Definition: Pre-Sabbath, Preparation Day

Apart from the Sabbath, only the day before the Sabbath was named in Israel (Mt 27:62; Mk 15:42; Lk 23:54; Jn 19:14,31,42). It was the Pre-Sabbath (προσαββατον = prosabbaton: Mk 15:42), preparation day or pre-rest day or makeready day (Greek paraskeue, derived from paraskeuazo: to get ready, to equip, to prepare, to arrange). Mark used both terms in one sentence, literally: "since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath" (Mark 15:42).  

Since there are preparation days for weekly Sabbaths as well as preparation days for the seven annual High Sabbaths, there are always several preparation days within only seven days in the spring and autumn holiday weeks. But if in one year a High Sabbath falls on a weekly Sabbath, this "double Sabbath" has only one common preparation day. There are 4 types of preparation days to be distinguished: 

1. Preparation day for a weekly Sabbath, always Thursday evening until Friday evening. This preparation day exists every week, because it is the 6th day of the week.
2. Preparation day for the great weekly Sabbath. In addition, there is a special 6th day of the week only once a year, namely the preparation day for the „Great Sabbath“ (Shabbat ha-Gadol), which falls on the 10th of Nisan. This is the only WEEKLY Sabbath that is referred to as the „Great Sabbath“ and should not be confused with the 7 ANNUAL „Great Sabbaths“ (=High Sabbats, feasts). Hebrew tradition confirms several times that in the year of the Exodus, the Passover lamb was set apart on the 10th of Nisan, and this day fell on a Sabbath (Saturday) in that year. Christians speak inaccurately of the Palm Sabbath, which can be found approximately every third year in God's calendar, including in 2020 and 2023. However, as the 10th of Nisan does not fall on a Sabbath (Saturday) every year, but also on other days of the week, Israelis still always refer to the Sabbath before Passover as the „Great Sabbath“, even if it does not fall on the 10th of Nisan. This can be found in every Jewish calendar. The Hebrews always wanted to commemorate the year in which the first Passover lamb was set apart on a weekly Sabbath (10th of Nisan) and slaughtered on the 14th of Nisan (Wednesday), whose blood made the exodus on the 15th Nisan (Thursday) possible.
   See Shabbat ha-Gadol on Nisan 10  and  Palm Sabbath.
3. Preparation day for one of the 7 High Sabbaths (=7 feast or annual Sabbaths), which can fall on any day of the week.
4. Preparation day for a double Sabbath, if an annual Sabbath (=High Sabbath, festive Sabbath, Feast) falls on a weekly Sabbath, always from Thursday evening to Friday evening. It would then be a "double preparation day".

Most Christians think that there is only one Sabbath at Passover because Easter also has only one Sabbath (Saturday) before Easter Sunday; but Passover has three Sabbaths. And if there are three Sabbaths in the Feast, then of course there must also be three days of preparation, and either to the annual Sabbaths or to the minor weekly Sabbaths, unless an annual Sabbath falls on a weekly Sabbath (i.e., always Saturday), in which case there is a day of preparation to a double Sabbath. So there are three types of preparation days because there are three types of Sabbaths (annual Sabbath, weekly Sabbath, double Sabbath). So whoever claims that the preparation day supposedly always means a Friday needs to explain to us how he wants to have 3 Fridays in a Passover week? See also the chapter No Friday.

Many study Bibles with Strong numbers of Greek words define the day of preparation as "the day before the weekly Sabbath (i.e. Friday) OR the day before a feast (annual High Sabbath)". However, most Christians are not aware that the Bible does not say that Jesus died on the preparation day for a weekly Sabbath (i.e. not on a Friday), but on the pre-Sabbath for a major holiday (festival, the first annual Sabbath, Passover on the 15th Nisan), which can fall on different weekdays: 

• Jn 19:31 (ESV): "Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away."
• Jn 19:31 (KJV): "The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away."
• Jn 19:31 (NKJV): "Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away."
• Jh 19:31 (WEB): "Therefore the Jews, because it was the Preparation Day, so that the bodies wouldn’t remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a special one), asked of Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away."
• Jn 19:31 (ERV): "This day was Preparation day. The next day was a special Sabbath day. The Jewish leaders did not want the bodies to stay on the cross on the Sabbath day. So they asked Pilate to order that the legs of the men be broken. And they asked that the bodies be taken down from the crosses." 
• Jn 19:31 (YLT): "The Jews, therefore, that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the sabbath, since it was the preparation, (for that sabbath day was a great one,) asked of Pilate that their legs may be broken, and they taken away."
• Jn 19:31 (JUB): "The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross {Gr. stauros – stake} on the sabbath day (for that sabbath day was a high day) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away."
• Jn 19:31 (GNT): "Then the Jewish authorities asked Pilate to allow them to break the legs of the men who had been crucified, and to take the bodies down from the crosses. They requested this because it was Friday, and they did not want the bodies to stay on the crosses on the Sabbath, since the coming Sabbath was especially holy.
  Note: The Good News Translation makes a dramatic mistake by equating the preparation day with Friday. Friday was never meant because it does not start at sunset (like all biblical days), but at midnight, so Friday has no place in the Bible, its mention is always wrong. 

Since many Christians cannot distinguish between weekly and annual Sabbaths, they start from the false assumption that Jesus was crucified on a Friday. But the Bible is only about the day before a high feast Sabbath. John also tells us clearly which of the seven major annual feast Sabbaths (holy days) it was, namely:

• Jn 19:14 (ESV): "Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover..."
• Jn 19:14 (KJV):    "And it was the preparation of the passover..."
• Jn 19:14 (NKJV): "Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover..."
• Jn 19:14 (WEB):  "Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover..."
• Jn 19:14 (ERV): "It was now almost noon on Preparation day of Passover week..."
• Jn 19:14 (YLT):    "and it was the preparation of the passover..."
• Jn 19:14 (JUB):   "And it was the preparation of the passover..."
• Jn 19:14 (GNT): "It was then almost noon of the day before the Passover..."

So it was about the preparation day for the first annual Sabbath, the high Passover on the 15th of Nisan (Abib). All scholars agree on this. But they place theological tradition before the Word of God (Bible) and have thus placed this feast day on a weekly Sabbath. Astronomical data clearly prove: In the year in which Jesus was crucified (30, 31 or 34 A.D.), there was no double Sabbath, but the preparation day (14th Nisan) fell on a Wednesday and the following annual High Sabbath (15th Nisan) on a Thursday. Jesus rose from the dead after "3 days and 3 nights". That was "on the one of the Sabbaths" (Mk 16:2; Lk 24:1; Jn 20:1) until Pentecost, namely "early on the first Sabbath" (Mk 16:9; 17th Nisan) of the seven Sabbaths that are counted every year until the feast of weeks (Shavuot, Pentecost):

All preparation days have one thing in common: just like the Sabbath, they begin at sunset and end at the next sunset. Therefore, the preparation day for a weekly Sabbath is strictly speaking never the Friday, but always the period from Thursday evening to Friday evening, always after sunset. The preparation day (14th Nisan) for the Passover (15th Nisan) is called "Erev Pesach" by the Jews today, the evening before the Sabbath (erev means the eve of Jewish festivals, i.e. the day of light after noon; see definition Day). The Sabbath lights are lit one hour before the Sabbath begins. The service often begins on Friday evening (i.e. still on the preparation day, erev Shabbat) and continues into the Sabbath.  

In 2020 the sequence of days at the Passover was exactly the same as in the year Jesus was crucified. There were once again three preparation days (Nisan 14, 16 and 20) and three Sabbaths (Nisan 15, 17 and 21). This sequence of days is very common according to the Jewish calendar and occurs somewhat every third year:

The sequence of events at the time of Jesus on the preparation day, the 14th of Nisan, are listed in the chapter "No Friday".

The preparation day is mentioned 6 times in the New Testament (NT). It is then always the day before a small/little weekly Sabbath or before a great/high annual Sabbath or before a double Sabbath:

1. Mt 27:62-64: "The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation [Pasaskeue, Παρασκευήν], the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate 63 and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ 64 Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.”" 
2. Mk 15:42-43: "And when evening had come, since it was the day of Preparation [Παρασκευή], that is, the day before the Sabbath [Prosabbaton, προσάββατον; literally: “this is the pre-Sabbath“], 43 Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus."
3. Lk 23:52-54: "This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 53 Then he took it down and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid him in a tomb cut in stone, where no one had ever yet been laid. 54 It was the day of Preparation [Paraskeuēs, Παρασκευῆς], and the Sabbath was beginning."
4. Jn 19:14: "Now it was the day of Preparation [Παρασκευὴ] of the Passover [Passach, πάσχα]. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!”" 
5. Jn 19:31: "Since it was the day of Preparation [Παρασκευὴ], and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath [Sabbaton, σαββατων] (for that Sabbath Sabbat [Sabbatou, σαββατου] was a high day [literally: "was for a high/great day that Sabbath"]), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away."
6. Jn 19:41-42: "Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. 42 So because of the Jewish day of Preparation [Παρασκευὴν], since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there."

The literal translation of John 19:31 according to the accurate Bible program Scripture4All:

John (John 19:31) emphasizes that the preparation day on the 14th Nisan was the day before the High Sabbath (the 15th Nisan) NOT the day before a Low Sabbath (Saturday). In the year in which the Lord Jesus was crucified, the 14th of Nisan could not possibly have fallen on a Friday before a double Sabbath (Saturday) and there could not have been two consecutive Sabbaths for the following 7 reasons:

1. The Bible reports not just one, but two Sabbaths with at least one weekday in between. For many theologians, the Bible supposedly contains contradictions because the women prepared the ointments once before and then after the Sabbath. But there is no contradiction at all; instead, there are several Sabbaths. At the Passover, there are not just one or two, but three Sabbaths within seven days each year, namely the two High annual Sabbaths on the 15th and 21st of Nisan with the one little weekly Sabbath in between. This lies from year to year either at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of the Passover or the 7 Days of Unleavened Bread. This means that there must also be 3 preparation days for these 3 Sabbaths every year. All these 3 preparation days and all 3 Sabbaths of the feast can be found in every biblical and Jewish calendar. The women prepared the ointments AFTER the (High annual) Sabbath (15th of Nisan) and came to the tomb on the following (small weekly) Sabbath (17th of Nisan). Once again: Since there must be at least one day between these Sabbaths mentioned in the resurrection chapter of the NT, namely the day of the preparation of the ointments and the setting up of the Roman grave guard, the 14th Nisan cannot possibly have fallen on a Friday, but must have been a Wednesday.
   See the chapter on the intermediate day.
2. Jesus said that he would be "3 days and 3 nights in the heart of the earth" (Mt 12:40). This was the only sign of the Messiah that He gave to the visible and invisible world. If the 14th Nisan had fallen on a Friday before a double Sabbath, then there cannot be "3 days and 3 nights" between the alleged day of death Friday (14th Nisan) and the alleged day of resurrection Easter Sunday (16th Nisan). Theologians/pastors do not have the right to twist the word of Jesus and turn it into a turbo-resurrection with only 1.5 days or a maximum of "3 days and 2 nights". They cannot claim that Jesus supposedly only meant "3 days" in general (i.e. Friday, Saturday, Sunday). 
   No, in order to prevent these confusing discussions, Jesus (the Word of God) expressed himself extremely clearly so that everyone could understand. Jesus meant exactly "3 days and 3 nights" (not 72 hours, but days and nights begun) and we will be judged according to whether we accept the word of the Lord or whether we twist it in favor of pagan teachings and thus seduce the children of God to pagan feast days/customs with a different Sunday gospel or whether we defend Jesus' words, His sign and His calendar. Neither with a double Sabbath nor with two Sabbaths in a row can there be the "3 days and 3 nights" between the preparation day (14th Nisan) and the resurrection day (Sabbath or even Sunday).
   See the chapter on the sign of the Messiah.
3. The resurrection chapter of the Greek NT names the resurrection day 7 times with its name "Sabbath" in the singular σαβββατου and plural σαβββατων. So the Bible reports the resurrection of Jesus 7 times on a Sabbath morning. Since Jesus was crucified on the 14th Nisan, which is said to have been a Friday, He cannot have risen the very next day, the 15th Nisan (High Sabbath, alleged double Sabbath), but it must have been a different Sabbath, namely a small weekly Sabbath, i.e. the 17th Nisan.
   See the chapters: Interlinear text, "first Sabbath" and Mt 28:1; Mk 16:2; Lk 24:1; Jn 20:1; Jn 20:19
4. The resurrection chapter of the Greek NT never mentions the corresponding words for "Sunday" (ηλίου ημερα or ημερα ήλιου = hemera Heliou) or the "first day of the week" (την πρωτη ημερα της εβδομαδας = tin prote hemera tis ebdomadas), because the Ancient Greek always had completely different idioms for this. If God had meant Sunday, then He would have said so, for which He had more than 24 possible idioms in ancient Greek. If these words and phrases nevertheless appear in a modern translation of the Bible, this is not a translation, but a theological interpretation.
   See the chapter: No Sunday and week.
5. The words "Sabbath" and "week" have been clearly defined by God since creation and the Sabbath, at 14.28% (7x14.28%=100%), is only a part of the week, but it is part of it and is the most important day of the week. There is no week without the Sabbath. A week does not have two weekly Sabbaths and a week is also not the period between two Sabbaths (as some theologians claim), but always consists of 7 days. The Sabbath day is always at the end of this week, it is the 7th day. Redefining the Sabbath mentioned in the Greek basic text of the NT in the singular and plural as "week" (εβδομαδα) or "Sunday" (ημερα Ήλίου) is not only a sin, but it is also the spread of a different gospel, which the Bible does not recognize. The gospel includes not only that Jesus rose from the dead, but also on which day of the week it was and whether Jesus fulfilled the sign of the Messiah or not. If the basic Greek text says nothing about the "first day of the week", then we must not turn the Greek singular and plural "Sabbath/s" (σαβββατου, σαβββατων) into the English "first day of the week" or "Sunday".
   See the chapters on the biblical definition: Sabbath, High Sabbath, week and "one Sabbath"
6. The Israelites know that the first 10th of Nisan in the year of the Exodus fell on a Sabbath. To this day, they commemorate this special Sabbath in their Jewish calendar, on which the Passover lambs were separated from the flock for the first time and brought to the people. If 10th of Nisan was a Sabbath, then 14th of Nisan must have been a Wednesday. And now comes the most important part: in order to fully fulfill the law and the meaning of the Passover sacrifice, Jesus had to die on the same calendar day (14th of Nisan), on the same day of the week (Wednesday) and at the same time (3 pm). If Jesus had been crucified on the wrong day of the week (Friday), He would not have been able to completely fulfill the Passover sacrifice and the law.
   See the chapter: Shabbat ha-Gadol on Nisan 10.
7. There are many correct Bibles: today we not only have the ancient Greek basic text, which can be studied very easily with the Strong's numbers (see the free Bible program Scripture4All), but there are also many correct translations worldwide. They report that the women came to the tomb "on a Sabbath" or even "on a Saturday" morning, but not "on a Sunday". For the first 1600 years (until the advanced Reformation) you could find almost no Bible that spoke of Sunday. This means that the 14th of Nisan could never have been a day (Friday) before a double Sabbath (Saturday), because Jesus was not resurrected after just one day, but after "3 days and 3 nights". Biblically speaking, there can only be one correct translation of the Greek and only one day of resurrection, but not several days (Sabbath or Sunday), for which every Christian can choose whichever one they like, depending on which translation they use and which church they belong to.
   See the chapters: Old Bibles, Pre-Lutheran Bibles, Luther Bible, English Bibles, etc.

As has been clearly shown, we can biblically refute the Catholics, the Protestants, the Seventh-day Adventists, the Messianic Jews/Christians (e.g. Amir Tsarfati), the Brethren churches (e.g. Roger Liebi), the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Evangelicals and the Charismatics/Pentecostal churches with regard to a possible double Sabbath. There was no Good Friday before a double Sabbath (Easter Sunday) in the year of Jesus' crucifixion.

Most Christians know neither God's calendar nor the basic Greek text nor the many correct Bible translations and they completely misinterpret the sign of the Messiah (Mt 12:40) and turn it into a turbo resurrection. It is precisely this most important sign in the history of the universe that completely collapses the theological Sunday house of cards of most churches. Their resurrection festival is either always identical in time to the Catholic Easter Sunday or is based on the modern Jewish festivals, but never on the biblical Passover according to Leviticus 23, which takes place at a different time. It is so easy to understand, because at the time of Jesus there was the same sequence of days as about every third year, including 2020 or 2023:

The following illustration shows the comparison between the turbo-resurrection of the Catholics and Adventists and the "3 days and 3 nights" of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a sign of the Messiah and a sign of the Pope and Ellen White, which Jehovah's Witnesses, Protestants and Evangelicals have also accepted:

But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end.

Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increas 

 (Daniel 12:4)

 "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil"

(1Thess 5:21-22)

"Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them"

(Epheser 5:11)