Bread begins when the sun sets at the end of the 14th and ends a full seven days later, when the sun sets at the end of the 21st.
And in case anyone had any doubts, it’s not just God’s Holy Days that begin and end at sunset, but all other days, too! Let’s look at a few examples.
During the Israelite conquest of Canaan, Joshua captured some of the Canaanite kings alive and hanged them on trees. First was the king of Ai: “And the king of Ai he hath hanged on the tree till even-time, and at the going in of the sun hath Joshua commanded, and they take down his carcase from the tree, and cast it unto the opening of the gate of the city, and raise over it a great heap of stones till this day” (Josh. 8:29; YLT). I’ve quoted Young’s Literal Translation (YLT) here because it’s more faithful to the original text than is the NKJV.
After this, Joshua and the Israelites captured five more Canaanite kings and hanged them, too. Again we read, “And it cometh to pass, at the time of the going in of the sun, Joshua hath commanded, and they take them down from off the trees, and cast them unto the cave where they had been hid, and put great stones on the mouth of the cave till this very day” (Josh. 10:27; YLT).
In both instances, the Israelites removed the bodies from the trees and buried them “at the going in of the sun,” that is, as the sun was setting. Why? Because God had specifically commanded, “If a man has committed a sin deserving of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, so that you do not defile the land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance; for he who is hanged is accursed of God” (Deut. 21:22-23).
So Joshua did not allow the bodies of the Canaanite kings to remain on the trees overnight, but ordered that they be buried the very same day they were hanged, as the sun was setting at the end of the day. Once again, it’s plain that a day ends with the setting of the sun.
Here’s another example. Samson made a wager with his groomsmen at his wedding, and gave them until the end of the seven-day wedding feast to answer his riddle (Judg. 14:12). We’re told that, after obtaining the answer by threatening Samson’s bride, they answered his riddle “on the seventh day before the sun went down” (v. 18).
When fasting, King David refused to eat “till the sun goes down” (2 Sam. 3:35). And at the going down of the sun, those who were unclean would become clean, as we see throughout Leviticus 14-15 and other passages. The end of the day, and the beginning of another, marked the end of their uncleanness.
But here’s the real kicker. This is the one which proves, beyond any doubt, that a 24-hour day does not and cannot begin at sunrise as some claim. In John 20:1, we discover, “Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.” If it was dark, then clearly the sun had not yet risen, yet we are told that it was already the first day of the week! This was the day that Jesus first appeared to His disciples after His resurrection.
As a quick aside, Mark 16:2 seems at first glance to contradict John’s account, stating, “Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen.” But the correct translation, as most literal translations have it, is “at the rising of the sun.” The sun had not yet risen, but was still rising. Thus Mark does not contradict John, nor do the other Gospels.
At the end of that day, we read, “Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, ‘Peace be with you’” (John 20:19). Now, it was already the first day of the week before sunrise, and yet in the evening, it was still part of that same day!
If a 24-hour day began and ended at sunrise, as some allege, then this would be impossible. But it is quite possible if a day begins and ends at sunset! As we have already seen, “evening” can refer to sunset, and often does, but it can also include quite some time before and after sunset. In this case, the fact that it was evening and yet still the first day of the week shows that, although it was late in the day, the sun had not yet set.
Advocates of a sunrise-to-sunrise day point to a few other, similar passages wherein the evening is still part of the same day as the preceding morning. But the answer is the same, and these arguments thus pose no difficulty.
So daylight, a 12-hour day, begins at sunrise and ends at sunset. A 24-hour day, which includes both day and night, begins and ends at sunset. That means the weekly Sabbath, like every other day, begins and ends at sunset. From sunset Friday to sunset Saturday, as we have established previously.
In the 1st century AD, the Jewish historian Josephus confirmed that the Jews observed the Sabbath from sunset to sunset, just as they still do today. He wrote that, each Sabbath, a priest “gave a signal beforehand, with a trumpet at the beginning of every seventh day, in the evening twilight: as also at the evening, when that day was finished: as giving notice to the people when they were to leave off work, and when they were to go to work again” (Wars of the Jews 4:9:12).
Answering an Objection
When one understands the various meanings of “day,” “evening,” and “morning” in Scripture, there remains little room for believing that a 24-hour day begins at sunrise. Most objections to the sunset-to-sunset day simply vanish. There does remain one objection, however, which deserves an answer.
In Neh. 13:19, Nehemiah wrote, “So it was, at the gates of Jerusalem, as it began to be dark before the Sabbath, that I commanded the gates to be shut, and charged that they must not be opened till after the Sabbath. Then I posted some of my servants at the gates, so that no burdens would be brought in on the Sabbath day.”
“As it began to be dark before the Sabbath.” Those who believe in a sunrise-to-sunrise day often refer to this Scripture and argue that, if the Sabbath began at sunset, then it wouldn’t be dark before the Sabbath. Therefore, they say, the Sabbath must begin at sunrise. However, this argument is based on a simple mistranslation.
The Hebrew word translated as “began to be dark” is צלל tsalal (Strong’s # H6751), which Gesenius defines as “shaded” or “dusky.” The only other place this word is found in Scripture is Ezek. 31:3: “Indeed Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon, with fine branches that shaded [tsalal] the forest, and of high stature; and its top was among the thick boughs.” It’s related to the Hebrew word tsal (Strong’s # H6752), which simply means “shade” or “shadow.”
In other words, as the shadows fell over the gates of Jerusalem in the evening, shortly before sunset ushered in the Sabbath, Nehemiah commanded that the gates be closed. It’s as simple as that. Remember what we read in Jer. 6:4: “Prepare war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe to us, for the day goes away, for the shadows of the evening are lengthening.”
Conclusion
Hopefully, this study will be helpful to anyone who might be confused about this issue. Those who observe the Sabbath and Holy Days from sunset to sunset are following the plain instructions of Scripture, while those who observe these days from sunrise to sunrise are sadly in error.
Any questions or comments? Additions, disagreements, or other feedback? Let us know in the comments below!
Further Reading About Erev/Evening:
1 Samuel 20 and the Definition of Evening
Judges 19 and the Definition of Evening
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