Yom
Yom (Hebrew: יום) is a Biblical Hebrew word which occurs in the Hebrew Bible. The word is a generic term meaning "a period of time"[1]. In both Modern and Biblical Hebrew it is usually translated as a specific period of time (such as "day", "evening", "lifetime", or "year"[2]) based on context.
Overview
[edit]Although yom is commonly rendered as "day" in English translations, the word is a generic term for a period of time and can be used in different ways to refer to different, context-based timespans:
- a time period of unspecified length;
- a point of time (namely a specific day);
- a half-day or whole-day time period, such as:
- a general term for time (as in "days of our lives");
- a year (in the plural use, as in "he lived many days"); or
- a finitely very long span of time.
Biblical Hebrew has a limited vocabulary, with fewer words than other languages, such as English or Spanish.[3][a] Hence words often have multiple meanings, with the exact meaning determined by context.[11] In Strong's Lexicon, yom is Hebrew #3117 יוֹם, from an unused root that means "to be hot, as the warm hours of the day".[12]
Yom relates to the concept of time, and is used not just for "day" or "days", but for time in general. How yom is translated depends on context, using hermeneutics.[13] The word day is used somewhat the same way in the English language, as in "back in my grandfather's day, cars did not go very fast" or "in the day of the dinosaurs there were not many mammals".
Bible
[edit]In English translations of the Holy Bible, yom is variously translated as "time" (Gen. 4:3, Is. 30:8), "year" (1 Kings 1:1, 2 Chronicles 21:19, Amos 4:4), "age" (Genesis 18:11, 24:1, 47:28; Joshua 23:1,2), "always" (Deuteronomy 5:29, 6:24, 14:23, and 2 Chronicles 18:7), "season" (Genesis 40:4, Joshua 24:7, 2 Chronicles 15:3), and as either "epoch" or "24-hour day" depending on interpretation (see Genesis 1:5,8,13,19,23,31 and 2:3; see also § Creationism below).
In the first Genesis creation narrative (Genesis 1:1–2:3), "yom" has been translated into English as "day",[14] even though a day is the period of time that it takes for the Earth to complete one revolution on its axis and the Earth does not exist for the first and second "yom" (phases) of the creation narrative.[15]
Creationism
[edit]In both young- and old-Earth creationisms, the yom word can have several meanings, which depend on the context in which the word is used.
In gap creationism, yom is 24 hours, but there is a gap of time between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2, before the six consecutive days of creation. In day-age creationism, yom is timespan. For the progressives, it is also a generic time-span, but with time gaps. In evolutionary creationism, also known as theistic evolution (which seeks to harmonize the Bible and the theory of evolution), the literal interpretation of yom is either not crucial or (at times) metaphorical.
Judaism
[edit]Hebrew scholars reject the rule that yôm with a number or an "evening and morning" construct can only refer to 24-hour days.[16] Hugh Ross pointed out that the earliest reference to this rule dates back to 1970s young Earth creationist literature and that no reference to it exists independent of the young Earth movement.[17]
The word Yom is used in the names of various Jewish feast days; as, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement; and Yom Teruah (lit., day of shouting), the biblical name for Rosh Hashannah, the Feast of Trumpets.
Yom is also used in the name of each of the days of the week in the Hebrew calendar.
See also
[edit]- Yom Tov, plural Yamim Tovim, literally the Good Day(s), the Jewish holidays
- Yom tov sheni shel galuyot, the second festival day in the Diaspora
- Yom Kippur, Day of Atonement
- Yom Kippur Katan, Minor Day of Atonement
- Yom Ha'atzmaut, Israeli Independence Day
- Yom HaShoah, full name Yom HaZikaron laShoah ve-laG'vurah, Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day
- Yom Hazikaron Day of Remembrance for the Fallen Soldier
- Yom Yerushalayim, Jerusalem Day
- The Day of the Lord, events of the end times
- Age of the Earth, science-based information and data about the planet's age and its methods of estimation
Notes
[edit]- ↑ Biblical Hebrew has a very small number of words, about 8,000, and around 1,700 of those words are hapax legomena in the Hebrew Bible. Modern Hebrew has about 100,000 words.[4][5] For comparison modern English has over 450,000 words,[6][7] and Spanish has just over 175,000 words. Standard English dictionaries typically have about 200,000 words,[8] whereas Spanish dictionaries have about 80,000 words.[9][10]
References
[edit]- ↑ "Strong's Hebrew: 3117. yom". Bible Hub. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
Lexical Summary: 1. a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb) / Strong's Exhaustive Concordance: age, always, continually, daily, birth, each, today,
- ↑ "Strong's Hebrew: 3117. yom". Bible Hub. Retrieved 23 March 2026.
NASB Translation afternoon* (1), age (8), age* (1), all (1), always* (14), amount* (2), battle (1), birthday* (1), Chronicles* (38), completely* (1), continually* (14), course* (1), daily (22), daily the days (1), day (1115), day of the days (1), day that the period (1), day's (6), day's every day (1), daylight* (1), days (635), days on the day (1), days to day (1), days you shall daily (1), days ago (1), days' (11), each (1), each day (4), entire (2), eternity (1), evening* (1), ever in your life* (1), every day (2), fate (1), first (5), forever* (11), forevermore* (1), full (5), full year (1), future* (1), holiday* (3), later* (2), length (1), life (12), life* (1), lifetime (2), lifetime* (1), live (1), long (2), long as i live (1), long* (11), midday* (1), now (5), older* (1), once (2), period (3), perpetually* (2), present (1), recently (1), reigns (1), ripe* (1), short-lived* (1), so long* (1), some time (1), survived* (2), time (45), time* (1), times* (2), today (172), today* (1), usual (1), very old* (1), when (10), when the days (1), whenever (1), while (3), whole (2), year (10), yearly (5), years (13), yesterday* (1).
- ↑ A Social History of Hebrew: Its Origins Through the Rabbinic Period, page 10, By William M. Schniedewind
- ↑ Biblical Words and Their Meaning: An Introduction to Lexical Semantics, By Moisés Silva
- ↑ Passport Israel 3rd Ed., page 12, By Donna Rosenthal
- ↑ Ling, Johnny (2001). Elert, Glenn (ed.). "Number of words in the English language". The Physics Factbook. Retrieved 2019-07-28.
- ↑ Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, page 5a, edited by Philip Babcock Gove, Merriam-Webster, Inc
- ↑ oxforddictionaries.com, How many words are there in the English language?
- ↑ Concise Oxford Spanish Dictionary
- ↑ Merriam-Webster's Spanish-English Dictionary, byMerriam-Webster, 80,000 entries
- ↑ An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax, page 48, By Bruce K. Waltke, Michael Patrick O'Connor
- ↑ Strong's Hebrew Lexicon, yom, #3117.
- ↑ The Hebrew Word “Yom” Used with a Number in Genesis 1, What does “yom” mean in Genesis 1? Archived 2021-09-28 at the Wayback Machine, Rodney Whitefield, Ph.D. 12 June 2006
- ↑ "Genesis 1 Interlinear Bible". Bible Hub. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
yō·wm 'e·ḥāḏ – the first day
- ↑ Genesis 1:9–1:13
- ↑ Whitefield, Rodney (12 June 2006). "The Hebrew Word "Yom" Used with a Number in Genesis 1" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 September 2021. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
- ↑ Ross, Hugh (1 February 2005). "Creation update #259" (Interview). Archived from the original on 28 February 2021. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
Further reading
[edit]- Gleason L. Archer, Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties, pages 51-53, 60–61. Baker 1982
- Norman L. Geisler, Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics, page 271. Zondervan 1999