Word study
Night
9 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: night, nights. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.
At a glance
How often each original word is translated “night” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side Compare the Greek words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- לַיִל layiltwist, night, adversitytranslated this way 209 times of its 222 uses · Strong’s H3915Noun · Translated: night 188, nights 14, tonight 9Full study and all 213 verses →
Genesis 1:5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness He called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning — the first day.
Exodus 10:13 So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and throughout that day and night the LORD sent an east wind across the land. By morning the east wind had brought the locusts.
- לוּן lûnlodge, pass the nighttranslated this way 26 times of its 80 uses · Strong’s H3885Verb · Translated: spend the night 17, spent the night 7, grumbled 7, remain 6Full study and all 76 verses →
Genesis 19:2 and said, “My lords, please turn aside into the house of your servant; wash your feet and spend the night. Then you can rise early and go on your way.” “No,” they answered, “we will spend the night in the square.”
Joshua 6:11 So he had the ark of the LORD carried around the city, circling it once. And the people returned to the camp and spent the night there.
- לֵילְיָא lêleyânighttranslated this way 5 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s H3916Noun · Translated: night 5Full study and all 5 verses →
Daniel 2:19 During the night, the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision, and he blessed the God of heaven
Daniel 5:30 That very night Belshazzar king of the Chaldeans was slain,
- אֶמֶשׁ emeshyesterdaytranslated this way 4 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s H570Adverb · Translated: last night 3, yesterday 1, night 1Full study and all 5 verses →
Genesis 19:34 The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Look, I slept with my father last night. Let us get him drunk with wine again tonight so you can go in and sleep with him and we can preserve our father’s line.”
Job 30:3 Gaunt from poverty and hunger, they gnawed the dry land, and the desolate wasteland by night.
- עֶרֶב ereb(sun)set, eveningtranslated this way 4 times of its 130 uses · Strong’s H6153Noun · Translated: evening 105, twilight 11, night 4, evenings 2Full study and all 124 verses →
Job 7:4 When I lie down I think: ‘When will I get up?’ But the night drags on, and I toss and turn until dawn.
Psalm 30:5 For His anger is fleeting, but His favor lasts a lifetime. Weeping may stay the night, but joy comes in the morning.
- מָלוֹן mâlônlodging-place, inn, khantranslated this way 3 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s H4411Noun · Translated: place where they lodged for the night 1, place we lodged for the night 1, lodging place 1, place 1Full study and all 8 verses →
Genesis 42:27 At the place where they lodged for the night, one of them opened his sack to get feed for his donkey, and he saw his silver in the mouth of the sack.
Isaiah 10:29 They have crossed at the ford: “We will spend the night at Geba.” Ramah trembles; Gibeah of Saul flees.
- אַשְׁמֻרָה ashmurâhwatchtranslated this way 3 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s H821Noun · Translated: watch 4, watches of the night 1, watches of night 1, watch of the night 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Psalm 63:6 When I remember You on my bed, I think of You through the watches of the night.
Lamentations 2:19 Arise, cry out in the night from the first watch of the night. Pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord. Lift up your hands to Him for the lives of your children who are fainting from hunger on the corner of every street.
- כֹּל kôlthe whole, alltranslated this way 2 times of its 5,107 uses · Strong’s H3605Noun · Translated: all 1,589, and all 471, whole 223, every 196Full study and all 4,112 verses →
- בֵּן bênsontranslated this way 2 times of its 4,587 uses · Strong’s H1121Noun · Translated: son 1,843, sons 892, Israelites 422, descendants 358Full study and all 3,473 verses →
Greek words (New Testament)
- νύξ nýxthe night, night-timetranslated this way 57 times of its 59 uses · Strong’s G3571Noun · Translated: night 54, nights 3, evening 1Full study and all 57 verses →
Matthew 2:14 So he got up, took the Child and His mother by night, and withdrew to Egypt,
Mark 4:27 Night and day he sleeps and wakes, and the seed sprouts and grows, though he knows not how.
- αὐλίζομαι aulízomaiI lodge, pass the nighttranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G835Verb · Translated: spent the night 1, spend the night 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Matthew 21:17 Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where He spent the night.
Luke 21:37 Every day Jesus taught at the temple, but every evening He went out to spend the night on the Mount of Olives.
- φυλακή phylakḗa watching, guard, prison, imprisonmenttranslated this way 2 times of its 43 uses · Strong’s G5438Noun · Translated: prison 27, watch 3, jail 3, watch of the night 2Full study and all 43 verses →
Matthew 24:43 But understand this: If the homeowner had known in which watch of the night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.
Luke 12:38 Even if he comes in the second or third watch of the night and finds them alert, those servants will be blessed.
How to study a word well
- Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
- Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
- Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
- Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
- See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
- Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
- Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.
What the Bible says about night: passages by topic →
Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.