Definition: "Week" in the Greek and Latin Languages

The week is not a human invention. God personally determined and defined the week as a period of exactly 7 days (see definition day). The last day of the week was the most important and the only day of the week that had a name ("stop day" or "day of rest" = Shabbat). All other days were less important and were only marked by a number. The day before the Sabbath was called the "preparation day" or "pre-Sabbath":

The biblical week is an institution of God that has existed since the creation of mankind. It consists of six working days that belong to human beings and one day of rest that belongs to God (the Sabbath). But this "day of rest" (or literally "stop day") has also been established for the mental and physical well-being of human beings (Mark 2:27) and animals (Ex 20:10), and thus also for all of nature. 

The Hebrew equivalent for week is shabhua (or shabua, shabout), which literally means "period of seven" (or seventhness). The word shabhua has been known for thousands of years. This word existed long before Jesus was born and long before the English, Spanish, French and German languages even existed. The Hebrew language has always been able to distinguish clearly between Shabbat (Sabbath) and shabhua (week). Although both terms sound similar in Hebrew, they have quite different word roots, namely stop (Shabbat) and seven (Shabhua, derived from the number seven, Hebrew sheba). In English, "house" and "mouse" also sound similar, but mean something completely different.

The Sabbath is a clearly defined day and in the Hebrew language never meant "week" (literally Hebrew "a period of seven"). However, since the division of time was mainly based on the Sabbaths, the word "week" (shabhua) was rarely used in common parlance. Therefore, it appears only 20 times in the Old Testament (OT), mainly in the books of Moses and the Book of Daniel: If someone in Israel wanted to say "keep the wedding week", it literally sounded "fulfill the period of seven [weeks]" (Gen 29:27,28). The feast of Pentecost was literally called the "Feast of the periods of seven" (Feast of Weeks, cf. Ex 34:22; Lev 28:26; Dt 16:10,16 and 2Chr 8:13), because until the feast of Pentecost "seven periods of seven" (i.e. seven weeks) were counted. Therefore Dt 16,9 literally reads "You shall count seven periods of seven (sevethness)", which most translators have translated as "You shall count seven weeks":

"You shall count seven weeks [literally: seven periods of seven]. Begin to count the seven weeks [literally: seven periods of seven] from the time the sickle is first put to the standing grain. 10 Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks [literally: "Feast of the periods of seven"] to the Lord your God..." (Dt 16:9-10).

The harvest weeks were also described as weeks of periods of seven (Jer 5:24). If someone in Israel meant "two weeks", he simply said "double period of seven" (literal meaning in Lev 12:5), and if a Hebrew wanted to say that only unleavened bread could be eaten for a week, he said in the literal translation: "a period of seven of the days unleavened bread shall be eaten" (Eze 45:21).

The Hebrew week is written in six places in the book of Daniel to describe prophetic times. Literally it says: "70 periods of seven" (Dan 9:24), "7 periods of seven and 62 periods of seven" (Dan 9:25), "after the 62 periods of seven the anointed shall be killed" (Dan 9:26), "one period of seven and half period of seven" (Dan 9:27), "I was mourning three full periods of seven" (Dan 10:2), "until three whole periods of seven were fulfilled" (Dan 10:3). However, "one week" means "one period of seven" and the middle of the week (Wednesday) was expressed as "half of the period of seven". So half of the period of seven can either mean the 4th day of the week (Wednesday) or the prophetic statement of 3.5 years, the half of seven years.

These were all the Bible passages in which the word Hebrew "week" appears throughout the Bible. Those who claim that the Hebrew language only had to speak of Sabbaths because they did not know the word "week", are not telling the truth, as can easily be proved (see e.g. Biblehub.com). 

It is extremely important to have clarity about the corresponding Greek word for "week". Anyone who does not know essential basics will never be able to translate the basic Greek text of the NT correctly into another language.

Anyone who claims that the ancient Greek language used in the NT (the so-called Koine) did not have a corresponding word for "week", and therefore the apostles would be forced to speak of Sabbaths in some places (Mt 28:1; Mk 16:2,9; Lk 24:1; Jn 20:1,19) to express a week, is not telling the truth and is misleading Christians. The fact is: The Sabbath was a hated Jewish day among the Greek and Roman peoples. All peoples therefore avoided to use these Sabbaths to describe their own week in their own language. Like every language of the world, the ancient Greek language has always been able to distinguish clearly between σαββατο (Sabbath) and εβδομαδα (week). Here the phonetic difference is even greater than in Hebrew:

For the week, Greeks and Romans have always had their own words, namely ebdomada (εβδομαδα, ancient Greek) and hebdomada (ancient Latin), which sounded similar in both languages, since they both come from the same root word "seven" (epda, hebdomas) and each means "a period of seven". Unlike some theologians today, the Greeks and Romans have always been able to keep the words Sabbath and week exactly apart and have not lumped them together. The Greeks knew the Greek ebdomada (week) long before they even heard of the word "Sabbath", for the Sabbath was a foreign word (Shabbat) taken from the Hebrew language and had nothing to do with their own Greek week (εβδομα, ebdoma; εβδομαδα, ebdomada). There is a clear definition: the Greek week εβδομαδα (ebdomada) stands for a period or chain of seven days ("sevenness"), but the Sabbath stands for a very specific and single day, namely the last day of the biblical or Jewish week from Friday evening to Saturday evening after sunset. There are huge differences between the two words in content and phonetics, and both have always meant something completely different in the Greek language. To equate both words is not only nonsense, but at the same time a twisting of the Bible (the Word of God) and a seduction of people.

Only few Christians know that the Greek language Bible also mentions the "week". Already in the 3rd century (about 280 B.C.; that is, long before the birth of Christ) the entire Old Testament was translated from Hebrew into Greek by 72 Jewish scholars (six from each of the twelve tribes). In this translation, later referred to as the Septuagint (from Latin "seventy"; abbreviation: LXX), the Hebrew word shabhua (period of seven, week) was translated in the 17 places mentioned above in the corresponding grammatical forms as εβδομα (ebdoma), εβδομαδας (ebdomadas), εβδομαδoς (ebdomados) and εβδομαδων (ebdomadon), which also means "a period of seven" (sevenness) in the literal Greek equivalent. The ancestry comes from the Greek number seven (επτα, epta) or seventh (εβδομος, ebdomos). The Sabbath is "the last" (the 7th day) and Sunday is "the first (day) of the seveness" (εβδομάδα, week).

Since many of the existing copies (manuscripts) of the Septuagint date from a period well after the writing of the NT, some scholars have suggested that the Greek "week" allegedly appeared in the copies that were made several centuries after the first version of the Septuagint. But this cannot be the case, for the Hebrew text (see above) also contains the "shabuha" as "period of seven" or sevenness (i.e. the week) in several places, and the only way to translate it into Greek is "ebdomada". Moreover, this is insignificant in our context, for the most important fact is that the Septuagint uses the plural "weeks" when several Sabbaths are involved in the context. But it is never a question of referring to a single Sabbath as a "week". The fact is: In all Greek literature up to and including the 1st century AD, the Sabbath was never equated with the week, never. Only in the writings of the false teachers, who wanted to abolish the Sabbath with all their might, was the absurd assertion first made that the Sabbath could supposedly mean "the first day of the week" or "the week" or "on Sunday" or "after a Sabbath" in some cases. Of course, the only alleged exception concerns only the Sabbath that describes the resurrection of Jesus; all other Sabbaths in the NT are Sabbaths. What kind of seductive logic is this? 

The undeniable fact is, the "week" does not appear in the Greek NT. And why is this word not in the NT? The answer is very simple: The word ebdomada (week) was very rarely used throughout the OT (Septuagint). So it is not surprising that the apostles did not mention it once in the much shorter NT. This was not even necessary, because the "wedding week", the prophetic weeks in the book of Daniel and the way in which the weeks were counted on the feast of the weeks (Shavuout, Pentecost) were well known to everyone and did not have to be explained or repeated in the NT. Moreover, the Greek-speaking people at the time of Jesus did not usually use the long version "εορτη των εβδομαδων" (Feast of Weeks, as it is written in the LXX: Ex 34:22; Dt 16:10,16; 2Chron 8:13), but rather the short version "πεντηκοστης" (Pentecostes = the fiftieth), i.e. Pentecost (Acts 2:1; 1Cor 16:8).

The Greek word ebdomada means "a period of seven days", i.e. the English week. Therefore the words in Dan 9:24 were reproduced as "εβδομακοντα εβδομαδες" (ebdomhkonta ebdomades), literally: "seventy seveness" (i.e. "period of seven"). The Septuagint (LXX) translates not only the word shabhua, but also sometimes the phrase "seven Sabbaths" that follow one another in time as "seven weeks" (εβδομαδας, Ebdomadas), as is clearly shown in Lev 23:15-16. Here the day after the Sabbath is mentioned in the same sentence together with the "seven weeks" (επτά εβδομαδας). According to special rules in the ancient Greek language, σαββατων appears in the plural, although only a single Sabbath day was meant in the singular, from which the counting of the seven weeks (seven Sabbaths) up to Pentecost began. In 2Chron 8:13 the Sabbath and the week appear together in the same sentence, which additionally proves that the Greeks knew exactly what they were talking about and have always been able to distinguish clearly between the two words:

Even in the Old Testament (LXX), the Greek language has always been able to distinguish clearly between "seven weeks" (επτά εβδομαδας or επτά εβδομαδων) and "one week" (μία εβδομαδα).

Although the week is not mentioned in the NT, related words for the seventh one are: εβδομος (hebdomos), εβδόμην (hebdomēn), εβδόμης (hebdomēs) and εβδόμη (hebdomē) appear nine times in the NT (Jn 4:52; Hebr 4:4a, 4:4b; Jude 1:14; Rev 8:1; 10:7; 11:15; 16:17; 21:20). Another occurrence is in the number seventy: εβδομήκοντα (hebdomēkonta, Lk 10:1,17; Acts 7:14; 23:23; 27:37). Just as every Greek and Roman knew the words "seven" and "seventy", so too did he know what a "period of seven" or sevenness is (εβδομαδας, week). In Hebr 4:4 there is talk of "εν τη ημερα τη εβδομη" (on the day the seventh). The Greeks also said "εν τη ημερα τη εβδομαδα" (on the day of the sevenness) or "εν τη πρωτη ημερα της εβδομαδας" (on the first day of the sevenness); the differences are minimal:

The Septuagint (LXX) was the first official Bible translation in human history and the only Bible of the Greek-speaking Jewish and Christian communities scattered throughout the world. For centuries it was the main Bible for Jews and Christians. The NT was written decades after the death of Jesus. Until then, only the Septuagint had been read. Since Greek was the world language and the main language in the entire Mediterranean area and was widely understood by the rulers as well as by slaves, fishermen, traders etc., it is certain that all Bible readers and also all writers of the Greek NT knew the word εβδομάδα (week) from the Septuagint and from the general language usage. They could therefore have used this word when writing the New Testament, if they had wanted to. But they quite deliberately did not do so. Therefore the word "week" does not belong in any translation of the NT, its use is always wrong, always. 

The Greek original text, in connection with the day of Jesus' resurrection, always speaks only of the "one of the Sabbaths" (Plural Genitive) or the "first Sabbath" (Singular Genitive) with the clearly defined words σαββατου and σαββατων, but never of the week (εβδομαδας), as any Christian can easily check. The Greeks, for example, said "on one of the Sabbaths" (μία των σαββατων) when they spoke of an event on a Sabbath day, and this very phrase is found in Mk 16:2; Lk 24:1; Jn 20:1 and Acts 20:7. By contrast, Mk 16:9 mentions "on the first Sabbath" (τη πρωτη σαββατου, Singular Genitive), by which only the first of the seven weekly Sabbaths up to Pentecost could be meant:

Many years after Jesus' death, religious people came up with a NEW definition, according to which the Greek word "Sabbath" (σαββατου, σαββατων), whether in the singular or plural, could supposedly mean "week" or "Lord's day" or "Sunday" or "after the Sabbath". This is of course complete nonsense. This is a falsification of the Word of God. This new and until then historically completely unknown definition was invented by the priests themselves, who did not want to accept that the women came to the tomb "on a Sabbath morning", because they wanted to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus absolutely "on a Sunday morning", the day of the ancient sun god Sol. So they looked for pious excuses and made the adventurous claim that the Greek clearly defined foreign word sabbaton (σαββατον, σαββατου, σαββατων), which occurs 111 times in the Old Testament and 70 times in the New Testament and always means the Sabbath, should only in the chapter on the resurrection suddenly mean the week (εβδομαδα) or Sunday (gr. Hλίου ημέρα) arbitrarily and without fixed rules, although there are separate Greek words for each of these. With that a distortion of the statements of God took place. This did not result in a translation, but in a clear substitution and thus manipulation. The words εβδομαδα and the Hebrew foreign word σαββατων were never equated by the Greeks or the evangelists.

The plural σαββατων (sabbaths, plural) could also never mean week because the sabbath is the seventh day of the week and several sabbaths would consequently have to be translated as "on the first day of the weeks" (plural, and not as "on the first day of the week"). And the Hebrew word "Shabbat" is derived from "to cease" or "to rest", but work (not rest) must be done during a week. The Greek and Hebrew equivalents are therefore derived from the number seven. The week is a "sevenness" (hebdomada), a unit of 7 days with the Sabbath as the seventh day. This has been defined since creation and Sabbath never means week, except for those people who cannot bear to find the resurrection Sabbath in the Bible and who wish with all their might for Sunday and thus make a "Sunday" (first day of the week) out of the "Sabbath" (seventh day of the week).

How illogical the argumentation of the allegedly educated priests and evangelical or pentecostal pastors is, can be shown simply by the fact that no Greek could ever say "on one of the Sabbaths" (εν τη μία των σαββατων) or "of the first Sabbath" (τη πρωτη σαββατου), as it would then automatically always have to mean "on a Sunday" or "on the first day of the week". Theological study is really necessary to learn how to communicate such silly nonsense to people in a credible way.

There are over twenty ways in the ancient Greek language to say "on the first day of the week", "after the Sabbath" or "on a Sunday" (see many examples). While it would be acceptable from the context if someone were to translate a phrase "after seven Sabbaths" with "after seven weeks," since the Sabbath is the last day of the week, it is not acceptable from the context. However, if it is a specific event that happens "on a Sabbath day" or "on the first Sabbath", then no one should make it "a week" or "a Sunday". It is not logical why someone should talk about Sabbaths when in reality he means the week or Sunday, when there are separate words for each? Why such complications for the simplest statements? The evangelists were not stupid, they knew exactly which word they used in the NT and which word they expressly did not. The Bible (the Word of God) is, according to the view of the Catholic and Protestant churches, "the Holy Scriptures", so God must have had a certain intention in the use of every single word, and this must also be translated into any language. And in the chapter about the resurrection only the holy Sabbath day was mentioned, and no other day. Why would God mention the Sabbath 7 times in connection with the resurrection of Jesus, when in reality he should not mean the Sabbath, but the day after?

It is so frustrating, again and again one hears from poorly trained evangelical and pentecostal pastors that at the time of Jesus there was supposedly no corresponding Greek word for "week" and therefore the evangelists were forced to speak of Sabbaths when they meant Sunday. The unbiblical Sunday is defended with all kinds of lies. Such stupid statements are made by people who know neither the Septuagint nor extra-biblical literature. Also the famous Jewish historian Flavius  Josephus (*37; †after 100), who lived in the same country and at exactly the same time as the apostles, and also wrote in the same language in which the NT was written, used the week (εβδομάδα, εβδομάδας, εβδομάδος and also "των εβδομάδων") several times in his writings and clearly distinguished these words from the Sabbaths. This is further proof that the evangelists in the chapter on the resurrection of the NT could have used the ebdomada (week) if they had wanted to. The modern Greek language still uses εβδομαδα (week) and εβδομαδες or εβδομάδων (weeks) and never speaks of Sabbaths to express a week.

Well, once again, it's very important to note: The apostles knew the corresponding Greek word for week from their normal language usage and also from the Old Testament Bible (Septuagint) itself and could have simply mentioned the week (εβδομα, εβδομάδα, εβδομαδας) in their New Testament text if they had wanted to. But they quite deliberately did not do so. So no translator in the world should erase the Sabbath in the chapter on the resurrection of the NT and add the week or Sunday to the NT. Is God supposedly not able to express Himself clearly or did He really mean the Sabbath? 

There are many priests, pastors, and churches who desire a Sunday resurrection of Jesus, but God and the apostles desire the Sabbath resurrection. That is the difference between the two groups. For this reason, the Greek Bible never speaks of the "week", "Sunday" or the "first day of the week" or "after the sabbath" in the chapter on the resurrection in the New Testament, but only of the Sabbath, both in the singular (σαββατου, Mk 16:9) and in the plural (σαββατων, Mt 28:1a; Mt 28:1b; Lk 24:1; Jn 20:1,19), so that it is clear to everyone which day is meant and Christians never confuse this day with the "week". In this way God wanted to avoid problems of understanding and points of contention from the beginning. The Bible is extremely clear on this point, so the Sabbath was mentioned seven times in the chapter on the resurrection of the NT, and so was sealed seven times, while the week (εβδομάδα) and the Sunday (Hλίου ημέρα) do not appear once in the entire basic Greek text of the New Testament. This is a fact that is very easy to prove, and the many correct translations in many languages give a clear testimony.

So we are talking here about a word "week", which does not exist at all in the entire NT. The fact is that the corresponding Greek word for week existed long before the English (week), Spanish (semana), French (semaine) and German (Woche) languages even existed. The evangelists knew exactly what they wanted to say and what not.

In the Messianic Israel Bible Commentary of the Messianic Israel Standard Bible (abbreviation: MISB) 2011 the following commentary on the introduction of the word "week" in the NT is found at Mt 20:1:

 „The problem is a question of authority. The Church of Rome and her Protestant spin off's wants people to believe what they say. They do not want what they say investigated and exposed. Again the word is σαββατων, the common and ordinary word for "Sabbaths" in the plural. Again, we do not need to disprove the meaning of "week." We only need to establish that "Sabbaths" is the usual meaning of the word. And anyone who has read even a little bit of Greek, or looked up σαββατων in a concordance knows that the primary sense is not "week". However, nowhere in first century literature, that in Philo, Josephus, or older extracts of the LXX, nor in any secular Koine or Classical Greek literature is there a single example of this word meaning "week". Nor in any time before that. The sense of "week" in all later documents traces its pedigree straight back to a lying source connected with the Church "fathers" who led it in the greatest apostasy of history. One cannot redact the linguistic meaning of "week" into eight texts in the Gospels, Acts, or the Pauline writings to establish the meaning of "week". That is circular reasoning and not proper linguistic determination of meaning.  Such a procedure assumes that the Church's claims are true to begin with“.

There is a very simple proof from which every person on earth can safely see that in the New Testament the Sabbath must be meant 70 times and 7 times in the resurrection chapter. According to God's calendar, there is not only one, but even 3 Sabbaths on the seven-day Passover and even 7 weekly Sabbaths until Pentecost. Therefore, every child can understand these following statements. Simply translate the following phrases from English into ancient Greek:

- "on the one of the Sabbaths" (plural genitive). The NT says: "τη μια των σαββατων"  (Mk 16:2;  Lk 24:1;  Jn 20:1). 

- "on the first of the Sabbaths" (plural genitive). The NT could say: "τη πρωτη των σαββατων" 

- "early on the first Sabbath" (singular genitive). The NT says: "πρωι πρωτη σαββατου"  (Mk 16:9). 

This requires exactly the same words that are in the basic Greek text of the NT. And now, if you were to translate these same Greek phrases back into English, they should suddenly result in a completely different day of the week? What kind of logic is that? These phrases cannot possibly be the result:

- "on the one of the Sundays" 

- "on a Sunday"

- "on the first of the Sundays" 

- "on the first Sunday"

- "early on the first Sunday"

- "on the first day of the week"

- "after a Sabbath"

- "after the Sabbath"

For all these phrases there are completely different Greek words that should be used. Here it becomes very clear how many theologians and pastors want with all their might to remove Christians from the biblical Sabbath and lead them towards the unbiblical Sunday. But the many old and new Bibles (which have been translated correctly) show that God only ever meant the Sabbath, because He would have had to use completely different words for Sunday in ancient Greek (see "No Sunday"). Apparently, God is supposed to be the only one who can never speak of the Sabbath (in the singular and plural) because He was supposed to always mean Sunday, which is not mentioned even once in the entire Bible??? God Himself has warned that He will punish all who take away or add anything from His Word (Deut 4:2; Prov 30:5-6; 1Cor 4:6; Rev 22:18-19) and deceive the children of God.

Dt 4:2: "You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you."

Prov 30:5-6: "Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. 6 Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar."

1Cor 4:6: "I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another."

Rev 22:18-19: "I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book."

Every single word in the New Testament has its clear sense and clearly defined meaning, including the genitive form of Sabbath in the singular (σαββατου) and plural (σαββατων). If God had meant Sunday (ημέρα ήλιου; Κυριακή) or "the first day of the week" (πρώτη ημέρα της εβδομάδας) and not the "first Sabbath" (πρωτη σαββατου) or "the one of the Sabbaths" (τη μια των σαββατων), He would have said so. If the theologians and pastors do not know the calendar of God described in detail in the OT, then they cannot understand the phrases in the NT that every child in the first Christian church knew. The Bible is simple to understand, even in the resurrection chapter. It only gets complicated when people want to bring Sunday into the Bible and erase the Sabbath from the Word of God. Once again, the statements of the evangelists are so simple to understand that it is already too complicated for the theologians, because they cannot imagine God speaking so clearly of the resurrection Sabbath and never of the desired Sunday. 

Prov 30:6: "Do not add to his [God's] words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar."

There are many websites that also indicate the Strong numbers, in which each ancient Greek word has been assigned a specific number according to its alphabetical order. The "Sabbath" in singular and plural has the Greek Strong number G5421. Most websites correctly give the meaning as "Sabbath" (singular) or "Sabbaths" (plural) (see Interlinear Bible). But only when it comes to the day of Jesus' resurrection, only then it is claimed that the "Sabbath" can supposedly also mean the seven-day "week", although the ancient Greek language has always had its own word for it. This is completely false, because the Sabbath and the week have been clearly defined since God created the earth, and in no language in the world does the biblical 7th day of the week (Sabbath; from Friday evening to Saturday evening) also mean a series of 7 days with the Sabbath as the last day.

In the Old Testament there is a corresponding word for the "week", namely "shabua", which literally means "sevenness" or a "period/series of seven". The corresponding Hebrew Strong number is H7620. But in the New Testament corresponding Greek word for the "week" does not appear, therefore of course there can be no Strong number, because the NT speaks 10x7=70 times of the "Sabbath" (see List).

A bad example is the website Biblehub, which otherwise works accurately, except when it comes to the day of the resurrection of Jesus, because then it is about church doctrines. In a total of 58 positions the Greek word "sabbaton" always means Sabbath, but only in the few positions that deal with the resurrection of Jesus, then the 100% same and clearly defined word in singular and plural suddenly means something completely different, namely "week" (singular) or "Sunday" (singular)? Where is the logic there and why can't we also speak of the "Sabbath" in these places? And how else would God have had to express it, if he had really meant the Sabbath? Nobody is able to give a plausible answer to this question, but on the contrary, the manipulation in the Word of God becomes very clear. We have contacted the operators of the Biblehub website and asked them to explain to us on what justification they replace "Sabbath" (5421) in the singular and plural with "week", although there has always been a separate ancient Greek word for "week" (hebdomada, εβδομαδα)? And we also asked to explain to us how else it would be possible to translate in ancient Greek "on the one of the Sabbaths" (plural genitive) and "early first Sabbath" (singular genitive; Mark 16:9)? But we never received an answer. We expected that, because otherwise the operators of the website would have to admit that the translation was deliberately manipulated here. How illogical all this is is shown by the fact that consequently no man could ever say in ancient Greek "on the one of the Sabbaths" or "early on the first Sabbath" (Mk 16:9), because it would always have to mean "on the first day of the week", "on the one of the Sundays" or "on the first Sunday". 

The word "mia" has the Strong number 1520 or 3391 (feminine form) and is always defined and translated as "a/one", except in the resurrection chapter of the NT, there it is replaced by "first", although in the Greek there is a completely different word for it, namely "prote" with the Strong number 4413. In all Bible verses the cardinal and ordinal numbers (one/first) are correctly differentiated, but only on the day of resurrection all rules and even the own definitions are broken, only to come on the desired "Sunday" (first day of the week). Just Mark 16:9 clearly shows that Sabbath (5421) appears in the singular genitive form, which is extremely easy to translate into all other languages of the world. But instead the words "day" and "of the week" are added. The Interlinear Bible Scripture4all with the ISA3 translation program is much more accurate and never replaces Sabbath with week or Sunday:  

The Concordant Literal Version 1926 (CLV = complete Bible, CLNT = only NT, Link) translates these verses very well and is easy to understand:

Mk 16:2: "And, very early in the morning on one of the sabbaths, they are coming to the tomb at the rising of the sun."

Mk 16:9: "Now, rising in the morning in the first sabbath, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene..."

There can only be one correct translation with only one resurrection day, not two where everyone can pick one they like. Jesus will personally call all translators to account who turn His biblical resurrection Sabbath into a pagan resurrection Sunday. The fact is: the Sabbath appears in the ancient Greek NT a total of 70 times and exactly 7 times in the resurrection chapter (proofs), but the "week" and the "Sunday" 0 times. For those who disagree, let us see the corresponding Greek words in the NT and first find out what the difference is between the Sabbath day and a week of 7 days. If God meant Sunday or the "first day of the week" or "after the Sabbath" He would have written it, He had more than 20 possibilities for it in the ancient Greek language (see examples). The day of the Rapture will reveal the difference.

There are various online language programmes such as Google Translator or DeepL. If the Greek words are entered, anyone can see for themselves that there are no linguistic adventures and that the Greek Sabbath in the genitive plural and singular is always translated as Sabbath or Saturday and never as Sunday or week, because every language on earth has always had its own words for this. The Sabbath and the 7-day week have been clearly defined since creation: the week is a unit of 7 days with the Sabbath at the end and the Sabbath is the last day of that week. Sabbath and week never mean the same thing.

And this is how it should have been written in the Greek text if God had NOT meant a Sabbath but the "first day of the week":

Also the Latin language in which the first translations of the NT were written clearly distinguished between sabbatum (Sabbath) and hebdomada (week). In ancient Latin, similar to Greek, the week is expressed as hebdomada or ebdomada (singular) and ebdomades (plural). The Latin translation of the Greek New Testament and Old Testament texts was already written in the year 382 AD by the Catholic Church father Jerome. This translation, known as the Vulgate (from Latin: vulgatus = commonly used), knew the "week" with its grammatical forms very well and used it a total of 21 times (the grammatical forms vary in some Vulgate editions; here Vulgata Clementina):

hebdomada (Gen 29:28; Dan 9,27a),

hebdomadae (Lev 23:16), 

hebdomadam (Gen 29:27),

hebdomadas (Lev 23:15; Lev 25:8; Dt 16:9; 2Chron 23:8),

hebdomadarum (Ex 34:22; Dt 16:10,16; 2Chron 8:13, Dan 10:2,3),

hebdomades (Dan 9:24,25a,25b,26), 

hebdomadibus (Lev 12:5; Num 28:26) and

hebdomadis (Dan 9:27b). 

In Dt 16:9 it says "septem ebdomadas numerabis tibi" (you count seven weeks). In 2Chron 8:13 sabbatis (Sabbaths) and hebdomadarum (weeks) even appear together in one sentence. In 2 Chronicles 23:8 there is "sabbati", "sabbatum" and "hebdomadas" in a single sentence. So although the Vulgate knew the concept of weeks exactly, it was not used in the entire NT, because it does not appear in the Greek basic texts (manuscripts) either.

In the entire Latin NT of the Vulgate there is therefore never any mention of a "first day of the week" (prima die hebdomadae). Over the years, "hebdomada" has been replaced in the Latin language by the neo-Latin word "septimana", which also means "a period of seven" and is derived from septem (seven). For almost 1700 years the Vulgate has shown the resurrection of Jesus Christ on "a Sabbath" (una sabbati) morning, more precisely on the "first Sabbath" (prima sabbati) of the seven weekly Sabbaths up to Pentecost:

Some theologians argued that "on the first day of the week", supposedly could also mean "prima die una sabbatorum". Therefore, some translation programs were programmed so that the Sunday would come out. Only people who want to find the Sunday in the Bible say this. The word "sabbatorum" is also found in the Vulgate in Acts 13:14, 16:13 and Col 2:16 and no one says that Sunday or the week is meant here as well. The many old Catholic Bibles (see Manuscripts) and also the first Bible printed worldwide in a national language (Mentelin 1466), all of which have been translated from the Vulgate, show quite clearly that the Vulgate speaks of "a Saturday morning" (not Sunday morning). Moreover, no human being could ever say "on a Sabbath" (una sabbati) in the Latin language, because then supposedly it should always mean "on a Sunday" or "on the first day of the week" or "after the Sabbath". That is crazy.

The verses underlined in red indicate those Bible passages that in some modern Bible translations were translated as "after the Sabbath", "on the first day of the week" or "on Sunday". But there are very many old Catholic translations that clearly describe the women coming to the tomb "on a Saturday morning". At the time when Latin was still the language of the Church, Bible translators grew up with this language since childhood, so they knew exactly what the Vulgate says and what it does not. The first printed book in the world in a national language, translated from the Vulgate into German, proclaims the resurrection of Jesus "on a Saturday morning" (see Mentelin 1466). This was exactly the same statement of the Bibles before and after. For several centuries it was not possible to find a Bible that speaks of the supposed Sunday resurrection, because everyone only mentioned the Sabbath or Saturday morning. In the church service, however, the Sunday resurrection was preached orally. 

Some theologians know that the Vulgate speaks of "one Sabbath" (una sabbati). That is why they have made the amusing claim that this is supposedly the new "Christian Sabbath" (Sunday). In doing so they admit that the "week" does not appear in the NT of the Vulgate, and they also show that they are falsifying the Bible, for there is only one Sabbath as a clearly defined day. Sunday was, is and will never be the "Christian Sabbath". For there is only one Sabbath and not two. And why should there be talk of the Sabbath in all verses of the Bible in the NT, except in the chapter on the resurrection, where the 100% identical Latin word is suddenly supposed to mean something completely different? How embarrassing how some argue. 

Not only in Hebrew, Greek and Latin, but also in Arabic (أسبوع), Italian (septimana), Spanish, (semana), French (semaine), Portuguese (semana) and Romanian (saptamina), the week is expressed by seven or a the period of seven. Several languages use a term derived from the neo-Latin septimana (septima = seventh). In the English language, hebdomadal (weekly) is still used today to refer to the seventh. The words "Woche" (German) and "week" (English) do not refer to the Seven, but to the old Germanic word "woke", which stands for guard, switch and change (lat. vices), because according to the Germanic people the seven planetary gods each watched over a day determined for them, alternating with each other.

Never in any of these languages was the word "Sabbath" meant to mean a "week". The peoples wanted to strictly separate themselves from the "Sabbath of the Jews", which was unpopular for them, and avoided associating this word in their language usage and with the "week". A week always had the reference to the Seven (a period of seven), while the Sabbath meant only one and a very special one, namely the last day of a Hebrew week from sunset to sunset.

Since creation, the Sabbath has always been the last day of the week. According to Jewish (biblical), Arab and Christian tradition, every week always begins with the first day of the week, i.e. Sunday. Nevertheless, since 1976, the UNO decided that Monday was the first day of the week and Sunday the last day (see also DIN 1355).

Since the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great (*ca. 285, †337), Sunday has been a particularly protected day of rest, as the sun god Sol was worshipped on this day. Constantine prohibited the Sabbath rest, so that the Sabbath became more and more a new day of preparation for Sunday. The catholic church followed this decision. So that all Christians also accept the pagan day as their new holiday, the claim was made that Jesus allegedly rose from the dead "on a Sunday", although the NT mentions the Sabbath 7 times. Thus pagans and Christians had a common worldwide holiday. The biblical week introduced by God was abolished by the people and replaced by the state and church week. Now each day no longer began at sunset, but according to the Roman calendar in the greatest darkness, that is, at midnight. And the weekday names were given in honor of pagan gods. Satan was successful, very successful. Which Christian today knows what the "first Sabbath" in God's calendar is? Everyone knows only the first Advent of the catholic calendar, nothing more.

Mankind has thus arbitrarily changed the weekly division of God. So even many Christians are confused when someone tells them that Sunday is not the last day of the week, but in reality the first day of the week. Quite a few Christians even equate the Sabbath with Sunday and want to put the 4th commandment in Exodus 20 "Remember the Sabbath" on their Sunday rest. This is of course completely impossible, as the entire Bible in the Old and New Testaments knows only the Sabbath as a day of rest and no other day. In Christianity, the Sabbath increasingly became an ordinary working day, the day for shopping, cleaning, washing the car, tending the garden, while Sunday was designated the new worldwide church day of rest and family day and was placed under special protection by the state. For God the Sabbath is the day of rest, but for the world the Sabbath is only a preparation day for Sunday:

Sunday is called the seventh day in many calendars. However, in reality it is the first day of the week. The number 7 belongs to God and for God the Sabbath is the most important day. But for Satan and for men the Sabbath is "the last", that is why it was determined to be the 6th day, that is, a preparation day for Sunday, the new 7th day of the week of mankind. So Wednesday is no longer the day in the middle of the week, but it is now Thursday. In German the Wednesday is called "Mittwoch", which means the day in the middle of the week. How can a day be called that when it is supposedly no longer the day in the middle of the week?

In many countries of the world, Sunday rest is prescribed by state and church. Therefore people can be punished if they do not follow these rules. But the states and churches can change, twist and determine what they want, as soon as Jesus Christ returns to earth, he will restore the old and the first order and his divine week. He will abolish the human week for all eternity. All days will then never again begin at midnight (24:00 hrs) and Sunday will therefore never again exist, as the days are oriented towards creation and are counted from the evening (after sunset).

The funny thing is that if people set Sunday as the "last day of the week", then their Bible translation would produce the funny result that Jesus must have risen "on a Monday", because their Bible would speak of the coming of women to the tomb "on the first day of the week" (i.e. Monday). This shows how superfluous and senseless such a calendar change is.

Sunday was and is the first day of the week and it will never be the seventh or last day of the week for God. The Sabbath will never be the preparation day for Sunday for all eternity. Satan can make as much effort as he wants, he will never succeed.

See also the images about the "Resurrection on Sabbath", the Interlinear-Bible and the definition of the words "day", "evening".

 "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)