What is a day in the Torah?

And God called the light, Day. And He called the darkness, Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. Genesis 1:5 MKJV

John 11:9 ASV
(9) Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If a man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world.

One Biblical day spreads over two calendar Roman days from evening to evening (between the evenings).

When reading the Bible, we must take into account that a Biblical day is not the same like the same day reckoning in other Calendars. A Biblical day falls between two evenings: Friday evening to Saturday evening is Saturday in Hebrew.

And God called the light, Day. And He called the darkness, Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. Genesis 1:5 MKJV

When we read measurements of time in the Bible, we must keep in mind that the time involved is Biblical time which is different from other time keeping because a biblical day starts in the evening before darkness, which is night (Genesis 1:5). In considering the timing of some events in the Bible, biblical pundits argue that the Jews count part of a day as a day. But we see in Exodus 12:18-19 that the day is well defined in time: from the fourteenth to the twenty-first is 7 days not 8 days.

"In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even. Exodus 12:18 ASV

Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. Exodus 12:15 ASV"

So, there is no such thing as inclusive dating that would have made the length of the unleavened bread 8 days. The Bible subtracts the dates: 21-14=7. Period. Exodus 12:18-19. The biblical day covers 2 Roman secular days like the 7th day Sabbath which covers Friday and Saturday. In other words, a biblical day falls between 2 evenings.

Therefore, during the Passover week, the length of 3 days cover the span of 4 named days. For example, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday do not count 3 days, from the point of view of Exodus 12:18-19. Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday do cover the length of 3 days from the perspective of Exodus 12:18-19. Remember: 'There was an evening, and there was a morning'. Genesis 1:5.

Jesus was mindful of Exodus 12:18-19, when He invoked the experience of Prophet Jonah in the belly of the fish for 3 days and 3 nights, in the boundary of His prophesied death and resurrection timing of '3 days', 'third day', 'after the third day'.

The arithmetic of Friday, Saturday, early Sunday boundary for the timing of the death and resurrection of Jesus fails the tests of the Prophet Jonah and of Exodus 12:18-19. One night is missing: Sunday night.

In other words, if Jesus died at the ninth hour (12 PM not 4 PM), the resurrection must have taking place on Monday. Counting part of a day to squeeze the resurrection for Sunday falls afoul of the definition of 7 days (also of a day) of Exodus 12:18-19, as the Jews were still celebrating the 7 days long ordinance, from the fourteenth to the twenty-first day (21-14=7).

Fortunately, some correct translations of the related texts in the New Testament place the resurrection correctly on a Saturday, according to the Greek texts, which is specified as the first of the seven sabbaths that lead to Pentecostal (fiftieth) day, which has always been a Sunday sabbath.

Matthew 28:1 LITV
But late in [the] sabbaths, at the dawning into [the] first of [the] sabbaths, Mary the Magdalene and the other Mary came to gaze upon the grave.

Note that [] means that the word does not appear in the original text but is added by the translators.

Again, one biblical day covers 2 nominal days in the Julian or Gregorian calendars.

Evening is not sunset, nightfall, or night.

Evening is broad daylight (4 PM EST, 5 PM DST), according to the tabulation John 19:14, a time when there was plenty of sunshine to go Pontius Pilate to ask for the body of Jesus and to bury it in the mausoleum like tomb (Genesis 24:11).

Genesis 24:11 ASV
(11) And he made the camels to kneel down without the city by the well of water at the time of evening, the time that women go out to draw water.

Deuteronomy 23:11 ASV
(11) but it shall be, when evening cometh on, he shall bathe himself in water; and when the sun is down, he shall come within the camp.

Sunset marks the entering of the sun not the going of the sun. From our perspective, the sun rises, reaches a maximum point, goes (down), and then sets (disappears) in our horizon.

Nightfall marks to the complete disappearance of the sun at the end of the evening, which is the setting of the sun.

Night is the total darkness which follows nightfall.

The day starts at a specific time, as the Jews of antiquity started preparing it at the ninth hour, according to the witness of Josephus, from a Roman decree of around 8 BC. The ninth hour cannot logically be a moving time which depends on the time of the moving sunset time for each season.

There is the evening, there is the night, there is the morning, there is noon or midday (Genesis 43:16), and obviously there is the afternoon or the going of the sun (Exodus 17:12, Joshua 1:4, Psalms 50:1, 113:3; Deuteronomy 11:3).

The Bible does not support the evening to coincide with the 'entering (Strong's H3996) of the sun in the horizon', which is etymologically sunset, the setting of the sun (Deuteronomy 11:30, Joshua 1:4, 23:4, Psalms 50:1, 104:19, 113:3, Zechariah 8:7, Malachi 1:1).

Rather, the evening coincides with the going (H935) of the sun, which is 'descending' towards our horizon (Joshua 10:13), which is not the same as entering (H3996) our horizon.

Joshua 10:13 ASV
And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, Until the nation had avenged themselves of their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jashar? And the sun stayed in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go (H935) down about a whole day.

In the translations, the word 'down' in the expression 'going down' to mean 'sunset' is an addition to the meaning of the Strong's Hebrew H935 (to go, Amos 8:9). That is, it does not exist in relation to the going of the sun.

Amos 8:9 ASV
(9) And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord Jehovah, that I will cause the sun to go [down] at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day.

Is Amos 8:9 saying that Jesus will make the sun enter (H3996) the horizon at noon, rushing the clocks, or that it will hide the sun at noon and cause darkness at noon?

Matthew 27:45 ASV
Now from the sixth hour (9 AM) there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour (12 PM).

Mark 15:33 ASV
And when the sixth hour (9 AM) was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour (12 PM).

Luke 23:44 ASV
And it was now about the sixth hour (9 AM), and a darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour (12 PM),

Biblically, evening is not sunset, nightfall, or night.

Evening Clock Time in the Parable of the Vineyard: the 12th Jewish hour which is 3 PM in our Roman Standard Time.

Matthew 20:8-12 ASV
(8) And when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the laborers, and pay them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first.
(9) And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a shilling.
(10) And when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received every man a shilling.
(11) And when they received it, they murmured against the householder,
(12) saying, These last have spent but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.

Since Jesus says that there are 12 hours in a day, do we start the Sabbath at the 12th evening hour or the first evening hour after the 12th hour? John 11:9.

I have chosen the first hour to let the 12 hours division of the day be complete but is it not more correct to start the new day at the 12th hour instead at the 1st hour?

Would Jesus refer to the 12th hour of the previous day as the first hour to start the next day? We can see the division of the biblical time from 12-4, 4-8, 8-12. That would be 3 watches.

We read of the morning watch in Exodus 14:24. We read of the middle watch in Judges 7:19. It implies that, if there is a middle watch, there must be 4 watches for each 12 hours. Could the divisions of morning, noon, evening, night be also watches?

Psalms 90:4 speaks of a watch in the night.

Jesus came unto the disciples in the fourth watch of the night walking on the sea, according to Matthew 14:25 and Mark 6:48.

Matthew 24:43 speaks of not knowing in what watch the thief would come. Do thieves come during the day? If thieves were expected to break in at night, Matthew 24:43 implies that the night was divided into watches as Matthew 14:25 suggests.

Luke 12:38 speaks of the second and of the third watch. So, there were at least 4 watches.

So, a division of 12 hours into 4 slots is more likely so that the Sabbath day as an equal day also is divided into 4 watches: 1-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10-12.

Hence, it makes sense that the biblical Jewish Sabbath day starts at the first hour of the first watch of the night.

The grace of God is for former sinners. Ezekiel 33:13-20

We must do the will of God on earth as it is done in Heaven to be saved. Hence, we must live and die holy to be saved by grace. 1 Peter 1:16

The witnesses of Jesus overcome the beast. Rev 20:4

When we accept Jesus, we become His disciples, His apostles, and His witnesses. Acts 1:3

If we're missing just 1 commandment in our belief system, we will not be saved because we are not without sin, that is, we are not holy. The grace of Jesus is for the holy ones, according to Ezekiel 33:13-20.

Ezekiel 33:13 ASV
(13) When I say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his righteousness, and commit iniquity, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered; but in his iniquity that he hath committed, therein shall he die.