שָׁלֹשׁ

From the study of Exodus 21:11

Range of meaning

"These three": a number with "these" pointing back to a set already named in the context.

Against the English

Most translations leave it open ("these three things"). NLT reads it as "any of these three obligations", which makes the failure of even one enough.

Used elsewhere in the period

The nearest set of three is v. 10: she'er ("flesh", meaning food or meat), kesut ("covering", meaning clothing) and 'onah, a rare word. The Septuagint renders 'onah as homilia, "companionship / intercourse". Rabbinic tradition takes it as marital relations. Shalom Paul (JNES 28, 1969) pointed out that Mesopotamian contracts guarantee "food, clothing and oil" and suggested 'onah may mean oil or ointment. Some medieval commentators suggested "dwelling".

From the study of Amos 1:3

Range of meaning

A fixed pattern in Hebrew poetry. A number is followed by the next number up ('x, and x + 1') to mean 'many, and then more', 'enough and past enough'. The pair 'three... four' is especially common.

Against the English

BSB's 'three, even four' and WEB's 'three, yes, for four' get the rising tone. KJV/ESV's 'three... and for four' can read like a literal count. NLT drops the numbers and writes 'again and again', which keeps the sense but loses the shape and the build-up.

Used elsewhere in the period

Prov 30:15–31 ('three things... four'); Prov 6:16 ('six... seven'); Job 5:19; Mic 5:5 (Heb 5:4, 'seven shepherds, eight'); Eccl 11:2; Sirach 26:5; 50:25. The pattern is older than Israel. A text from Ugarit, an ancient Canaanite city, says, 'two feasts Baal hates, three the Rider of the Clouds' (Baal Cycle, KTU 1.4 III).

From the study of Jonah 1:17

Range of meaning

'Three days and three nights.' This exact phrase also occurs in 1 Samuel 30:12, where an Egyptian slave had not eaten for 'three days and three nights', and the next verse says he fell sick 'three days ago', which counts the days inclusively. Compare Esther 4:16 ('do not eat for three days, night or day') with 5:1 ('on the third day'). Three days is the stock span for a decisive interval in Hebrew narrative (Gen 22:4; 42:17–18; Exod 19:11; Hos 6:2).

Against the English

All versions translate it literally, which is correct. The issue is how modern readers do the arithmetic.

How it drifted

Modern readers often turn it into exactly 72 hours. Ancient reckoning counted any part of a day as a day. A rabbinic saying puts it this way: 'a day and a night make one unit, and part of the unit counts as the whole' (Jerusalem Talmud, Shabbat 9:3, attributed to R. Eleazar ben Azariah, c. AD 100).

Used elsewhere in the period

In the Sumerian 'Descent of Inanna', the goddess tells her servant to raise a lament if she has not returned from the underworld after 'three days and three nights'. G. M. Landes (JBL 1967) argued that the phrase was associated with the journey to or from the realm of the dead. Jesus cites this verse in Matthew 12:40 in the Septuagint's wording.