--- title: לַיְלָה — night · The Tanakh dictionary description: לַיְלָה (3915), a word of Biblical Hebrew, used 227 times: night. BDB 1906: n.m. night. With 2 verses in Hebrew, word for word and JPS 1917. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/tanakh/w/3915.html) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [dictionaries](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/) / [Tanakh](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/tanakh/) / [ל](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/tanakh/1500-2.md)‎ / לַיְלָה‎ # לַיְלָה «לַיְלָה» in the Tanakh dictionary: **night** — how often it is used, MACULA's glosses, its meanings in the printed dictionaries and why they were chosen, and 2 verses in layers. **Used:** 227 times · **Key:** 3915 · **BDB:** לַ֫יְלָה ### Glosses night (178); the.night (12); night\[s\] (10) ### Meaning (OSHB) night [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1500/3915/#m1) ### Meaning (BDB 1906) n.m. night [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1500/3915/#m2) **The whole BDB entry:** n.m. Gn 40:5 night (NH id.; MI15 (ב)ללה; Aramaic לֵילָא, ܠܻܠܝܳܐ, ܠܶܠܝܳܐ; Arabic لَيْلٌ, لَيْلَةٌ; Ethiopic ሌሊት all = night; Assyrian lîlâtu, evening DlHWB; meaning of √ dubious; form probably לילי, and ending ָה radical, and not ה loc., NöM 127 DlProl. 128 Ges§ 90, 2. c. R. Köi. p. 57, R. 1);—abs. לַ֫יְלָה Gn 19:33 + 214 times + 2 times Qr (v. infr.); לָ֑יְלָה Gn 1:5 + 3 times; לַ֫יִל Is 16:3 + Pr 31:18 La 2:19 Kt (Qr לַיְלָה); לֵיל Is 15:1(×2); 21:11; cstr. לֵיל Ex 12:42 Is 30:29; pl. abs. לֵילוֹת 1 S 30:12 + 4 times; cstr. id., Is 21:8 + 5 times;— lit. night, opp. day, Gn 8:22 (J), Dt 1:33 + very often (v. יוֹם); alternation of day and night divinely ordained Gn 1:5 (P), Je 33:20(×2), 25 +; מִיּוֹם עַד־ל׳ Is 38:12, 13 i.e. within one whole day; as close of day, עַד־ל׳ 2 Ch 35:14; as time of sacred חָג (לֵיל) Is 30:29; of suffering and weeping לֵילוֹת עָמָל Jb 7:3, cf. ψ 6:7; 77:3 etc.; of pious desires, prayer, praise, meditation, etc. (sometimes ‖ by day) Is 26:9 Jb 35:10 ψ 1:2; 22:3; 42:9; 77:7; 88:2; 92:3; 119:5(×2), cf. 16:7; 17:3; of night-service in Temple 134:1; of sudden assault, or destruction, Is 15:1 Je 6:5 Ob 5 Jb 27:20; 34:20, 25; 36:20; divided into watches ψ 90:4; לֵיל שִׁמֻּרִים Ex 12:42 v. sub שׁמר; c. num., denoting duration of time, †forty days and forty nights Gn 7:4, 12 Ex 24:18; 34:28 Dt 9:9, 11, 18, 25; 10:10 1 K 19:8; three days and three nights (שְׁלשָׁה לֵילוֹת) 1 S 30:12 Jon 2:1; seven days and seven nights (שִׁבְעַת לֵילוֹת) Jb 2:13†; חֲלוֹם הַלּ׳ †Gn 20:3; 31:24 (both E), 1 K 3:5; מַרְאֹת הַלּ׳ Gn 46:2 (E); חֶזְיוֹן ל׳ Jb 20:8; 33:15, חֶזְיֹנוֹת ל׳ 4:13, חֲלוֹם חֲזוֹן ל׳ Is 29:7 (cf. Mi 3:6 infr.)†; בִּן־ל׳ Jon 4:10(×2) v. בֵּן 8. p. 121 b. Chiefly in adverb. phr.:—בַּחֲצִי הַלּ׳ at midnight Ex 12:29 + (v. חֲצִי, חָצוֹת p. 345 b), cf. בְּתוֹךְ הַלּ׳ †1 K 3:20, בְּאִישׁוֹן ל׳ Pr 7:9†; בַּלּ׳ הַזֶּה Ex 12:8, 12 on this night (P; the night of which one is speaking); בַּלּ׳ הַהוּא on that night Gn 19:35 (J) + often, (P only Nu 14:1); בַּל׳ הוּא Gn 19:33; 30:16; so הַלּ׳ alone †1 S 14:34, but del. 𝔊 We Kit, cf. Dr; Klo Bu read ליהוה; הַלּ׳ to-night †Gn 19:5, 34; 30:15 (all J), Nu 22:8, 19 (E), Jos 2:2; 4:3 (both JE), 2 S 17:1, 16; 19:8 Ru 1:12; 3:2, 13, opp. מָחָר to-morrow 1 S 19:11; הַלּ׳ = this night just past, last night 1 S 15:16 Zc 1:8; כָּל־הַלּ׳ all night Ho 7:6 (opp. בֹּקֶר), Ex 14:20, 21 (J), Nu 11:32 Jos 10:9 (both JE), Ju 16:2(×2); 19:25 1 S 15:11; 31:12 2 S 2:29, 32; 4:7; opp. כל־היום ההוא (of continuous action) 1 S 19:24; 28:20 Is 62:6, opp. יומם ψ 78:14; בְּכָל־ל׳ ψ 6:7 every night (prob.); cf. כָּל־הַלֵּילוֹת Is 21:8 all the nights (opp. יוֹמָם)†; especially לַיְלָה by night Nu 22:20 (E) Jos 8:3 (JE), Dt 16:1 Nu 9:16 (P) + 51 times; of these Gn 14:15 and Ex 13:21, 22 (J) + 25 times opp. יוֹמָם, covering all the time; otherwise Ju 6:27 (opp. יוֹמָם); לַיְלָה וָיוֹם night and day 1 K 8:29 Is 27:3 Est 4:16; less often לֵילוֹת ψ 16:7; הַלּ׳ by night †2 K 25:4 (ל׳ in ‖ Je 52:7), Zc 1:8 Ne 4:16 (opp. הַיּוֹם)†; בַּלּ׳ id., Je 6:5 + 18 times (chfly late; often opp. בַּיּוֹם, יוֹמָם, etc.); בַּלֵּילוֹת †ψ 92:3 (opp. בַּבֹּקֶר), 134:1 Ct 3:1, 8; בְּלַיְלָה Ne 9:19 (opp. בְּיוֹמָם); בְּלֵיל Is 15:1(×2); כַּל׳ as at night Jb 5:14 (opp. צָהֳרָ֑יִם)†. fig. שִׁיתִי כַּלַיִל צִלֵּךְ Is 16:3 sim. of shadow of Zion as protection; more often in gloomy sense, of avenging calamity without divine guidance or comfort לַיְלָה מֵחָזוֹן Mi 3:6; personal distress Jb 35:10; judgment perhaps also Jb 36:20 (Ew De Di Da; night of death Bu; ‘unintelligible’ Siegf); מַה־מִּלַּיְלָה מַה־מִּלֵּיל Is 21:11 i. e. what hour of the night of calamity is it? cf. v 12 (opp. בֹּקֶר). Why these entries: BDB: headword, part of speech agrees, 119 of its verses cited, 1 words shared with the glosses, lists its Strong's number (2 candidates); OSHB: headword, part of speech agrees, 1 words shared with the BDB entry, 1 with the glosses (2 candidates) ### Trees and pragmatics [Every English meaning of «לַיְלָה» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1500/3915/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames. ### In the verses [Job 17:12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/JOB.17.12/) לַ֭יְלָה לְי֣וֹם יָשִׂ֑ימוּ א֝֗וֹר קָר֥וֹב מִפְּנֵי־חֹֽשֶׁךְ׃ *Word for word:* night into day they.make light \[is\].near from before darkness *JPS 1917:* They change the night into day; the light is short because of darkness. [Job 36:20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/JOB.36.20/) אַל־תִּשְׁאַ֥ף הַלָּ֑יְלָה לַעֲל֖וֹת עַמִּ֣ים תַּחְתָּֽם׃ *Word for word:* do.not pant.for the night to go.up peoples in their.place *JPS 1917:* Desire not the night, when peoples are cut off in their place. - ← previous: [לַיִל](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/tanakh/w/lemma_3a_5dc_5b7_5d9_5b4_5dc.md) - next →: [לִילִית](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/tanakh/w/3917.md) - ↑ back to [ל](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/tanakh/1500-2.md)