Darkness would cover this land “for the space of three days, to the time that he shall rise again from the dead.” “Three days and three nights” is an idiom covering any parts of three days and nights. “According to early Jewish time-reckoning, any part of a day counted as a full day.”27 After his death Jesus did not remain in the earth three whole days and nights, else his rising from the dead would have been on the fourth day, but the scriptures mention his resurrection “on the third day” numerous times.