Night

How Nave’s arranged it

• General scriptures concerningGenesis 1:5Genesis 1:16Genesis 1:18
• Meditations inPsalms 19:2Psalms 77:6Psalms 119:148Psalms 139:11
• Worship inPsalms 134:1
• Jesus prays all nightLuke 6:12
• No night in heavenRevelation 21:25Revelation 22:5
• Divided into watchesExodus 14:24Judges 7:191 Samuel 11:11Nehemiah 12:9Psalms 63:6Psalms 119:148Lamentations 2:19Matthew 14:25Luke 12:38
• Divided into hoursActs 23:23
• Used figurativelyIsaiah 15:1Isaiah 21:11Isaiah 21:12John 9:4Romans 13:121 Thessalonians 5:5

The passages, in Bible order (26)

The same references, sorted Genesis to Revelation. The first 16 are quoted in full; the rest are one click beneath them, book by book.

1. Genesis 1:5

   God called the light “day,” and the darkness He called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

   ›Commentary on Genesis 1:52 voices

   “Since the birth of the sun, the light that it diffuses in the air, when shining on our hemisphere, is day; and the shadow produced by its disappearance is night. But at that time it was not after the movement of the sun, but following this primitive light spread abroad in the air or withdrawn in a measure determined by God, that day came and was followed by night.

   “THIS is, no doubt, a literal and accurate account of God's first day's work in the creation of the world, but the first creation is not the subject of this morning's discourse—we would rather direct your minds to the second creation of God. Every man who is saved by Divine Grace is a new creation. The great work which Jesus Christ is accomplishing in the world, by the Holy Spirit through the Word, is the making all things new. We believe the old creation to have been typical of the new and we shall so use it.

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2. Genesis 1:16

   God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. And He made the stars as well.

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3. Genesis 1:18

   to preside over the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.

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4. Exodus 14:24

   At morning watch, however, the LORD looked down on the army of the Egyptians from the pillar of fire and cloud, and He threw their camp into confusion.

   ›Commentary on Exodus 14:242 voices

   “The morning watch - A watch was the fourth part of the time from sun-setting to sun-rising; so called from soldiers keeping guard by night, who being changed four times during the night, the periods came to be called watches. - Dodd.

   “Something or other they saw or heard from the pillar of cloud and fire which put them into great consternation, and gave them an apprehension of their ruin before it was brought upon them. Now it appeared that the triumphing of the wicked is short, and that God has ways to frighten sinners into despair, before he plunges them into destruction.

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5. Judges 7:19

   Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after the changing of the guard. They blew their horns and broke the jars that were in their hands.

   ›Commentary on Judges 7:192 voices

   “The middle watch - The old Jewish division of the night was three watches of four hours each. They are alluded to in Exo 14:24; 1Sa 11:11; Psa 63:6; Psa 90:4; Psa 119:148; Psa 130:6; Lam 2:19. After the Jews fell under the power of the Romans, they used the Roman division of four watches of three hours each Mat 14:25; Mar 13:35. “The beginning” of the watch would be about eleven o’clock at night.

   “For the same reason was it that when Gideon was about to overcome the Midianites, he commanded three hundred men to take pitchers, and to hold lighted torches inside the pitchers, and trumpets in their right hands. Our predecessors have preserved the explanation received from the apostles, that the pitchers are our bodies, fashioned of clay, which do not know fear if they burn with the fervor of the grace of the Spirit, and bear witness to the passion of the Lord Jesus with a loud confession of the voice.

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6. 1 Samuel 11:11

   The next day Saul organized the troops into three divisions, and during the morning watch they invaded the camp of the Ammonites and slaughtered them, until the hottest part of the day. And the survivors were so scattered that no two of them were left together.

   ›Commentary on 1 Samuel 11:111 voice

   “The march from Bezek may have begun the night before. This disposition of the forces “in three companies” (imitating Gideon’s strategy, compare the marginal reference.) would not have been made until the morning when they were very near the Ammonitish forces. “The morning watch” was the last of the three watches, of four hours each, into which the night was anciently divided by the Hebrews. (See Jdg 7:19 note.) The time thus indicated would be between two and six in the morning.

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7. Nehemiah 12:9

   Bakbukiah and Unni, their associates, stood across from them in the services.

   ›Commentary on Nehemiah 12:91 voice

   “Also Bakbukiah and Unni,.... Two other Levites; the first is mentioned in Neh 11:17, their brethren, were over against them in the watches; the Levites were divided into twenty four wards, and these were placed one against another, 1Ch 23:6.

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8. Psalms 19:2

   Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.

   ›Commentary on Psalms 19:22 voices

   “The days and the nights teach those people who desire to be taught what ineffable wisdom, what incomprehensible power God has, who has measured out the intervals of time for them. If there were no one who would determine the space and the intervals for the seasons, but they existed in a thoughtless and unconsidered way by chance, it would happen that the days would not be ordered in equal spaces through the ages and there would be a confusion of things, and likewise the times of the nights would pass by chance or happenstance.

   “Day unto day uttereth speech - Each day is represented as teaching another relative to some new excellence discovered in these manifold works of God. The nights also, by the same figure, are represented as giving information to each other of the increase of knowledge already gained. “The labors of these our instructers know no intermission; but they continue incessantly to lecture us in the science of Divine wisdom. There is one glory of the sun, which shines forth by day; and there are other glories of the moon and of the stars, which become visible by night.

   Everything gathered on Psalms 19:2→

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9. Psalms 63:6

   When I remember You on my bed, I think of You through the watches of the night.

   ›Commentary on Psalms 63:61 voice

   “When I remember thee upon my bed,.... Or "beds" (q); seeing he lay in many, as Kimchi observes, being obliged to flee from place to place.

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10. Psalms 77:6

    At night I remembered my song; in my heart I mused, and my spirit pondered:

    ›Commentary on Psalms 77:61 voice

    “I meditated by night with my heart, and I dug over my spirit. I was not thinking of my anger, I was not thinking of my enemy; but my whole thought was of God. The night, which is wont to be either for rest or for lust, was for me a thinking upon the virtues. I meditated with my heart, and I dug over my spirit: that is, I dug like a field, that there I might cast the seed of the Lord's teachings.

    Everything gathered on Psalms 77:6→

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11. Psalms 119:148

    My eyes anticipate the watches of night, that I may meditate on Your word.

    ›Commentary on Psalms 119:1481 voice

    “Mine eyes prevent the night watches - Luther renders this, “I wake up early.” The Hebrew word means a “watch” - a part of the night, so called from military watches, or a dividing of the night to “keep guard.” See the notes at Psa 90:4. The idea of the psalmist here is, that he anticipated these regular divisions of the night in order that he might engage in devotion. Instead of waiting for their return, he arose for prayer before they recurred - so much did his heart delight in the service of God. The language would seem to be that of one who was accustomed to pray in these successive “watches” of the night - the early, the middle, and the dawn. This may illustrate what occurs in the life of all who love God. They will have regular seasons of devotion, but they will often anticipate those seasons. They will be in a state of mind which prompts them to pray; when nothing will meet their state of mind but prayer; and when they cannot wait for the regular and ordinary season of devotion - like a hungry man who cannot wait for the usual and regular hour of his meals. The meaning of the phrase, “mine eyes prevent,” is that he awoke before the usual time for devotion. That I might meditate in thy word - See the notes at Psa 1:2.

    Everything gathered on Psalms 119:148→

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12. Psalms 134:1

    Come, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD who serve by night in the house of the LORD!

    ›Commentary on Psalms 134:12 voices

    “Servant - Peculiarly so called, priests and Levites. Night - Not only by day, but also by night, when their watch was more necessary. Stand - Serve or minister.

    “Behold now, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord. This is the last psalm of the Song of Ascents. The first of the gradual psalms had been: 'To the Lord, when I was in tribulation, I cried, and he heard me.' In the second he had climbed higher: 'I lifted up my eyes to the mountains.' In the third: 'I rejoiced in the things that were said to me.' In the fourth: 'To you I have lifted up my eyes, you who dwell in heaven.'

    Everything gathered on Psalms 134:1→

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13. Psalms 139:11

    If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me, and the light become night around me”—

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14. Isaiah 15:1

    This is the burden against Moab: Ar in Moab is ruined, destroyed in a night! Kir in Moab is devastated, destroyed in a night!

    ›Commentary on Isaiah 15:12 voices

    “The burden of Moab - (see the note at Isa 13:1). This is the title of the prophecy. The Chaldee renders this, ‘The burden of the cup of malediction which is to come upon Moab.’ Because in the night - The fact that this was to be done in the night denotes the suddenness with which the calamity would come upon them. Thus the expression is used in Job to denote the suddenness and surprise with which calamities come: Terrors take hold on him as waters, A tempest stealeth him away in the night.

    “The burden - A prophecy of the destruction of the Moabites, the inveterate enemies of the Jews, begun by the Assyrian, and finished by the Babylonian emperors.

    Everything gathered on Isaiah 15:1→

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15. Isaiah 21:11

    This is the burden against Dumah: One calls to me from Seir, “Watchman, what is left of the night? Watchman, what is left of the night?”

    ›Commentary on Isaiah 21:112 voices

    “(Verse 11, 12.) Oracle concerning Dumah. One calls to me from Seir: 'Watchman, what time of the night? Watchman, what time of the night?' The watchman says: 'Morning comes, and also the night. Seek if you will, inquire if you will, come.' For Dumah they set seventy idols, not over the entire Idumean province, but in a certain region that extends towards the south and is twenty miles distant from the city of Palestine, which is now called Eleutheropolis. Near it are the mountains of Seir, taking their name from Seir, the hairy and shaggy one, that is, Esau.

    “VITRINGA thinks "Dumah," Hebrew, "silence," is here used for Idumea, to imply that it was soon to be reduced to silence or destruction. Seir--the principal mountain in Idumea, south of the Dead Sea, in Arabia-Petræa. "He calleth" ought to be rather, "There is a call from Seir." to me--Isaiah.

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16. Isaiah 21:12

    The watchman replies, “Morning has come, but also the night. If you would inquire, then inquire. Come back yet again.”

    ›Commentary on Isaiah 21:122 voices

    “Is there a hope of the dawn of deliverance? Isaiah replies, The morning is beginning to dawn (to us); but night is also coming (to you). The Hebrew captives would be delivered, and taunting Edom punished.

    “(Verse 11, 12.) Oracle concerning Dumah. One calls to me from Seir: 'Watchman, what time of the night? Watchman, what time of the night?' The watchman says: 'Morning comes, and also the night. Seek if you will, inquire if you will, come.' For Dumah they set seventy idols, not over the entire Idumean province, but in a certain region that extends towards the south and is twenty miles distant from the city of Palestine, which is now called Eleutheropolis. Near it are the mountains of Seir, taking their name from Seir, the hairy and shaggy one, that is, Esau.

    Everything gathered on Isaiah 21:12→

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