In biblical times, the concept of "hours" as we understand it today was not as precisely defined. The ancient Israelites and early Christians divided the day into segments based on the position of the sun. The day was typically divided into twelve "hours," beginning at sunrise and ending at sunset, with the length of each hour varying according to the season.

Old Testament Context

The Old Testament does not frequently mention specific hours, as the division of time was more general, often referring to parts of the day such as morning, noon, and evening. However, the concept of dividing the day into segments is evident in various practices, such as the offering of sacrifices and the observance of the Sabbath.

New Testament Context

In the New Testament, the division of the day into hours becomes more apparent, reflecting the influence of Roman and Greek timekeeping. The Gospels frequently mention specific hours in the context of events in Jesus' life and ministry.

· The Third Hour: This corresponds to approximately 9:00 AM. In Acts 2:15, Peter addresses the crowd on the day of Pentecost, saying, "These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It is only the third hour of the day."

· The Sixth Hour: Around noon, this hour is significant in several Gospel accounts. In John 4:6, Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well at the sixth hour. Additionally, in John 19:14, it is noted, "It was the day of Preparation for the Passover, about the sixth hour," when Pilate presents Jesus to the crowd.

· The Ninth Hour: Approximately 3:00 PM, this hour is noted for being the time of Jesus' crucifixion. In Matthew 27:46, it is recorded, "About the ninth hour, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, 'Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?' which means, 'My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?'"

· The Eleventh Hour: This term is used metaphorically in the parable of the workers in the vineyard in Matthew 20:6-9, where laborers are hired at the eleventh hour, illustrating the generosity of the landowner.

Prayer and Worship

The division of the day into hours also influenced early Christian practices of prayer and worship. The "canonical hours" or "divine office" became a structured way to sanctify the day with prayer at specific times, a tradition that continues in various Christian liturgical practices.

Symbolic and Prophetic Significance

In biblical literature, hours can also carry symbolic or prophetic significance. The timing of events, such as the crucifixion of Jesus at the ninth hour, is often seen as fulfilling Old Testament prophecies and typologies. The use of specific hours in parables and teachings of Jesus often underscores themes of readiness, judgment, and the unexpected nature of God's kingdom.

Overall, the concept of hours in the Bible serves both a practical function in the narrative and a deeper theological purpose, illustrating God's sovereignty over time and His unfolding plan of redemption throughout history.Hours

The word hour, in Scripture, signifies one of the twelve equal parts into which each day, from sunrise to sunset, was divided, and which of course were of different lengths at different seasons of ht year, Matthew 20:3-6 John 11:9. This mode of dividing the day prevailed among the Jews at least after the exile, and perhaps earlier, Daniel 3:6 4:19. The third, sixth, and ninth hours were the appointed seasons for prayer, Acts 2:15 3:1:10:9. Anciently, however, the usual division of the day was into four parts, namely, the morning-the heat of the day, commencing about the middle of the forenoon-midday, and evening. In a similar manner, the Greeks appear at first to have divided the night also into three parts or watches, namely, the first watch, La 2:19; the middle, or second watch, Jud 7:19; and the morning, or third watch, Exodus 14:24. But after the Jews became subject to the Romans, they adopted the Roman manner of dividing the night into four watches, namely, the evening, or first quarter, after sunset; the midnight; cock-crowing, or third quarter, from midnight on; and the morning, or fourth quarter, including the dawn, Matthew 14:25 Mark 6:48 13:35 Luke 12:48. A watch in the night seems but an instant to one who spends it in slumber, Psalm 90:4; equally short does the life of man appear in view of eternity.

(n. pl.) Goddess of the seasons, or of the hours of the day.HOURS OF PRAYER

The Mosaic law did not regulate the offering of prayer, but fully recognized its spontaneous character. In what manner or how far back in Jewish history the sacrificial prayer, mentioned in Luke 1:10, originated no one knows. In the days of Christ it had evidently become an institution. But ages before that, stated hours of prayer were known and religiously observed by all devout Jews. It evidently belonged to the evolutionary process of Jewish worship, in connection with the temple-ritual. Devout Jews, living at Jerusalem, went to the temple to pray (Luke 18:10 Acts 3:1). The pious Jews of the Diaspora opened their windows "toward Jerus" and prayed "toward" the place of God's presence (1 Kings 8:48 Daniel 6:10 Psalm 5:7). The regular hours of prayer, as we may infer from Psalm 55:17 and Daniel 6:10, were three in number. The first coincided with the morning sacrifice, at the 3rd hour of the morning, at 9 AM therefore (Acts 2:15). The second was at the 6th hour, or at noon, and may have coincided with the thanksgiving for the chief meal of the day, a religious custom apparently universally observed (Matthew 15:36 Acts 27:35). The 3rd hour of prayer coincided with the evening sacrifice, at the ninth hour (Acts 3:1; Acts 10:30). Thus every day, as belonging to God, was religiously subdivided, and regular seasons of prayer were assigned to the devout believer. Its influence on the development of the religious spirit must have been incalculable, and it undoubtedly is, at least in part, the solution of the riddle of the preservation of the Jewish faith in the cruel centuries of its bitter persecution. Mohammedanism borrowed this feature of worship from the Jews and early Christians, and made it one of the chief pillars of its faith.

Henry E. Dosker

PRAYER, HOURS OF

See HOURS OF PRAYER.

3574. nuchthemeron -- lasting a night and a day
... and a day. Part of Speech: Noun, Neuter Transliteration: nuchthemeron Phonetic Spelling:
(nookh-thay'-mer-on) Short Definition: twenty-four hours Definition: a ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/3574.htm - 6k

2250. hemera -- day
... akin to the base of hedraios) meaning tame, ie Gentle; day, ie (literally) the time
space between dawn and dark, or the whole aganaktesis hours (but several ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/2250.htm - 7k

4471. Rhama -- Ramah, a city North of Jer.
... Proper Noun, Indeclinable Transliteration: Rhama Phonetic Spelling: (hram-ah') Short
Definition: Rama Definition: Rama, a place in Ephraim, two hours north of ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/4471.htm - 6k

5610. hora -- a time or period, an hour
... word Definition a time or period, an hour NASB Word Usage hour (84), hours (3),
late* (2), moment (3), once* (3), short* (1), time (6), while (4). ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/5610.htm - 7k

3117. yom -- day
... From an unused root meaning to be hot; a day (as the warm hours), whether literal
(from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a ...
/hebrew/3117.htm - 7k

Serious Hours of a Young Lady
Serious Hours of a Young Lady. <. Serious Hours of a Young Lady
Charles Sainte-Foi. Produced by Naomi Parkhurst, Charles ...
//christianbookshelf.org/sainte-foi/serious hours of a young lady/

Of Stations, and of the Hours of Prayer.
... Chapter X."Of Stations, and of the Hours of Prayer. In like manner they
censure on the count of novelty our Stations as being ...
/.../on fasting in opposition to the psychics/chapter x of stations and of.htm

Closing Hours.
... XX. CLOSING HOURS. The evenings of the two succeeding days seem to have
closed around our adorable Lord at BETHANY. We may still ...
//christianbookshelf.org/macduff/memories of bethany/xx closing hours.htm

Seven Hours on Horseback
... Chapter 13. Wesley in Scotland Again; Methodist's Wealth; "No Law for Methodists";
Exhausting Days; Whitefield Seven Hours on Horseback. ...
/.../wesley/the journal of john wesley/seven hours on horseback.htm

Hymn for all Hours
... IX. HYMN FOR ALL HOURS. Let me chant in sacred numbers, as I strike each
sounding string, Chant in sweet, melodious anthems, glorious ...
/.../prudentius/the hymns of prudentius/ix hymn for all hours.htm

The Saviour's Last Hours.
... XXV. THE SAVIOUR'S LAST HOURS. (Preached on Good Friday.) "Praise and thanks
be to Him who lifted up the Saviour on the cross as ...
/.../selected sermons of schleiermacher/xxv the saviours last hours.htm

Two Hours with Dr. Johnson
... Chapter 19. An Ideal Circuit; Wesley in his Eighties; Wesley Visits Holland;
Incidents in Scotland Two Hours with Dr. Johnson. I ...
/.../wesley/the journal of john wesley/two hours with dr johnson.htm

Music for Forty Hours' Adoration Musical Programme
... MUSIC FOR FORTY HOURS' ADORATION Musical Programme. Musical Programme ... (See Manual
of Forty Hours' Adoration pub. by Ecclesiastical Review, Phila., Pa.). ...
/.../music for forty hours adoration.htm

Processions, Benediction, 40 Hours'
... No. 241a PROCESSIONS, BENEDICTION, 40 HOURS'. PROCESSIONS, BENEDICTION, 40 HOURS'
Pange Lingua (No.1) (Tantum Ergo). Gregorian Vatican Graduale. Third Mode. ...
/.../no 241a processions benediction 40.htm

Wesley's Last Hours
... Wesley Collects Money for the Poor; Visits the House of Lords; His Reasons for his
Long Life; "How is the Tide Turned;" Last Entries WESLEY'S LAST HOURS. ...
/.../christianbookshelf.org/wesley/the journal of john wesley/wesleys last hours.htm

Time (7245 Occurrences)
... 4. (n.) The duration of one's life; the hours and days which a person has at
his disposal. 5. (n.) A proper time; a season; an opportunity. ...
/t/time.htm - 21k

Watch (203 Occurrences)
... 7. (n.) That part, usually one half, of the officers and crew, who together attend
to the working of a vessel for an allotted time, usually four hours. ...
/w/watch.htm - 40k

Day's (19 Occurrences)
... Easton's Bible Dictionary Day's journey. The usual length of a day's journey in
the East, on camel or horseback, in six or eight hours, is about 25 or 30 miles. ...
/d/day's.htm - 17k

Burial (25 Occurrences)
... Dr. Post says that burial among the people of Syria today seldom takes place later
than ten hours after death, often earlier; but, he adds, "the rapidity of ...
/b/burial.htm - 42k

Night (3322 Occurrences)
... The context usually makes it clear whether the term "day" refers to the period of
twenty-four hours or to daytime; when there was a possibility of confusion ...
/n/night.htm - 15k

Journey (214 Occurrences)
... ni (derekh yom, Genesis 30:36 Numbers 10:33; Numbers 11:31; hemeras hodos, Luke
2:44): The common way of estimating distances in the East is by hours and days. ...
/j/journey.htm - 42k

Reduce (13 Occurrences)
... into others of the same value; as, to reduce pounds, shillings, and pence to pence,
or to reduce pence to pounds; to reduce days and hours to minutes, or ...
/r/reduce.htm - 11k

Space (98 Occurrences)
... ASV). Acts 5:7 And it was about the space of three hours after, when his
wife, not knowing what was done, came in. (KJV ASV WBS). ...
/s/space.htm - 37k

Shepherd (76 Occurrences)
... Often he had to guard the fold through the dark hours from the attack of wild beasts,
or the wily attempts of the prowling thief (see 1 Samuel 17:34 ...
/s/shepherd.htm - 42k

Day (17670 Occurrences)
... (see WATCHES.). The division of the day by hours is first mentioned in
Dan. 3 ... axis. -- ordinarily divided into twenty-four hours. ...
/d/day.htm - 70k

What happened during Jesus' last hours before His death? | GotQuestions.org

How long was Jesus on the cross? | GotQuestions.org

What is a morning prayer? What is an evening prayer? | GotQuestions.org

Hours: Dictionary and Thesaurus | Clyx.com

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