The word held to mean ** hour" is first found in Dan. ii, 6, 15, V. 5 (nrd, ihaah\ also " a moment," iv, 19). *erhape the Jews, like the Greeks, learned from the kibylonians the division of the day into twelve parts Herod, ii, 109). In our Lord's time the division was ommon (John xi, 9). It is probable that Ahaz intro- luced the first sun-dial from Babylon (tupoXoytov, ■^ibr'a, Isa. xxxviii, 8 ; 2 Kings xx, 11), as Anaxi- nenes did the first ffKtdOrjpov into Greece (Jahn, Arch, \ 101). Possibly the Jews at a later period adopted :he clepsydra (Joseph. Ant, xi, 6). The third, sixth, ind ninth hours were devoted to prayer (Dan. vi, 10; ^cts ii, 15 ; iii, 1, etc.). See Hocb.
The days of the week had no proper names among the Hebrews, but were distinguished only by their nu- meral order from the Sabhath (see I^htfoot*s Worhj U, 334, ed. Pitman). See Wbbk.
The expression iircovffiov, rendered "daily" in Matt, yi, 11, is a thr, Xcy., and has been much disputed. It w unknown to classical Greek (toiKt wcnXcurBai virb rCiv Evayy(\t9Tuw, Origen, Orat, 16). The Vulg, has «ipenub8tantialemy a rendering recommended by Abe- lard to the nuns of the Paraclete. Theophyl. explains it as equivalent to sufficient (o ini ry obai^ koi av <na<ni rinwv abrapKi'if;), and he is followed by most
commentators (compare Chrysoet JTm. in Or, Domin,, Suid. and £tym. M. s. v.). Salmasius, Grotius, etc. arguing from the rendering ^n?a in the Nazarene Gos- pel, translate it as though it were equivalent to fo-mor- row's (rrjg imowniq i^fupasy <» «'C avpiov, Sixt Serien- sis Bibl. Sanct. p. 444 a). But see the question ex- amined at length (after Tholnck) in Alford's Greek Test, ad loc ; Schleusner, Lex, s. v. ; Wetstein, N, T, i, p. 461, etc.— Kitto, s. v. ; Smith, s. v. See Daily.
In Ezek. iv, 4-6, a day is put symbolically for a year. Erroneously supposing this statement to be a precedent, many interpreters of the prophecies have taken it for granted that one day stands for a year in the prophetic writings of Daniel and John. Suet, however, is not the case ; -the word day is to be taken in its literal sense, unless the context expressly inti- mates the contrary. On the prophetic or year-day system (Lev. xxv, 3, 4; Num. xiv, 34), see a treatise in Elliot's Ear, Apoc, iii, 1^ sq., and Prof. Stuart on *'The Designations of Tne in the Apocalypse," Bib, Bepository, v, 88-88. See Yeab.
The ancients superstitiously held that certain days were lucky (foiti) and othen unlucky (nefasti), and the distinction was sometimes indicated by diflTerent colors in the calendar Q * red-calendar" or rubric). See Calendab.
Tlie duration of the Mosaic or demiurgic days of Gen. 6-31, has been a matter of considerable di^pute. The various opinions on this subject, and the difficul- ties in which most of them are involved, are stated under the head of Cbeatiom. See also the articles Cosmogony; Sabbath; Millennium; the Mtthoditt Quarter^ BevieVy April, 1865 ; Evangelical Quarterbf Beviewy January, 1868 (art. Geology).
The word day is often used by the sacred writers to denote an indefinite time (Gen. ii, 4; Isa. xxii, 5). The "day of temptation in the wilderness" was forty years (Heb. iU, 8). The " day of the Lord" signifies, generally, a time of caUmity and distress (Isa. ii, 12 ; Joel ii, 11). It is also used of a festal day (Hos. vii, 6), a birthday (Job iii, 1), a day of ruin (Hos. i, 11 ; Job xviii, 20 ; oomp. temputj tempora r^pubUcm^ Cic, and d»e« Cannensis)^ the judigment-day (Joel i, 15 ; 1 Thess. V, 2), the kingdom of Christ (John viii, 56 ; Bom. xiii, 12), and in other senses which are mostly self-explaining (see Wemyss, Symbol. Diet, s. v.). In 1 Cor. iv, 3, virb dvBpurrivrjg iitupag is rendered ** by m^iC% judgment:^* Jerome {ad Algas. QuaM. x) con- siders this a Cilicism (Bochart, Eierot. ii, 471). On Rom. xiii, 12, there are two treatises — Kuindl, EarpU- catio (Giess. 1808) ; Rachm, De node et die (Tubingen, 1764). See TiiiE.
The phrases "last day" (or day»\ **that day," are " the general formula of the prophets for an indef- initely left future opened up in perspective" (Stier, Words qf Jesus, ii, 861, Am. ed.), designating the Mes- sianic period, with its introductory age, tliat of the Maccabees (after the return ham exile), and its con- summation in the millennium. See £schatolooy. In a more literal and limited sense, the final judgment is designated. See Last Day.
DAY OF ATONEMENT. See Atonement, Day
OP.
DAY'S JOURNEY (ni-» T^!)^, fii"* ^irj^, brog muptjairj, Herod, iv, 101), a distance such as (in the East) a person miglit travel in a single day. Comp. Sabbath-day's Joubmey. According to Jonah iii, 8, the circuit of Nineveh was three days' journey. This mode of describing distances is also found in Greek, Roman, Arabian, and Persian writers (see Strabo, xvii, 885 ; Pliny, v, 4, 9 ; vi, 85 ; Livy, xxv, 16 ; XXX, 29 ; Athen. i, 7). It needs scarcely be re- marked that in itself (if strictly taken) it would be a very vague and fluctuating measurement, the length of a day's journey depending so much on the peculiar circumstances under which each pedestrian travels