“third hour”, “sixth hour” and “ninth hour”

Henaynei

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from Hours

The hour has a special meaning in Jewish law. "The third hour of the day" doesn't mean 3:00 a.m., or three sixty-minute hours after sunrise. Rather, an hour in halacha is calculated by taking the total time of daylight of a particular day, from sunrise until sunset,1and dividing it into twelve equal parts. A halachic hour is thus known as a sha'ah zemanit, or proportional hour, and varies by the season and even by the day.

For example, on a day when the sun rises at 5 a.m. and sets at 7:30 p.m., one sha'ah zemanit, or proportional hour, will be 72.5 minutes long. The third hour of the day will come to a close at 8:37:30 a.m.

This information is important because many observances in Jewish law are performed at specific times during the day. The calculation of these halachic times, known as zmanim ("times"), depends on the length of the daylight hours in that locale.
 
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4x4toy

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from Hours

The hour has a special meaning in Jewish law. "The third hour of the day" doesn't mean 3:00 a.m., or three sixty-minute hours after sunrise. Rather, an hour in halacha is calculated by taking the total time of daylight of a particular day, from sunrise until sunset,1and dividing it into twelve equal parts. A halachic hour is thus known as a sha'ah zemanit, or proportional hour, and varies by the season and even by the day.

For example, on a day when the sun rises at 5 a.m. and sets at 7:30 p.m., one sha'ah zemanit, or proportional hour, will be 72.5 minutes long. The third hour of the day will come to a close at 8:37:30 a.m.

This information is important because many observances in Jewish law are performed at specific times during the day. The calculation of these halachic times, known as zmanim ("times"), depends on the length of the daylight hours in that locale.

So you're saying a biblical night consists of hours or watches ?
 
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4x4toy

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if you go to the link you'll see that it is both :)

Thanx Henaynei, Sunset then 4 watches during dark to sunrise then 12 hours of day divided equally .. So my question is , are there hrs or watches at night or both ? there's no watches during the day/light , right?
 
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Henaynei

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Thanx Henaynei, Sunset then 4 watches during dark to sunrise then 12 hours of day divided equally .. So my question is , are there hrs or watches at night or both ? there's no watches during the day/light , right?
watches only at night, hours during night and day...according to these sources :)
After all, even today when one is "on watch" or "taking the first watch" it usually pertains to periods during the night/dark.
 
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AbbaLove

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Sundown and sunset are synonymous. Both refer to the point in time when the sun disappears below the horizon.
That MOR understanding is certainly acceptable. Was just making a distinction as Vis probably wanted to know of any extended distinction before and after sunset/sundown by the ancient Hebrews. Since, i'm not up on ancient Hebrew timekeeping terminology i gave her my boyhood best take as to why my Mom would say "sunset" and my Dad would say "sundown" ...

To me sunset means when the globe of the sun first touches the horizon and sundown [first] occurs when the top of the sun's globe has just dipped [out of sight] below the horizon.

It sure doesn't surprise me that you jumped at the opportunity to correct me ... even though Vis was wondering if sundown has other more extended meanings. Listed below are six of Merriam-Webster's synonyms ... correct them if you disagree ;)

eve, evening, evenfall, eventide, twilight, nightfall

Perhaps what Vis was really wondering was if the ancient Hebrews could've understood sundown as a period of time from the setting of the sun ... to ... evening twilight when the first two or three brightest stars are first visible in the sky.
 
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