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(
$
, 2320), “new moon; month.” This noun occurs about 283 times in
biblical Hebrew and in all periods.
The word refers to the day on which the crescent reappears: “So David hid himself in
the field: and when the new moon was come, the king sat him down to eat meat” (1 Sam.
20:24). Isa. 1:14 uses this word of the feast which occurred on that day: “Your new
moons [festivals] and your appointed feasts my soul hateth …” (cf. Num. 28:14; 29:6).
)
can refer to a “month,” or the period from one new moon to another. The
sense of a measure of time during which something happens occurs in Gen. 38:24: “And
it came to pass about three months after, that it was told Judah.…” In a related nuance the
word refers not so much to a measure of time as to a period of time, or a calendar month.
These “months” are sometimes named (Exod. 13:4) and sometimes numbered (Gen.
7:11).
C. Adjective.
(
$
, 2319), “new; renewed.” This adjective appears 53 times in biblical
Hebrew.
)
means “new” both in the sense of recent or fresh (as the opposite of old) and
in the sense of something not previously existing. The first nuance appears in Lev. 23:16:
“Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall
offer a new meat offering unto the Lord.” The first biblical occurrence of
(Exod.
1:8) demonstrates the second meaning: “Now there arose up a new king over Egypt,
which knew not Joseph.” This second nuance occurs in Isaiah’s discussion of the future
salvation. For example, in Isa. 42:10 a new saving act of God will bring forth a new song
of praise to Him: “Sing unto the Lord a new song, and his praise from the end of the
earth.…” The Psalter uses the phrase “a new song” in this sense; a new saving act of God
has occurred and a song responding to that act celebrates it. The “new” is often contrasted
to the former: “Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare:
before they spring forth I tell you of them” (Isa. 42:9). Jer. 31:31-34 employs this same
nuance speaking of the new covenant (cf. Ezek. 11:19; 18:31).
A unique meaning appears in Lam. 3:23, where
appears to mean “renewed”;
just as God’s creation is renewed and refreshed, so is His compassion and loving-
kindness: “They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.” This nuance is more
closely related to the verb from which this word is derived.
NIGHT
(
, 3915), “night.” Cognates of this noun appear in Ugaritic, Moabite,
Akkadian, Aramaic, Syrian, Arabic, and Ethiopic. The word appears about 227 times in
biblical Hebrew and in all periods.
6
means “night,” the period of time during which it is dark: “And God called
the light Day, and the darkness he called Night” (Gen. 1:5—the first biblical appearance).
In Exod. 13:21 and similar passages the word means “by night,” or “during the night”:
“And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud … and by night in a pillar of
fire, to give them light; to go by day and night.” This word is used figuratively of
protection: “Take counsel, execute judgment; make thy shadow as the night in the midst