DAY’S JOURNEY
Days Journey
( , , , Herod. 4:101), a distance such as (in the East) a person might travel in a single day. SEE SABBATH- DAY’S JOURNEY. According to Jon 3:3, the circuit of Nineveh was three days’ journey. This mode of describing distances is also found in Greek, Roman, Arabian, and Persian writers (see Strabo, 17:835; Pliny, v. 4, 9; 6:35; Livy, 25:15; 30:29; Athen. 1:7). It needs scarcely be remarked that in itself (if strictly taken) it would be a very vague and fluctuating measurement, the length of a day’s journey depending so much on the peculiar circumstances under which each pedestrian travels (see Casaubon ad Strab. 1:35; Ukert, Geogr. d. Griech. u. Rom. I, 2:58). But the ancient writers seem to have fixed on the average of what was usually performed by foot-travelers (Herod. 3, 9; 4:9). Herodotus in one place says (iv. 401) a day’s journey amounts to 200 stadia (comp. Polyb. 3, 8; Livy, 21:15); in another (v. 53) to 150 (comp. Pausanias, 10:33, 2). According to Vegetius (Mil. 1:9), twenty Roman miles, that is, 160 stadia, were reckoned for a day’s journey. In the Arabian geographers the length of a day’s journey is equally variable; yet among them, as in the East at the present day (Tavernier, 1:48), it may be stated generally at about seven leagues, or from eighteen to twenty English miles, which is probably not far from the distance intended by that expression in Scripture, which occurs chiefly in the Pentateuch (Gen 30:36; Gen 31:23; Exo 5:3; Exo 8:27; Num 11:31; Deu 1:2), but also elsewhere (1Ki 19:4; 2Ki 3:9), and even in the Apocrypha (1Ma 5:24; 1Ma 5:28; 1Ma 7:45; Tob 6:1), in the New Test. (Luk 2:44; Act 1:12), often in Josephus, (Ant. 12:4, 6; Rev 2:9; Life, 52), and in the Talmud (see Otho, Lex. Rabb. p. 421). SEE JOURNEY.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Day’s journey
The usual length of a day’s journey in the East, on camel or horseback, in six or eight hours, is about 25 or 30 miles. The “three days’ journey” mentioned in Ex. 3:18 is simply a journey which would occupy three days in going and returning.
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Day’s Journey
DAYS JOURNEY.A days journey (Num 11:31 f, 1Ki 19:4, Jon 3:4, Luk 2:44; cf. three days journey, Gen 30:36, Exo 3:18 etc.; seven days, Gen 31:23) was not, like the sabbath days journey (see Weights and Measures), a definite measure of length, but, like our stones throw, bow-shot, etc., a popular and somewhat indefinite indication of distance. This would naturally vary with the urgency and impedimenta of the traveller or the caravan. Laban in hot pursuit of Jacob, and the Hebrew host in the wilderness, may be taken to represent the extremes in this matter of a days journey (reff. above), although it is scarcely possible to take literally the seven days journey of the former (Gen 31:23)from Haran to Gilead, circa 350 miles in 7 days. From 20 to 30 miles is probably a fair estimate of an average days journey with baggage animals.
A. R. S. Kennedy.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Day’s Journey
jurni ( , derekh yom, Gen 30:36; Num 10:33; Num 11:31; , hemeras hodos, Luk 2:44): The common way of estimating distances in the East is by hours and days. This is natural in a country where roads are mere bridle paths or non-existent, as in the desert. The distance traveled must of course differ largely according to the difficulties of the way, and it is more important to know where night will overtake the traveler than the actual distance accomplished. A day’s journey is now commonly reckoned at about 3 miles per hour, the distance usually covered by a loaded mule, the number of hours being about 8. Hence, a day’s journey is about 24 miles, and this may be taken as a fair estimate for Bible times.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
DAY’S JOURNEY
Exo 3:18; 1Ki 19:4; Jon 3:4
–SEE Tables, 3533