ESTUDIO DE LA PALABRA HEBREA
Yôm — Meaning & Usage in the Bible
יוֹם (yôwm) is the common Hebrew noun for 'day,' covering a daylight period, a 24-hour day, a span of time, and even a year.
Significado de la palabra
יוֹם (yôwm) is the standard Hebrew word for 'day.' Its basic sense covers the warm, lit part of a 24-hour cycle — from sunrise to sunset — but it is regularly used for the full sunrise-to-sunset-to-sunrise span as well. The lexicon notes that it can mark either the literal period ('a day' as opposed to night) or a figurative span ('a space of time defined by an associated term'). It is also used adverbially, as in the phrase rendered 'today'.
Beyond the simple 'day,' yôwm stretches in every direction. It can mean a 24-hour period, with evening and morning bracketing each day as in Genesis 1; a portion of time such as a working day or a day's journey; an entire lifetime in the plural ('days'); an unspecified period or season; a full year; or temporal reference points like today, yesterday, and tomorrow. Because the meaning is often set by the words around it, context determines whether yôwm points to hours, days, or years.
Uso en las Escrituras
In the creation account of Genesis 1, yôwm structures the entire narrative. From Genesis 1:5 onward, each creative act is sealed with the refrain 'there was evening and there was morning, one day... a second day... a third day,' and so on through the sixth day (Genesis 1:31), culminating in God's rest on the seventh day (Genesis 2:2). Here yôwm clearly marks a structured 24-hour unit bounded by evening and morning.
The same word also labels daytime as opposed to nighttime, as in Genesis 1:14, 16, and 18, where the greater light is set 'to rule the day' and lights are given 'to divide the day from the night.' The dual use — bounded 24-hour day and the daylight portion — appears side by side in Genesis, showing that yôwm is a flexible time-word whose precise reach is fixed by the surrounding clause.
La palabra en detalle
- H3117 יוֹם (yôwm) — the principal Hebrew noun for 'day.' It covers daylight (Genesis 1:14, 16), a 24-hour period bracketed by evening and morning (Genesis 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31; 2:2), a lifetime in the plural, a season, and a year. Because its precise scope is set by context, readers should look to nearby words (evening, morning, year, forever) to gauge the intended span.
Versículos de ejemplo
- Genesis 1:5 God names the light 'Day.' Here yôwm names the daylight portion set against Night.
- Genesis 2:2 On the seventh day God rested from his work; yôwm here marks a full seventh 24-hour unit that is also set apart as holy.
- Genesis 1:16 The greater light is set 'to rule the day,' using yôwm for the daytime portion of the daily cycle.
Preguntas frecuentes
Does yôwm always mean a literal 24-hour day?
No. In Genesis 1 the 'evening and morning' framing marks 24-hour days, but the same noun is also used for the daylight half of that cycle, for longer periods, and even for a year. The surrounding clause decides the span.
How can readers tell which sense of 'day' is meant in a verse?
Look at the modifiers: 'evening and morning' fixes a 24-hour day; 'day and night' points to the daytime portion; a numbered ordinal ('fifth day') also marks a 24-hour unit; and phrases like 'days of' or 'in his days' shift yôwm toward 'time' or 'lifetime.'