How Are Days Counted In the Bible?
The Bible doesn’t use a specific word for days. It uses words like “morning,” “evening,” “night,” and “day.” People in Bible times counted days differently than we do today. They started counting the day at dusk (the time when it starts to get dark). So, the first part of the day was the evening, and the last part of the day was the morning.
There are two main ways that people in Bible times counted days:
1. From dusk to dusk: This is how most people in Bible times counted days. They started counting at dusk (when it started to get dark), and they ended at dusk the next day. So, the first part of the day was the evening, and the last part of the day was the morning.
2. From sunrise to sunrise: Some people, including the Jews, started counting days at sunrise. So, the first part of the day was the morning, and the last part of the day was the evening.
The Bible uses both methods for counting days. But it’s more common for the Bible to use the dusk-to-dusk method.
Here Are Some Examples of How Days Are Counted In the Bible:
“There was evening, and there was morning—the first day” (Genesis 1:5). This Verse is using the dusk-to-dusk method.
“From one New Moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me” (Isaiah 66:23). This Verse is using the sunrise-to-sunrise method.
“Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God” (Exodus 20:9-10). This Verse is using the dusk-to-dusk method.
As you can see, the Bible uses both methods for counting days. But it’s more common for the Bible to use the dusk-to-dusk method.
So, when the Bible talks about days, it’s usually referring to 24-hour periods. But there are some cases where it could mean a longer period of time.
Bible Verses About Days
1. Psalm 90:12
So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
2. Exodus 20:9
Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
3. Psalm 39:4
LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.
4. Ephesians 5:16
Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
5. Psalm 139:16
Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
6. Romans 14:6
He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.
7. Ecclesiastes 7:14
In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also hath set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him.
8. Proverbs 3:2
For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.
9. Psalm 118:24
This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
10. Genesis 2:2
And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
11. Psalm 84:10
For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
12. Genesis 1:3
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
13. Jonah 1:17
Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
14. Matthew 24:36
But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
15. Exodus 20:11
For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
16. Luke 17:28
Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;
17. 2 Timothy 3:1
This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
18. Job 38:12
Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his place;
19. 2 Peter 3:8
But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
20. Genesis 1:31
And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
21. 2 Peter 3:3
Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
22. Psalm 90:4
For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.
23. Acts 2:20
The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:
24. Ecclesiastes 11:9
Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.
25. Matthew 24:38
For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
26. Psalm 50:15
And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.
27. Job 14:5
Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;
28. Ecclesiastes 12:1
Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;
29. Amos 8:11
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:
30. Matthew 24:37
But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
