Bible Discussion Thread

Hi Chris

Let's see the verse in Mark 16:9, "Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week ..."

The greek reads, "Anastas(was risen) de proi(morning) prote(first) Savvatou(of the Sabbath) ..."

But here a question comes in. Why did the KJV translate "of the Sabbath" as "the first day of the week"?. The answer is because the Jews, apart from the day of Sabbath, also called the 7 day week as a Sabbath. Example: Luke 18:12, (it is the incident with the Pharisee and the publican), it says in grk "nesteuo (I fast) dis(twice) Savvatou(of the Sabbath) ...." It is obvious that the Pharisee doesn't mean that he fasts twice on the day of Sabbath, but twice in a week.

Another example is also in Luke, verse 24:1, "te de mia(in the first) ton Savvaton(of the Sabbaths) orthou batheos(very early in the morning) ..", it obviously means in the first day of the week very early in the morning.

Actually it is known from history books that the Jews at that time fasted on Tuesdays and Wednesdays every week. So the first day of the Sabbath here is the first day of the week. The Sabbath was the last day of the Jewish week and the next day (the christian Sunday) was the first.

But the verse in Luke 23:54 clarifies the day of the week that Jesus was buried. It says "Kai (and) hemera(day) en(was) paraskeue(preparation), Savvatou (of the Sabbath) epephoske (was coming close)." What does it mean "the day was preparation"? Here we have to look at the names of the week days in Hebrew. The are called: the first, the second, the third, the fourth, the fifth, the preparation (because the were making all the preparation need for resting on the Sabbaths since they were not allowed to do anything on the Sabbaths) and last of all was the Sabbath. So the right interpretation of that verse (in mod. English) is "and it was Friday and Saturday(Sabbath) was closing in (since the day for Hebrews starts in the evening of the previous day)".

Thanks brother Giannis for that detailed reply. It was indeed very informative to learn of the Jewish seven day week also known as 'Sabbath'. I took the liberty to refer to the OT, and picked on Genesis 29:27, "Fulfil her WEEK, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years" (words by Laban concerning Leah & Rachel). In Hebrew, it comes up as, 'malle (fulfil) shabua (week) zot (this)'. Interestingly, 'shabua' means a week of seven days, with a further note of its "connection to the Gk, Sabbaton, refers to the Sabbath or a week". And this is what you have shared with us here. So we can believe that the 'first day of the Sabbath' does not speak of the seventh day, but of the first of the week: a Sunday. Thank you again for clearing that up. Blessings.