H5399 H5399
Twilight — the dim transitional light at evening (dusk) or morning (dawn)
The noun נֶשֶׁף denotes the soft, uncertain light of twilight — that liminal time when day yields to night or night yields to day. Most often it refers to evening twilight or dusk, the time favored by those who prefer concealment: the adulterer watches for twilight (Job 24:15), and the wayward woman prowls at dusk (Prov 7:9). The Aramean army fled at twilight (2 Kgs 7:5, 7), and David struck the Amalekites from twilight onward (1 Sam 30:17). In two passages it points instead to morning twilight or dawn — the wakeful sufferer waits for dawn that never comes (Job 7:4), and the psalmist rises before dawn to cry out (Ps 119:147). The ambiguity between evening and morning twilight is inherent in the word itself, which names the quality of dimness rather than a fixed hour.
Senses
1. evening twilight, dusk — Evening twilight or dusk — the fading light after sunset when darkness gathers. This is the dominant sense, covering ten of twelve occurrences. It carries strong connotations of concealment, danger, and moral ambiguity: Job 24:15 says the adulterer's eye 'watches for twilight,' and Proverbs 7:9 places the seductress 'in the twilight, in the evening.' Isaiah 5:11 warns those who linger until evening twilight inflamed by wine. In the prophetic register, Jeremiah 13:16 warns of stumbling on the 'mountains of twilight' before God turns light to deep darkness, and Isaiah 59:10 describes groping at twilight as if blind. Spanish 'crepúsculo' and 'al anochecer' both point to the evening dimness. The Aramean siege camp at twilight in 2 Kings 7:5, 7 vividly evokes the hour of military vulnerability. 10×
AR["الشَّفَقَ", "الْعَتْمَةِ", "الْغَسَقِ", "غَسَقِهِ", "في-العَتْمَةِ", "فِي-الغَسَقِ-", "فِي-المَسَاءِ", "كَ-الْغَسَقِ", "مِن-الغَسَقِ"]·ben["-গোধূলিতে", "-সন্ধ্যা", "গোধূলি", "গোধূলি-থেকে", "গোধূলিতে", "গোধূলিতে-", "গোধূলিতে-মতো", "গোধূলির", "তার-ভোরের"]·DE["[בנשף]", "[כנשף]", "[נשף]", "[נשפו]", "bei-twilight", "von-der-twilight"]·EN["as-in-twilight", "at-twilight", "from-the-twilight", "in-the-twilight", "its-twilight", "twilight", "twilight-of"]·FR["[בנשף]", "[כנשף]", "[נשף]", "crépuscule", "dans-crépuscule", "de-le-crépuscule", "son-crépuscule-lui", "à-crépuscule"]·heb["ב-נשף", "כ-נשף", "מ-נשף", "נשף", "נשפו"]·HI["उसके-गोधूलि-के", "गोधूलि-में-", "बन्नेशेफ", "शअम-से", "शामकी-तरह", "संध्या", "संध्या-के", "संध्या-तक", "सांझ"]·ID["Di-waktu-senja-", "dari-senja", "pada-waktu-senja", "sampai-malam", "senja", "senjawinya", "seperti-waktu-senja"]·IT["[בנשף]", "[כנשף]", "[נשף]", "a-crepuscolo", "da-il-crepuscolo", "in-a-twilight", "its-twilight-suo", "twilight"]·jav["ing-senja", "ing-sonten", "kados-peteng", "peteng", "saking-surup", "senja", "srepet", "surup-piyambakipun"]·KO["그것의-새벽의", "어스름에", "어스름을", "에서-그-황혼", "저녁-에", "황혼-에", "황혼같이-", "황혼을", "황혼의"]·PT["No-crepúsculo", "ao-crepúsculo", "como-o-crepúsculo", "crepúsculo-de", "crepúsculo-dela", "crepúsculo;", "desde-o-crepúsculo", "no-crepúsculo", "o-crepúsculo,"]·RU["В-сумерках-", "в-сумерках", "до-сумерек", "как-в-сумерки", "от-рассвета", "рассвета-её", "сумерек", "сумерки"]·ES["al-anochecer", "como-en-el-crepúsculo", "crepúsculo", "crepúsculo-de", "desde-el-crepúsculo", "el-crepúsculo", "en-crepúsculo", "en-el-crepúsculo", "su-crepúsculo"]·SW["giza-la-jioni", "jioni", "jioni-yake", "kama-gizani", "kutoka-jioni", "la-jioni", "wakati-wa-jioni", "ya-giza"]·TR["-alacakaranlıktan", "alacakaranlik", "alacakaranlik-gibi", "alacakaranlikta", "alacakaranlıkta-", "alacakaranlığı", "alacakaranlığın", "alacakaranlığının", "de-alacakaranlik"]·urd["اُس-کی-صبح-کے", "شام", "شام-تک", "شام-سے", "شام-میں", "شام-کو", "شام-کی-طرح", "شام-کے"]
2. morning twilight, dawn — Morning twilight or dawn — the emerging light before sunrise, when darkness gives way to day. Two occurrences carry this sense. Job 7:4 describes a restless sufferer lying awake, tossing until morning twilight (neshep), longing for the night to end. Psalm 119:147 declares 'I rise before dawn (neshep) and cry for help.' The shift from evening to morning is determined by context rather than by any morphological change in the word itself. The psalmist's use is especially striking: rising before the twilight of dawn to seek God's word, when the world is still wrapped in half-darkness. Some scholars note that 1 Samuel 30:17 may also carry a dawn sense (David attacked 'from the twilight'), though most lexicons assign it to evening. 2×
AR["الغَسَقِ", "بِالفَجْرِ"]·ben["-ভোরে", "ভোর"]·DE["[נשף]", "dawn"]·EN["dawn"]·FR["crépuscule", "dans-crépuscule"]·heb["ב-נשף", "נשף"]·HI["गोधूलि"]·ID["fajar", "senja"]·IT["[בנשף]", "dawn"]·jav["nalika-faèar", "surup"]·KO["새벽-에", "황혼"]·PT["ao-amanhecer", "crepúsculo"]·RU["рассвет", "рассвета"]·ES["al-alba", "el-crepúsculo."]·SW["alfajiri", "giza"]·TR["şafak", "şafakta"]·urd["صبح-تک", "صبح-سویرے"]
Related Senses
H3117 1. day, specific time (2231×)H5704 1. until, unto, as far as (1238×)H8141 1. year, unit of time (880×)H6258 1. and now (421×)G2250 1. day (388×)H5750 1. again, more, further (288×)H5769 1. forever, to eternity (280×)H6256 1. time, period (264×)H2320 1. month, calendar period (260×)H0310a 2. after (temporal) (258×)H3915 1. night, period of darkness (234×)H1242 1. morning (214×)H5750 2. still, yet (continuative) (166×)G5119 1. then (160×)G3568 1. now (147×)G2193 1. until (143×)G3825 1. (141×)G3752 1. (123×)H6153 1. evening, time of day (123×)H0227a 1. then (122×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† נֶ֫שֶׁף n.m. twilight (proposes twilight-breeze, cf. לְרוּחַ הַיּוֹם Gn 3:8; NH id.; 𝔗 נְשַׁף, נִשְׁפָּא);—נ׳ abs. 1 S 30:17 +, נָ֑שֶׁף Je 13:16; cstr. Is 21:4; sf. נִשְׁפּוֹ Jb 3:9;— 1. evening twilight 2 K 7:5, 7 (cf. לַיְלָה v 12); opp. בֹּקֶר Is 5:11; time of concealment Jb 24:15 Pr 7:9 (+ עֶרֶב יוֹם, אִישׁוֹן לַיְלָה וַאֲפֵלָה, to emphasize sin that shuns the day); of refreshing Is 21:4…