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The day begins with darkness and ends when the sun sets. This order was established with the creation of the first day as recorded in the Torah, in Genesis 1:2-5.


Preceding Following

Now the earth was

unformed and void

 and darkness was

upon the face of the deep.

And the Spirit of God hovered over

the face of the waters.

Genesis 1:2

And God said,

Let there be light,

and there was light. And God

saw the light, that it was good,

and God divided the light

from the darkness.

Genesis 1:3

"And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night.

And there was evening and there was morning, one day." - Genesis 1:4-5

The First Day

And the earth was without form,

and void;

 and darkness night was

upon the face of the deep.

And the Spirit of God moved upon

the face of the waters.

And God said,

Let there be light,

and there was light day. And God

saw the light, that it was good,

and God divided the light

from the darkness.

God renames the "darkness" as night, and the "light" as day. Note the order does not change. He states the evening first, and then the morning second, and these in this order, made up the first day. Every day afterwards follows precisely the same order. The evening and then the morning.

For this reason Jewish people from the earliest times have observed a change of one day to the next at sunset.Evening (arab) and morning (boqer) are alternate words for darkness and light.


First Day Second Day Third Day Fourth Day Fifth Day Sixth Day Seventh Day
evening morning evening morning evening morning evening morning evening morning evening morning evening morning
And there was evening,
 and there was  morning
one day.		 And there was evening,
 and there was morning
a second day.		 And there was evening,
 and there was morning
a third day.		 And there was evening,
 and there was morning
a fourth day.		 And there was evening,
 and there was morning
a fifth day.		 And there was evening,
 and there was morning
a sixth day.		 and He rested on the
seventh day from all His work
which He had made
Genesis 1:5 Genesis 1:8 Genesis 1:13 Genesis 1:19 Genesis 1:23 Genesis 1:31 Genesis 2:2

By this we also know that our rest on the seventh day, the shabbat, includes the evening through to the next evening in which the first day of the week begins. Therefore all our of special days also begin at sunset in the evening.