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The orignal Hebrew word for 'day' has several meanings:

yowm {yome}

1) day, time, year

a) day (as opposed to night)
b) day (24 hour period)

1) as defined by evening and morning in Genesis 1
2) as a division of time

a) a working day, a day's journey

c) days, lifetime (pl.)
d) time, period (general)
e) year
f) temporal references

1) today
2) yesterday
3) tomorrow

However, when the word yowm(day) is used with the words `ereb(evening) or boqer(morning) or with a number, it can only mean a 24 hour day, never a long period of time.

The word roots for Genesis 1:13 are:

`ereb boqer yowm sh@liyshiy

(evening morning day third)

(Hebrew proceeds right to left)

Hebrew root translations:

`ereb
boqer
sh@liyshiy
yowm

Some little details of Hebrew(from memory):

When in front of a word means 'the'
When if front of a word means 'and'
used to tie words together.(not very clear on the use of this one).

So Genesis 1:13 would translate literally:

And the evening, And the morning, day third.
(my translation)

Clearly a 24 hour day.

And of course in Genesis 1:24-31(day 5), God creates man and the dino's
(The birds came on day 4.[Genesis 1:20-23])

Sources: www.blueletterbible.org

Other things of interest:
About Gap theories.
(Because it will probably come up)

Did I answer your questions effectively?

Did I answer your questions effectively?

Yes, thank you.

I fully agree that it is a literal 24 hour day being discussed in Genesis.

However, the thrust of the article's argument is that an indeterminate amount of time passed between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2:

Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Gen 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

In this theory, the phrase "the earth WAS without" can just as easily grammatically say "the earth BECAME without" and the supposition is that the earth was given over to Lucifer and when he rebelled it caused death and destruction, causing the earth to become a waste. God then recreated it beginning in Genesis 1:2.

For more info: The World Before Man

Correction to my earlier post:

And of course in Genesis 1:24-31(~~day 5~~ day 6), God creates man and the dino's
(The birds came on ~~day 4~~ day 5.[Genesis 1:20-23])

Sorry about the error.