'Night' in the Bible

And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, [the] first day.

And God said, "Let there be lights in the vaulted dome of heaven {to separate day from night}, and let them be as signs and for appointed times, and for days and years,

And God made two lights, the greater light to rule the day and the smaller light to rule the night, and the stars.

and to rule over the day and over the night, and to {separate light from darkness}. And God saw that [it was] good.

{As long as the earth endures}, seed and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will not cease.

And he divided [his trained men] against them at night, he and his servants. And he defeated them and pursued them to Hobah, which [is] north of Damascus.

And he said, "Behold, my lords, please turn aside into the house of your servant and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you can rise early and go on your way." And they said, "No, but we will spend the night in the square."

And they gave their father wine to drink that night, and the firstborn went and lay with her father, but he did not know when she lay down or when she got up.

And it happened [that], the next day the firstborn said to the younger one, "Look, I laid with my father last night. Let us give him wine to drink also tonight, then go and lie with him that {we may secure descendants through our father}."

And they gave their father wine to drink again that night, and the younger got up and lay with him, but he did not know when she lay down or when she got up.

And God came to Abimelech in a dream at night. And he said to him, "Look, you [are] a dead man on account of the woman you have taken. For she [is] {a married woman}."

and said, "Please tell me, whose daughter [are] you? Is there a place [at] the house of your father for us to spend the night?"

Then she said to him, "We have both straw and fodder in abundance, as well as a place to spend the night."

And he and the men who [were] with him ate and drank, and they spent the night. And they got up in the morning, and he said, "Let me go to my master."

And Yahweh appeared to him that night and said, "I [am] the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I [am] with you, and I will bless you and make your descendants numerous for the sake of my servant Abraham."

And he arrived at a [certain] place and spent the night there, because the sun had set. And he took [one] of the stones of the place and put [it] under his head and slept at that place.

When Jacob came in from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him. And she said, "Come in to me, for {I have hired} you with my son's mandrakes." And he slept with her that night.

And God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and said to him, "{Take care} that you not speak with Jacob, whether good or evil."

{It is in my power} to do harm to you, but the God of your father spoke to me last night saying, '{Take care} from speaking with Jacob, whether good or evil.'

I brought no mangled carcass to you--I bore its loss. From my hand you sought it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night.

[There] I was, during the day the heat consumed me, and the cold by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes.

If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac had not been with me, indeed now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God saw my misery and the labor of my hands and rebuked you last night."

And Jacob sacrificed a sacrifice on the hill, and he called his kinsmen to eat the meal. And they ate the meal and spent the night on the hill.

And he lodged there that night. Then he took {from what he had with him} a gift for Esau his brother:

So the gift passed on before him, but he himself spent that night in the camp.

That night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.

And we dreamed a dream one night, I and he, {each with a dream that had a meaning}.

And God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, "Jacob, Jacob." And he said, "Here I [am]."

And Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and Yahweh drove an east wind into the land all that day and all night. The morning came, and the east wind had brought the locusts.

And Moses stretched out his hand toward the heavens, and there was darkness of night in all the land of Egypt [for] three days.

And Moses said, "Thus says Yahweh, 'About the middle of the night I [will] go out through the midst of Egypt,

And they will eat the meat on this night; they will eat it fire-roasted and [with] unleavened bread on {bitter herbs}.

"And I will go through the land of Egypt during this night, and I will strike all of the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from human to animal, and I will do punishments among all of the gods of Egypt. I [am] Yahweh.

{And} in the middle of the night, Yahweh struck all of the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh sitting on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who [was] in the prison house and every firstborn of an animal.

And Pharaoh got up [at] night, he and all his servants and all Egypt, and a great cry of distress was in Egypt because there was not a house where there was no one dead.

And he called Moses and Aaron [at] night, and he said, "Get up, go out from the midst of my people, both you as well as the {Israelites}, and go, serve Yahweh, as you have said.

It [is] a night of vigils [belonging] to Yahweh for bringing them out from the land of Egypt; it [is] this night [belonging] to Yahweh [with] vigils for all of the {Israelites} throughout their generations.

And Yahweh was going before them by day in a column of cloud to lead them [on] the way and [by] night in a column of fire to give light to them to go by day and night.

The column of cloud by day and the column of fire [by] night did not depart from before the people.

[so that] it came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel. And {it was a dark cloud}, but it gave light [to] the night, [so that] {neither approached the other} all night.

And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and Yahweh moved the sea with a strong east wind all night, and he made the sea [become] dry ground, and the waters were divided.

For the cloud of Yahweh [was] on the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it [by] night before the eyes of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys.

"Command Aaron and his sons, saying, 'This [is] the regulation of the burnt offering: {The burnt offering must remain on the hearth} on the altar all night until the morning, and the altar's fire must be kept burning on it.

And you must stay [at the] entrance to [the] tent of assembly day and night [for] seven days, and you shall keep the obligation from Yahweh, so you might not die, for thus I have been commanded."

So it was continually; the cloud would cover it and the appearance of fire [by] night.

When the cloud {remained} from evening until morning, and the cloud lifted up in the morning, they would set out, or [if it remained] in the daytime and [at] night, [when] the cloud lifted up they set out.

When the dew came down on the camp [at] night, the manna came down [with] it.

And so the people {worked} all day and all night and all the next day, and they gathered the quail (the least of the ones collecting gathered ten homers).

Then all the community {lifted up their voices}, and the people wept during that night.

and they will {tell it} to the inhabitants of this land. They heard that you, Yahweh, [are] in the midst of this people, that you are seen eye to eye, and your cloud [is] standing over them, and in a column of cloud you go before them by day and in a column of fire [at] night.

He said to them, "Spend the night here, and I will return, and I will return word to you, just as Yahweh speaks to me." So the princes of Moab stayed with Balaam.

And now please, {you also stay here} the night, and {let me find out} again what Yahweh will say with me."

And God came to Balaam [at] night, and he said to him, "If the men have come to call you, get up [and] go with them; but only the word that I will speak to you, you will do."

{who goes} {before you} on your way, seeking a place for your encampment, in fire at night and in a cloud by day, to show you the way that {you should go}.

"Observe the month of Abib, and you shall keep [the] Passover to Yahweh your God, for in the month of Abib Yahweh your God brought you out from Egypt [by] night.

"If [there] is among you a man that is not clean because of a seminal emission {during the night}, he shall go outside the camp; he shall not come within the camp.

And {your life shall hang in doubt before you}, and you shall be startled night and day, and you shall not be confident of your life.

The scroll of this law will not depart from your mouth; you will meditate on it day and night so that {you may observe diligently all that is written} in it. For then you will succeed [in] your ways and prosper.

Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two men from Acacia Grove [as] spies, saying, "Go, view the land, especially Jericho." So they went, and entered the house of a prostitute whose name [was] Rahab, and {spent the night} there.

And when [it was time] to shut the gate {for the night}, the men left, and I do not know where they went. Chase after them quickly, for you may catch up [to] them."

Joshua rose early in the morning, and they set out from Acacia Grove. And they came up to the Jordan, he and all the {Israelites}, and they spent the night there before they crossed [over].

And the ark of Yahweh went around the city, {circling once}, and they came [into] the camp and spent the night in the camp.

So Joshua and {all the fighting men} went up immediately to Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand of the best fighting men and sent them [by] night.

So Joshua sent them out, and they went to the [place of the] ambush, and they sat between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai; but Joshua spent the night {with the people}.

So they stationed the forces; all the army [was] north of the city while {the rear guard was west}. But Joshua went that night to the middle of the valley.

Joshua came upon them suddenly {by marching up} all night from Gilgal.

Now on that same night Yahweh said to him, "Take the bull of the cattle that belongs to your father, and a second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that belongs to your father, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it;

Gideon took ten men from his servants, and he did just as Yahweh told him; and because he was too afraid of his {father's family} and the men of the city to do [it during] the day, he did [it during] night.

And God did so that night; only the fleece was dry, and dew was on all the ground.

And that night Yahweh said to him, "Get up; go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hand.

So then, get up [by] night, you and the army that [is] with you, and lie in ambush in the field.

So Abimelech and all the army that [was] with him got up [by] night, and they lay in ambush against Shechem [in] four divisions.

The Gazites [were told], "Samson has come here," so they surrounded [the place] and lay in ambush for him all night at the city gate. They kept silent all night, saying, "[We will wait] until the morning light, and then we will kill him."

But Samson lay until the middle of the night; he got up in the middle of the night and took hold of the doors of the city gate and the two door posts, tore them loose with the bar, put them on his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of the hill that is {in front of} Hebron.

The descendants of Dan sent from the whole number of their clan five {capable men} from Zorah and Eshtaol to spy out the land and to explore it. And they said to them, "Go, explore the land." And they went to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and they spent the night there.

His father-in-law, the young woman's father, urged him to stay with him three days; and they ate and drank, and they spent the night there.

So the two of them sat and ate and drank together, and the father of the young woman said to the man, "Please, agree to spend the night and {enjoy yourself}."

The man got up to go, but his father-in-law urged him, and he returned and spent the night there.

And the man got up to go--he, his concubine, and his servant--but his father-in-law, the father of the young woman, said to him, "Please, the day has worn on to evening; please, spend the night, the day has drawn to a close. Spend the night here and {enjoy yourself}. You can rise early tomorrow for your journey and {go to your home}."

But the man was not willing to spend the night, and he got up and went; and he arrived opposite Jebus (that is, Jerusalem). [He had] with him a pair of saddled donkeys and his concubine.

They [were] near Jebus, and {the day was far spent}, and the servant said to his master, "Please, come, let us turn aside to this city of the Jebusites, and let us spend the night in it."

And he said to his servant, "Come, let us approach one of these places; we will spend the night in Gibeah or in Ramah."

And they turned aside there to enter [and] to spend the night at Gibeah. And they went and sat in the open square of the city, but no one {took them in to spend the night}.

And he said to him, "We [are] crossing over from Bethlehem in Judah up to the remote areas of the hill country of Ephraim, where I [am] from. I went to Bethlehem in Judah, but [now] I am going to Yahweh's house, but no one {took me in to spend the night}.

And the old man said, "Peace to you. I will take care of your needs; however, you must not spend the night in the open square."

But the men were not willing to listen to him, and the man seized his concubine and brought [her] out to them; and they had intercourse with her, and they abused her all night until the morning; they let her go at the approach of dawn.

The Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, answered and said, "I came to Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to spend the night.

The lords of Gibeah rose up against me and surrounded the house at night. They intended to kill me, and they raped my concubine, and she died.

Turn back, my daughters! Go, for {I am too old to have a husband}. If I should think there is hope for me, even if I should have a husband [this] night, and even if I should bear sons,

And it happened in the middle of the night the man was startled and he reached out and behold, a woman [was] lying at his feet.

Then Saul said, "Disperse [yourselves] among the troops and say to them, 'Bring to me each [one] his ox and each his sheep and slaughter them in this [place] and eat, but do not sin against Yahweh by eating [the animals] with the blood.'" So all the troops brought [them], each [leading] his ox in his hand that night, and slaughtered [it] there.

Saul said, "Let us go down after [the] Philistines [by] night, and let us plunder them until the morning light, and let us not leave [alive] a man among them." So they said, "Do all that [is] good in your eyes." But the priest said, "Let us draw near to God here."

"I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not kept my word." {Samuel became angry}, and he cried out to Yahweh all night.

Then Samuel said to Saul, "Stop and let me tell you what Yahweh said to me last night." So he said to him, "Speak."

So Saul tried {to pin David to the wall with the spear}, but {he eluded Saul}, so that he struck the spear into the wall, and David fled and escaped that [same] night.

He also stripped [off] his clothes and prophesied before Samuel. He lay naked all that day and all night. Therefore they say, "[Is] Saul also among the prophets?"

They were a wall to us both night and day, all {the days we were} with them keeping the sheep.

So David and Abishai came to the army [by] night, and {there was} Saul lying asleep in the encampment with his spear thrust into the ground near his head, and Abner and the army [were] lying all around him.

So Saul disguised himself and put on other clothes, and he went {with two of his men}. And they came to the woman [by] night and he said, "Please consult a spirit for me through {the ritual pit}, and bring up for me [the one] whom I tell you."

{Then Saul immediately fell prostrate} to the ground, and he was very afraid because of the words of Samuel; there was no more strength in him, for he had not eaten food all day and all night.