Genesis 1:14

Hebrew Bible

13 There was evening, and there was morning, a third day. 14 God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them be signs to indicate seasons and days and years, 15 and let them serve as lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.” It was so. 16 God made two great lights—the greater light to rule over the day and the lesser light to rule over the night. He made the stars also.

Psalm 104:19

Hebrew Bible

18 The wild goats live in the high mountains; the rock badgers find safety in the cliffs. 19 He made the moon to mark the months, and the sun sets according to a regular schedule. 20 You make it dark and night comes, during which all the beasts of the forest prowl around.

 Notes and References

"... What does môʿăḏîm “appointed times” in Genesis 1:14 refer to? VanGemeren says môʿēd has a non-cultic and cultic use. Under the non-cultic use môʿēd refers to a determined place or time and this can vary from the birth of a child (Genesis 17:21) to the migration of a bird (Jeremiah 8:7). A meeting between Jonathan and David, for example, can be referred to in this way (1 Samuel 20:35). Under the cultic use môʿēd refers to a religious festival, e.g., Leviticus 23.2, 4, 44, Isaiah 1:14, Ezekiel 36:38, 44:24, 45:17, Hosea 2:9. But môʿēd can refer to more than the pilgrimage festivals. In the Old Testament “feast” in the general sense of the word referred to “all set times of communal observance”. Even so, most English versions translate môʿăḏîm in Genesis 1:14 as “seasons (of the year)”. Some translate it literally as “set times, fixed times,” etc. and some translate môʿăḏîm as “religious festivals” ... However, whereas Genesis 1:14 is ambivalent as to whether the sun or the moon are signs for môʿăḏîm ‘appointed times,’ Psalm 104:19 is unequivocal in specifying that it is the moon (yārēaḥ) that marks the môʿăḏîm and not the sun (šemeš) ..."

Roberts, John R. The Anachronism of Môʿăḏîm ‘Appointed Times’ in Gen 1.14 (pp. 1-8) SIL International, 2016

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