חָצוֹת

From the study of Psalm 119:62

Range of meaning

חָצוֹת comes from the root ḥ-ts-h, "to divide in half." It means "middle" and in the Hebrew Bible is used only of the middle of the night. It occurs three times: Exodus 11:4, Job 34:20 and here. A related phrase, בַּחֲצִי הַלַּיְלָה ("in the half of the night"), appears in Exodus 12:29, Judges 16:3 and Ruth 3:8.

Against the English

"Midnight" is accurate. A modern reader may picture 12:00 on a clock, but Israel had no clocks. The night was split into three "watches" (Lamentations 2:19; Judges 7:19, "the middle watch"; Exodus 14:24, "the morning watch"), and "the half of the night" meant the deep dead of night, not an exact minute.

Used elsewhere in the period

In Exodus 11:4 the LORD says, "About midnight I will go out through Egypt". Midnight is the hour of the Passover judgment. Job 34:20 says the mighty "die in a moment, at midnight," when God strikes them. In Second Temple and later Jewish tradition this verse became the basis for rising at midnight: the Babylonian Talmud (Berakhot 3b) tells how David's harp, hung above his bed, was played by the north wind at midnight and woke him to study Torah, and later Jewish piety developed the midnight lament (Tikkun Ḥatsot). In Christian monasticism, the Rule of Benedict (ch. 16) cites this verse to support the night office.

From the study of Exodus 11:4

Range of meaning

'Middle, half,' from the root ḥ-ṣ-h, 'to divide, split in two.' In the Bible it always appears with 'night': the point where the night is split in half. Some grammarians read the form as a verb-noun ('the dividing of'), so ka-ḥăṣōt hallaylāh would mean 'when the night divides' (HALOT; BDB lists it as a noun).

Against the English

English 'midnight' now suggests 12:00 on a clock. Israel had no mechanical timekeeping. It split the night into watches (three in Judges 7:19, 'the middle watch'), and 'the halving of the night' meant the deepest stretch of darkness, roughly between dusk and dawn.

How it drifted

Clock time has made 'midnight' sound like a precise instant. The Hebrew picture is the dark split down the middle.

Used elsewhere in the period

The word occurs only three times: here, Job 34:20 ('in a moment they die; at midnight the people are shaken and pass away'), and Psalm 119:62 ('at midnight I rise to praise you'). Job 34:20 is a close parallel: sudden death that God sends at midnight. The related form ḥăṣî hallaylāh appears in Exod 12:29 (the fulfilment), Judg 16:3 and Ruth 3:8. The Septuagint renders 'about the middle of the nights'; the Vulgate has simply media nocte, 'at midnight.'