The phrase ‘in the day,’ occurs over 80 times in the English Bible (NASB). The phrase under examination is in the singular, not the plural “in the days” since this is a study motivated by the precise phrase spoken of by God in Genesis 2:17 where he declares, “but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” Since our discussion is in the context of the traditional view of eternal conscious torment as contrasted with the conditionalist view of future annihilation, the subject of what death means is very important. The first occurrence of the word “die” is used by God in the above verse. Therefore, we need to know what he means by it.
When God said to Adam that in the very same day he ate the fruit he would die, or did he mean that Adam would die hundreds of years later (Gen. 5:5)? If it is the former, then God’s understanding of the term is in reference to separation from him due to sin (Isa. 59:2; Rom. 6:23). If it is the latter, then the annihilationist view is supported. What do we find when we look at the phrase? We find four main classifications: affective (Gen. 2:17; 3:5), declarative (Exodus 10:28; Psalm 27:5), descriptive (Gen. 2:4; John 11:9), and imperative (Zeph. 2:3; Heb. 3:8). In our discussion on annihilationism, the relevant verses are Genesis 2:17 and 3:5. There were two effects of Adam eating the fruit: immediate separation from God, which is spiritual death (Isaiah 59:2; Rom. 6:23), and physical death which occurred to Adam later in his life (Gen. 5:5). Furthermore, Satan’s words also imply an immediate result. Since both of these verses deal with eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and since we know that the immediate effect of eating the tree was Adams separation from God, which in turn is related to death (Isa. 59:2; Rom. 6:23), we can conclude that the phrase “in the day” found in Genesis 2:17 meant that Adam died the very day he ate the fruit. It was a spiritual death with a physical manifestation hundreds of years later.
The following is the classification that I’ve arranged through what I have discovered in examining this phrase. Of course, there may be a few verses were people might disagree with the classification. Perhaps it might be worth a discussion should it arise. But my intention was to objectively examine this phrase and learn about it through its inspired usage throughout the Bible.
Please consider my following categorization.
- Affective, cause with necessary effect
- Gen. 2:17; 3:5
- Declarative of future effect, cause and effect are related, but not necessary
- Exodus 10:28; Deut. 31:18; Job 20:28; Psalm 27:5; 50:15; 56:9; 110:3, 5; Prov. 11:4; 24:10; Isa. 11:16; 13:13; 14:3; 17:11; Jer. 18:17; 51:2; Ezek. 7:19; 33:12; 34:12; Hosea 5:9; Matt. 10:15; 11:22; 11:24; 12:36; Rom. 2:5; 1 Cor. 1:8; 5:5; Phil. 2:16
- Descriptive of fact without cause
- Gen. 2:4; 5:1, 2; 35:3; Exodus 32:34; Lev. 7:36, 38; 14:2; Num. 10:10; Deut. 21:16; Josh. 10:12; 14:11; 2 Sam. 22:1, 19; Psalm 18:title, 18; 20:1, 9; 59:16; 77:2; 78:9; 86:7; 95:8; 102:2; 140:7; Prov. 27:1; Ecc. 7:14; 12:3; Jer. 7:22; 11:4, 7; 16:19; 17:17; 31:32; 34:13; Lam. 2:1, 7, 21, 22; Ezek. 22:24; Nah. 1:7; John 11:9; Rom. 13:13; 2 Cor. 1:14; 1 John 4:17
- Imperative, giving a command
- Obad. 12, 13, 14; Zeph. 2:3; Zech. 8:9; Heb. 3:8; 1 Pet. 2:12
| All occurrences of “in the day” in the Old and New Testaments | |||||
| Address | Verse | Meaning | Action | Result | Duration |
| Gen. 2:4 | This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made earth and heaven. | Descriptive | Creation | More than 24 hours | |
| Gen. 2:17 | but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” | Affective | Eating the fruit | Death | Same day |
| Gen. 3:5 | For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” | Affective | Eating the fruit | Eyes opened |
Same day |
| Gen. 5:1 | This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. | Descriptive | Creation | Same day or Longer Period | |
| Gen. 5:2 | He created them male and female, and He blessed them and named them Man in the day when they were created. | Descriptive | Creation | Same day or Longer Period | |
| Gen. 35:3 | and let us arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.” | Descriptive | Of distress | Same day or Longer Period | |
| Ex. 10:28 | Then Pharaoh said to him, “Get away from me! Beware, do not see my face again, for in the day you see my face you shall die!” | Declarative | Seeing Pharaoh’s face | Death | Same day |
| Ex. 32:34 | But go now, lead the people where I told you. Behold, My angel shall go before you; nevertheless in the day when I punish, I will punish them for their sin.” | Descriptive | Punishment | Same day or Longer Period | |
| Lev. 7:36 | ‘These the LORD had commanded to be given them from the sons of Israel in the day that He anointed them. It is their due forever throughout their generations.’ ” | Descriptive | Anointing | Same day | |
| Lev. 7:38 | which the LORD commanded Moses at Mount Sinai in the day that He commanded the sons of Israel to present their offerings to the LORD in the wilderness of Sinai. | Descriptive | Offerings | Same day | |
| Lev. 14:2 | “This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing. Now he shall be brought to the priest, | Descriptive | Cleansing | Same day | |
| Num. 10:10 | Also in the day of your gladness and in your appointed feasts, and on the first days of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be as a reminder of you before your God. I am the LORD your God.” | Descriptive | Of feasts | Same day or Longer Period | |
| Deut. 21:16 | then it shall be in the day he wills what he has to his sons, he cannot make the son of the loved the firstborn before the son of the unloved, who is the firstborn. | Descriptive | A will for sons | Same day | |
| Deut. 31:18 | But I will surely hide My face in that day because of all the evil which they will do, for they will turn to other gods. | Declarative | Of God’s anger | God will hid from them | Same day or Longer Period |
| Josh. 10:12 | Then Joshua spoke to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, “O sun, stand still at Gibeon, And O moon in the valley of Aijalon.” | Descriptive | Death of Amorites | Same day | |
| Josh. 14:11 | I am still as strong today as I was in the day Moses sent me; as my strength was then, so my strength is now, for war and for going out and coming in. | Descriptive | Of being sent | Same day or Longer Period | |
| 2 Sam. 22:1 | And David spoke the words of this song to the LORD in the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. | Descriptive | Of deliverence | Same day or Longer Period | |
| 2 Sam. 22:19 | “They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the LORD was my support. | Descriptive | Of being confronted | Same day or Longer Period | |
| Job 20:28 | “The increase of his house will depart; His possessions will flow away in the day of His anger. | Declarative | God’s anger | Loss of possessions | Same day or Longer Period |
| Ps. 18:title | For the choir director. A Psalm of David the servant of the LORD, who spoke to the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. And he said, | Descriptive | Of deliverance | Same day or Longer Period | |
| Ps. 18:18 | They confronted me in the day of my calamity, But the LORD was my stay. | Descriptive | Of being confronted | Same day or Longer Period | |
| Ps. 20:1 | May the LORD answer you in the day of trouble! May the name of the God of Jacob set you securely on high! | Descriptive | Of being answered | Same day or Longer Period | |
| Ps. 20:9 | Save, O LORD; May the King answer us in the day we call. | Descriptive | Of being answered | Same day or Longer Period | |
| Ps. 27:5 | For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle; In the secret place of His tent He will hide me; He will lift me up on a rock. | Declarative | Of day of trouble | God will protect | Same day or Longer Period |
| Ps. 50:15 | Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me.” | Declarative | Of day of trouble | God will rescue | Same day or Longer Period |
| Ps. 56:9 | Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call; This I know, that God is for me. | Declarative | Of day of trouble | God will rescue | Same day or Longer Period |
| Ps. 59:16 | But as for me, I shall sing of Your strength; Yes, I shall joyfully sing of Your lovingkindness in the morning, For You have been my stronghold And a refuge in the day of my distress. | Descriptive | God is a stronghold | Same day or Longer Period | |
| Ps. 77:2 | In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord; In the night my hand was stretched out without weariness; My soul refused to be comforted. | Descriptive | Of trouble | Same day or Longer Period | |
| Ps. 78:9 | The sons of Ephraim were archers equipped with bows, Yet they turned back in the day of battle. | Descriptive | Of battle | Same day or Longer Period | |
| Ps. 86:7 | In the day of my trouble I shall call upon You, For You will answer me. | Descriptive | Of trouble | Same day or Longer Period | |
| Ps. 95:8 | Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, As in the day of Massah in the wilderness, | Descriptive | Of trouble | Same day or Longer Period | |
| Ps. 102:2 | Do not hide Your face from me in the day of my distress; Incline Your ear to me; in the day when I call answer me quickly. | Descriptive | Of distress | Same day or Longer Period | |
| Ps. 110:3 | Your people will volunteer freely in the day of Your power; In holy array, from the womb of the dawn, Your youth are to You as the dew. | Declarative | Of day of God’s power | People will volunteer | Long Period |
| Ps. 110:5 | The Lord is at Your right hand; He will shatter kings in the day of His wrath. | Declarative | Of wrath | God’s protection | Same day or Longer Period |
| Ps. 140:7 | “O GOD the Lord, the strength of my salvation, you have covered my head in the day of battle. | Descriptive | God’s protection | Same day or Longer Period | |
| Prov. 6:34 | For jealousy enrages a man, and he will not spare in the day of vengeance. | Declarative | Day of vengeance | No mercy | Same day or Longer Period |
| Prov. 11:4 | Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death. | Declarative | Day of wrath | Riches do not profit | Same day or Longer Period |
| Prov. 24:10 | If you are slack in the day of distress, Your strength is limited. | Declarative | Day of distress | Strength is limited | Same day or Longer Period |
| Prov. 27:10 | Do not forsake your own friend or your father’s friend, And do not go to your brother’s house in the day of your calamity; Better is a neighbor who is near than a brother far away. | Descriptive | Faithfulness | Same day or Longer Period | |
| Ecc. 7:14 | In the day of prosperity be happy, But in the day of adversity consider— God has made the one as well as the other so that man will not discover anything that will be after him. | Descriptive | Prosperity and diversity | Long Period | |
| Ecc. 12:3 | In the day that the watchmen of the house tremble, and mighty men stoop, the grinding ones stand idle because they are few, and those who look through windows grow dim; | Descriptive | Day of desolation | Long Period | |
| Is. 10:3 | Now what will you do in the day of punishment, And in the devastation which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help? And where will you leave your wealth? | Interrogative | To whom will you flee | Same day or Longer Period | |
| Is. 11:16 | And there will be a highway from Assyria For the remnant of His people who will be left, Just as there was for Israel in the day that they came up out of the land of Egypt. | Declarative | Future situation | A highway | Same day or Longer Period |
| Is. 13:13 | Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, And the earth will be shaken from its place At the fury of the LORD of hosts in the day of His burning anger. | Declarative | Day of judgment | Judgment | Same day or Longer Period |
| Is. 14:3 | And it will be in the day when the LORD gives you rest from your pain and turmoil and harsh service in which you have been enslaved, | Declarative | Day of rest | Rest | Same day or Longer Period |
| Is. 17:11 | In the day that you plant it you carefully fence it in, And in the morning you bring your seed to blossom; But the harvest will be a heap in a day of sickliness and incurable pain. | Declarative | Day of planting | Reaping sickness | Long Period |
| Jer. 7:22 | For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. | Descriptive | Day of deliverance | Same day or Longer Period | |
| Jer. 11:4 | which I commanded your forefathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, ‘Listen to My voice, and do according to all which I command you; so you shall be My people, and I will be your God,’ | Descriptive | Command of God | Same day or Longer Period | |
| Jer. 11:7 | ‘For I solemnly warned your fathers in the day that I brought them up from the land of Egypt, even to this day, warning persistently, saying, “Listen to My voice.” | Descriptive | God’s deliverence | Same day or Longer Period | |
| Jer. 16:19 | O LORD, my strength and my stronghold, And my refuge in the day of distress, To You the nations will come From the ends of the earth and say, “Our fathers have inherited nothing but falsehood, Futility and things of no profit.” | Descriptive | God is my strength | Long Period | |
| Jer. 17:17 | Do not be a terror to me; You are my refuge in the day of disaster. | Descriptive | God is refuge | Long Period | |
| Jer. 18:17 | ‘Like an east wind I will scatter them Before the enemy; I will show them My back and not My face in the day of their calamity.’ ” | Declarative | Day of calamity | Scattering of people | Long Period |
| Jer. 31:32 | not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD. | Descriptive | Day of deliverance | Long Period | |
| Jer. 34:13 | “Thus says the LORD God of Israel, ‘I made a covenant with your forefathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, saying, | Descriptive | Day of deliverance | Long Period | |
| Jer. 51:2 | “I will dispatch foreigners to Babylon that they may winnow her And may devastate her land; For on every side they will be opposed to her in the day of her calamity. | Declarative | Opposition | Devastation of land | Long Period |
| Lam. 2:1 | How the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion With a cloud in His anger! He has cast from heaven to earth The glory of Israel, And has not remembered His footstool in the day of His anger. | Descriptive | Of God’s anger | Same day or Longer Period | |
| Lam. 2:7 | The Lord has rejected His altar, He has abandoned His sanctuary; He has delivered into the hand of the enemy The walls of her palaces. They have made a noise in the house of the LORD as in the day of an appointed feast. | Descriptive | Of rejection by God | Same day or Longer Period | |
| Lam. 2:21 | On the ground in the streets lie young and old; My virgins and my young men have fallen by the sword. You have slain them in the day of Your anger, You have slaughtered, not sparing. | Descriptive | Of God’s anger | Same day or Longer Period | |
| Lam. 2:22 | You called as in the day of an appointed feast My terrors on every side; And there was no one who escaped or survived in the day of the LORD’S anger. Those whom I bore and reared, My enemy annihilated them. | Descriptive | Of God’s anger | Same day or Longer Period | |
| Ezek. 7:19 | ‘They will fling their silver into the streets and their gold will become an abhorrent thing; their silver and their gold will not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD. They cannot satisfy their appetite nor can they fill their stomachs, for their iniquity has become an occasion of stumbling. | Declarative | Of God’s anger | They will not be delivered | Same day or Longer Period |
| Ezek. 22:24 | “Son of man, say to her, ‘You are a land that is not cleansed or rained on in the day of indignation.’ | Descriptive | Of God’s anger | Same day or Longer Period | |
| Ezek. 33:12 | And you, son of man, say to your fellow citizens, ‘The righteousness of a righteous man will not deliver him in the day of his transgression, and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he will not stumble because of it in the day when he turns from his wickedness; whereas a righteous man will not be able to live by his righteousness on the day when he commits sin.’ | Declarative | Of God’s anger | They will not be delivered | Same day or Longer Period |
| Ezek. 34:12 | As a shepherd cares for his herd in the day when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will care for My sheep and will deliver them from all the places to which they were scattered on a cloudy and gloomy day. | Declarative | Of God’s care | God will care for his sheep | Same day or Longer Period |
| Hos. 5:9 | Ephraim will become a desolation in the day of rebuke; Among the tribes of Israel I declare what is sure. | Declarative | Of God’s rebuke | Will become a desolation | Same day or Longer Period |
| Obad. 12 | “Do not gloat over your brother’s day, The day of his misfortune. And do not rejoice over the sons of Judah in the day of their destruction; Yes, do not boast in the day of their distress. | Imperative | Admonition to not gloat | Same day or Longer Period | |
| Obad. 13 | “Do not enter the gate of My people in the day of their disaster. Yes, you, do not gloat over their calamity in the day of their disaster. And do not loot their wealth in the day of their disaster. | Imperative | To not enter the gate | Same day or Longer Period | |
| Obad. 14 | “Do not stand at the fork of the road To cut down their fugitives; And do not imprison their survivors in the day of their distress. | Imperative | Do not afflict | Same day or Longer Period | |
| Nah. 1:7 | The LORD is good, A stronghold in the day of trouble, And He knows those who take refuge in Him. | Descriptive | The Lord is a stronghold | Long Period | |
| Zeph. 2:3 | Seek the LORD, All you humble of the earth Who have carried out His ordinances; Seek righteousness, seek humility. Perhaps you will be hidden in the day of the LORD’S anger. | Imperative | Seek the Lord | Long Period | |
| Zech. 8:9 | “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Let your hands be strong, you who are listening in these days to these words from the mouth of the prophets, those who spoke in the day that the foundation of the house of the LORD of hosts was laid, to the end that the temple might be built. | Imperative | Let your hands be strong | Long Period | |
| Matt. 10:15 | Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city. | Declarative | Of judgment | Will receive tolerance | Day of Judgment |
| Matt. 11:22 | Nevertheless I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. | Declarative | Of judgment | Will receive tolerance | Day of Judgment |
| Matt. 11:24 | Nevertheless I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you.” | Declarative | Of judgment | Will receive tolerance | Day of Judgment |
| Matt. 12:36 | But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. | Declarative | Of judgment | Of being held accountable | Same day or Longer Period |
| John 11:9 | Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. | Descriptive | Walking in truth | Same day or Longer Period | |
| Rom. 2:5 | But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, | Declarative | Of judgment | Of wrath | Day of Judgment |
| Rom. 13:13 | Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. | Descriptive | Of proper behavior | Long Period | |
| 1 Cor. 1:8 | who will also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. | Declarative | Of judgment | Of being blameless | Day of Judgment |
| 1 Cor. 5:5 | I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. | Declarative | Of judgment | Of punishment | Day of Judgment |
| 2 Cor. 1:14 | just as you also partially did understand us, that we are your reason to be proud as you also are ours, in the day of our Lord Jesus. | Descriptive | Being proud | Day of Judgment | |
| Phil. 2:16 | holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain. | Declarative | Of judgment | Reason to glory | Day of Judgment |
| Heb. 3:8 | DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME, AS IN THE DAY OF TRIAL IN THE WILDERNESS, | Imperative | Do not harden your hearts | Same day or Longer Period | |
| 1 Pet. 2:12 | Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation. | Imperative | Keep behavior good | Day of Judgment | |
| 1 John 4:17 | By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. | Descriptive | Love in us | Day of Judgment | |
