Day's Journey

Concept

A day's journey was an imprecise unit of distance in the ancient world, generally understood to represent the distance an ordinary traveler could cover in a day — roughly twenty to thirty miles depending on terrain, method of travel, and era. The phrase is used in Scripture to describe moderate distances: Elijah's wilderness journey (1 Kings 19:4), the three-day journey into the wilderness requested of Pharaoh (Exodus 3:18), and the spacing of the manna camp from Mount Sinai (Numbers 11:31). In the New Testament, Mary and Joseph traveled a day's journey before discovering Jesus was missing after the Passover visit to Jerusalem (Luke 2:44). The related term Sabbath day's journey (Acts 1:12) referred to the rabbinic limitation of about 2,000 cubits (approximately 3/4 mile) that was permitted for travel on the Sabbath.