Arcana Coelestia #23
23. Nothing is more common in the Word than for the word 'day' to be used to mean the particular time at which events take place, as in Isaiah,
The day of Jehovah is near. Behold, the day of Jehovah comes. I will make heaven tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, on the day of My fierce anger. Its time is close at hand, and its days will not be prolonged. Isaiah 13:6, 9, 13, 22.
And in the same prophet,
Her antiquity is in the days of antiquity. On that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, like the days of one king. Isaiah 23:7, 15.
Since 'day' stands for the particular time it also stands for the state associated with that particular time, as in Jeremiah, Woe to us, for the day has declined, for the shadows of evening have lengthened! Jeremiah 6:4
And in the same prophet,
If you break My covenant that is for the day and My covenant that is for the night, so that there is neither daytime nor night at their appointed time. Jeremiah 33:20, 25.
Also,
Renew our days as of old. Lamentations 5:21.
Matthew 20:1-17
1
"For the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who was the master of a household, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.
2
When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
3
He went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace.
4
To them he said, 'You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.' So they went their way.
5
Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise.
6
About the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle. He said to them, 'Why do you stand here all day idle?'
7
"They said to him, 'Because no one has hired us.' "He said to them, 'You also go into the vineyard, and you will receive whatever is right.'
8
When evening had come, the lord of the vineyard said to his manager, 'Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning from the last to the first.'
9
"When those who were hired at about the eleventh hour came, they each received a denarius.
10
When the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise each received a denarius.
11
When they received it, they murmured against the master of the household,
12
saying, 'These last have spent one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat!'
13
"But he answered one of them, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Didn't you agree with me for a denarius?
14
Take that which is yours, and go your way. It is my desire to give to this last just as much as to you.
15
Isn't it lawful for me to do what I want to with what I own? Or is your eye evil, because I am good?'
16
So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few are chosen."
17
As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them,
