The phrase "three days and three nights," Mt 12:40, was equivalent in Hebrew to the English "three days;" the Jews employing the expression "a day and a night" to denote our "day" of twenty-four hours. Nor did "three days," 1Sa 30:13, literally "this third day," according to their usage, necessarily include the whole of three days, but a part of three days, a continuous period including one whole day of twenty-four hours, and a portion of the day preceding it and the day following it. Compare

Ge 7:12,17; 1Sa 30:12-13.

See NUMBERS AS SYMBOLS.