A day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb)
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יוֹם (yôm) is one of the most versatile and theologically significant nouns in Hebrew. Its base meaning is day — the period of light as opposed to night, or the full 24-hour cycle — but it extends in two critical directions: backward to structured periods of time (yôm can mean an era, a season, or an appointed time), and forward to the great eschatological concept of yôm YHWH, the Day of the LORD.
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Full entry for יוֹם (H3117) · Open the biblical lexicon
יוֹם (yôm) is one of the most versatile and theologically significant nouns in Hebrew. Its base meaning is day — the period of light as opposed to night, or the full 24-hour cycle — but it extends in two critical directions: backward to structured periods of time (yôm can mean an era, a season, or an appointed time), and forward to the great eschatological.
The BSB source-word alignment has 2,303 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include day (584), days (260), . . . (249), today (128), the day (83).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 1:5. Its strongest book concentrations include Deuteronomy (167), Genesis (152), 1 Samuel (150), Jeremiah (137).
יוֹם (yôm) is one of the most versatile and theologically significant nouns in Hebrew. Its base meaning is day — the period of light as opposed to night, or the full 24-hour cycle — but it extends in two critical directions: backward to structured periods of time (yôm can mean an era, a season, or an appointed time), and forward to the great eschatological concept of yôm YHWH, the Day of the Lord.
The plural yāmîm (days) can mean time in general, a period, or a lifetime ('all the days of your life'). The phrase 'in those days' (bayyāmîm hāhēm) is a narrative signal for a historical period, while 'the days are coming' (hinnēh yāmîm bāʾîm) is a prophetic formula introducing future divine action. Both directions — historical and eschatological — show that the Hebrews understood time as structured and purposive: days are not mere units of measurement but containers of divine action.
The theologically supreme use of yôm is yôm YHWH, the Day of the Lord. This prophetic concept appears across Amos, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Joel, Zephaniah, Zechariah, and Malachi. Its core meaning is the time of YHWH's definitive intervention in history — a day of judgment against evil, vindication for the righteous, and the manifestation of the divine sovereignty.
The surprising prophetic move is that the Day of the Lord is not only a day against Israel's enemies but also a day against Israel itself when Israel is covenant-unfaithful.
יוֹם occurs about 2,304 times in the local OT index, making it one of the most common nouns. Key theological concentrations include the creation days, the day of divine appointment and encounter, the yôm YHWH (Day of the Lord) theology across the prophets, the narrative significance of specific days (the day of the Lord's act, the day of battle, the day of distress), and the wisdom literature's meditation on the brevity of human days.
Woe to you who long for the Day of the Lord! What will the Day of the Lord be for you? It will be darkness and not light.
The prophetic reversal of the yôm YHWH expectation: Israel desired the Day as a day of national vindication against enemies, but Amos declares it will be darkness not light for a sinful Israel. This is one of the earliest and most definitive yôm YHWH texts, and its structure is critical: the Day is still the Day of YHWH's definitive action, but what that action will accomplish depends on the covenant faithfulness of those expecting it.
The Day is not automatically favorable to those who call themselves God's people.
Blow the ram’s horn in Zion; sound the alarm on My holy mountain! Let all who dwell in the land tremble, for the Day of the Lord is coming; indeed, it is near—
Joel's classic yôm YHWH alarm: the Day is near, and its approach is terrifying. Joel describes it as a day of darkness, clouds, thick darkness, and an overwhelming army (vv.2-11). The trumpet alarm (šôpār) is the ancient battle signal and covenant-assembly call — its sounding announces that the normal order is about to be disrupted by divine action. Joel's yôm YHWH becomes one of the most complex in the prophetic tradition: it is simultaneously past (the locust plague as yôm YHWH already experienced) and future (the great cosmic Day that will follow repentance).
For the Day of the Lord of Hosts will come against all the proud and lofty, against all that is exalted—it will be humbled—
Isaiah's yôm YHWH as the day of the leveling of all human pride: every high thing — mountains, cedars, ships, towers — will be brought low. The Day is the great rûm-reversal (cf. H7311 rûm companion) applied at cosmic scale: on that day, only YHWH will be exalted (v.17: 'the Lord alone will be exalted in that day'). This gives the yôm YHWH a specific theological content: the Day is when the divine glory — the exclusive exaltation of the one true God — is universally recognized.
The great Day of the Lord is near—near and coming quickly. Listen, the Day of the Lord! Then the cry of the mighty will be bitter.
Zephaniah's yôm YHWH passage, which became the source of the medieval hymn Dies Irae (Day of Wrath). The Day is described as a day of wrath, distress, anguish, devastation, desolation, darkness, gloominess, clouds, thick darkness, trumpet blast, and battle cry (vv.15-16). Zephaniah gives the most complete negative catalog of the Day in the entire OT — a picture of total covenantal reckoning that the NT applies to the final judgment.
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome Day of the Lord.
The final OT occurrence of yôm YHWH: Malachi promises that Elijah will come before the great and dreadful Day. This verse ends the Hebrew canon of the prophets and creates the expectation that the forerunner who announces the Day is yet to come. Jesus identifies John the Baptist as the Elijah figure (Matt 11:14; 17:12-13), locating the Day in the ministry of Jesus — the kingdom's arrival is the yôm YHWH both arriving and continuing to arrive.
Is this nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look around and see! Is there any sorrow like mine, which was inflicted on me, which the Lord made me suffer on the day of His fierce anger?
The Day of the Lord experienced in the fall of Jerusalem: the destruction of the city and temple is described as yôm YHWH having arrived. Lamentations frames the exile not as a political defeat but as a covenantal encounter with the divine anger — the Day came for Jerusalem. This is the OT's most concrete instance of the yôm YHWH pattern: YHWH's definitive action against covenant-breaking, experienced in historical catastrophe, but pointing toward the eschatological Day that will ultimately judge all evil and vindicate all who trust.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Fundamental unit of time marked by daylight, extending metaphorically to ages, epochs, and eschatological periods.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 3 selected witnesses from 2,304 lexical occurrence verses.
The Day of the Lord frames judgment as a specific, sovereignly appointed event. Hosea 3:1-5
The term anchors the prophecy in a coming decisive act of God that will expose pride and establish his supremacy. Isaiah 13:1-8
Indicates extended period of deprivation. Isaiah 2:10-22
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
The yôm YHWH theology is the OT's sustained answer to the question: where is this all going? The prophets who preach about the Day of the Lord are not predicting arbitrary divine violence; they are describing the moment when the covenantal truth about reality — that the Lord alone is God, that covenant faithfulness matters, that evil has an accounting — becomes visible in history.
The Amos reversal is essential for preaching: the Day is not automatically favorable to those who call themselves God's people. Israel had domesticated the yôm YHWH into a nationalist hope; Amos declares it darkness for the unfaithful. The NT inherits this prophetic tradition and concentrates it on Christ. The cross is the yôm YHWH in compressed form: the divine wrath against covenant-breaking falls, the darkness covers the land at midday (Luke 23:44), the righteous servant takes the full weight of the Day so that those who are in him might not face it as wrath.
The resurrection is the dawn after the Day. The final judgment is the completed yôm YHWH. For the preacher, the Day of the Lord is not a text about future terrors to frighten hearers; it is the narrative framework within which the urgency of the present moment makes sense: the Day is coming, the Day was inaugurated in Christ, and the Day will complete what Christ began.
Amos.5.18
The phrase yôm YHWH (Day of the Lord) appears roughly 19 times explicitly, plus many more as 'that day' (hayyôm hahûʾ) in prophetic contexts that clearly refer to the same concept. The idiom 'in the day of' (bĕyôm) is used for appointed times, decisive moments, and days of battle or distress — showing that yôm carries connotations of significance and consequence beyond mere chronological marking.
The creation's days (yāmîm, Gen 1) have been extensively debated regarding their duration; the word itself does not resolve the debate, as yôm in Hebrew can refer to a 24-hour period, the daylight hours, or an era/age depending on context.
The NT inherits the yôm YHWH theology through multiple channels. The synoptic 'day of the Son of Man' language (Luke 17:22-37) applies the eschatological Day to the Parousia. First Corinthians 1:8 uses 'the day of our Lord Jesus Christ' as the covenant accountability horizon for the present community. Second Peter 3:10-12 draws on the prophetic yôm YHWH tradition to describe the dissolution of the present order by fire.
Revelation centers on 'the great day of their wrath' (6:17) as the climactic intervention of the Lamb. The most theologically significant NT yôm YHWH application is the cross itself: Luke 23:44's darkness at noon echoes Amos 8:9 ('I will make the sun go down at noon, and darken the earth in broad daylight on the day of the Lord's wrath') — the crucifixion is the Day arriving in concentrated form, with the divine judgment falling on the sinless one so that those who trust him need not face it as wrath.
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