1883 Haydock Douay Rheims Bible

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Matthew 28:1 And *in the end of the sabbath, when it began to dawn towards the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.

Mark 16:1.; John 20:1. 		about the year A.D. 33. { Ver. 1. Vespere autem Sabbati quae lucescit in prima Sabbati. opse de sabbaton, (one Greek copy, sabbatou) te epiphoskouse eis mian sabbaton, (in unam seu primam Sabbatorum.) What must the Latin, quoe, and the Greek, epiphoskouse, agreek with? We must understand in the Latin, dies; that is die quae lucescit: and in the Greek, we must understand, emera te epiphoskouse. --- We may also observe, that in the Greek we read not opsia, but opse, the adverb, sero; so that in the Latin to correspond with the Greek, it should also be vespere, late after the sabbath. In fine, that vespera is used in Scripture for the night: see what is said in Genesis, on all the days of creation; and the annotations on Matthew xiv. 15. ---Paulus Burgensis, in his Additions, published with his Glossa on Gen. 1 p, Attendendum quod Hebraei per vespere intelligunt Noctem, quae incipit a vespera, et terminatur in mane sequenti, etc.|} And in the end of the sabbath, when it began to dawn towards the first day of the week. According to the letter, in the evening of the sabbath, which began to dawn on the first of the sabbath; (or of the sabbaths in the common Greek copies.) This latter translation, which is that of the Rheims Testament, is certainly more according to the letter, and more obscure than it need to be. First, by translating, on the first of the sabbath, where sabbath is taken for a week, as in other places, Luke 18:12.; Acts 20:7.; and 1 Corinthians 16:2. It may therefore here be literally translated, on the first day of the week. Secondly, By the evening, is here meant the night: for in the Scriptures, both the Latin and Greek word, which we find in this place, not only signifies that time which we commonly call the evening, but is also put for the whole night itself, and for the time from sunset to sunrise next morning. Thus it is taken in the first chapter of Genesis, where, in the computation of natural days of 24 hours, all the hours in which it was dark, are called vespere, in the Septuagint. And all the hours in which it was light, are called mane, proi. et factum est vespere et mane dies unus, that is primus. And from the fourth day, on which were created sun and moon, by vespere was understood all the time from the sun setting on such parts of the earth, to its rising to them again: and mane signified all the day, or the hours that the sun appeared to the like parts of the earth. Therefore, the literal and proper sense of the verse is: in the night, that is in the latter part of the night of the sabbath, or after the sabbath, towards the morning of the first day of the week. And that in this place is signified the latter part of the night, and not what is commonly called the evening, appears first by the following words, when it began to dawn, or to be light. Secondly, It appears by the other evangelists. St. Mark (xvi. 1.) says, when the sabbath was past ... very early in the morning. St. Luke says, (xxiv. 1,) very early in the morning. St. John (xx. 1.) says of Mary Magdalene, that she came in the morning, when it was yet dark. From all which it is plain, that Mary Magdalene, and the other pious women, came to the sepulchre at the end of the night after the sabbath-day, or when it began to be light, and about sunrise on the first day of the week, on our Sunday. --- There may indeed be some doubt whether the Latin word vespere be not an adverb, corresponding to the Greek opse, serò. And then it may be translated with Dr. Wells: late in the night after the sabbath, as it began to dawn towards the first day of the week. But this makes no difference at all as to the sense. And the other Mary, etc. St. Mark says, Mary, the mother of James and Salome. St. Luke also names Joanna, who was wife to Chusa, Herod's steward. These women had rested the sabbath, and as soon as it was over, that is after sunset, they bought spices, and prepared them in the night, in order to embalm the body next morning. (Witham)