Biblical Hebrew Forum

[ben.crick AT argonet.co.uk (Ben and Jo Crick)]

On Tue 30 Sep 2003 (17:11:10), acantley AT meer.net wrote:
> KJV Genesis 1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he
> called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
> 
> Could this verse possibly be translated as:
> Genesis 1:5 "And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called
> Night. And the evening and the morning FOLLOWED the first day"?

 Dear Al,

 The First Day began when God commanded "Let there be Light", and there was
 light. The second day did not begin until light dawned the following morning.
 So, there was evening and morning, and that was the end of Day One and the
 beginning of Day Two. Keil & Delitzsch, /The Pentateuch/, vol 1, reprint
 Wm B Eerdmans, Grand Rapids MI, pp 48-52, have a long discussion, too long
 to copy here.

 The Days of Creation are not reckoned from evening to evening, but from
 morning (first light) to morning. A Day is 24 hours, a hHMERONUKTION in
 Greek. The time from evening to morning does not comprise one Day, but
 one Night. In Daniel 8:14 we have `eReB BoQeR for "days" (2,300 of them with
 the singular `eReB BoQeR). But this does not equal a Greek NUCQHMERON,
 because one evening does not make a night, nor does one morning make a day,
 point out K&D.

 The Jewish custom of reckoning a Day from evening to evening comes not from
 Genesis 1:5, etc, but from Leviticus 23:32. This is probably because the
 Sabbath starts when one knocks off from work *in the evening*, at the end of
 the sixth working day of the week.

 K&D dismiss your suggested translation "And the evening and the morning
 FOLLOWED the first day" as "at variance with the grammar, as well as with
 actual fact" (page 51). WaY:HiY-`eReB WaY:HiY BoQeR YoWM 'eXaD "And there was
 evening and there was morning one day"; or, "And evening was, and morning 
was,
 one day".

 Do get hold of K&D and read it for yourself.

 Shalom
 Ben
-- 
 Revd Ben Crick BA CF, and Mrs Joanna (Goodwin) Crick
 <ben.crick AT argonet.co.uk>
 232 Canterbury Road, Birchington, Kent, CT7 9TD (UK)
 http://www.cnetwork.co.uk/crick.htm