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 dear friend who is curious about the two most common ways of counting to Pentecost sent me the link to a YouTube video titled “Sabbath Day: Part 1 ‘First Day of the Week’ Thoroughly Explained,” in which the narrator, who goes by “Brother Nick,” claims that the phrase “first day of the week,” as it appears in several New Testament verses, is a mistranslation of the Greek phrase mia ton sabbaton (μια των σαββατων). Nick goes on to claim that the morrow after the weekly Sabbath that falls during the Feast of Unleavened Bread is properly called the “Day of Firstfruits,” and that this proves the count to Pentecost begins on the morrow after the weekly Sabbath. This is a teaching I had never heard before, so I decided to watch the video. To be sure, I strongly disagree with Brother Nick’s conclusion, but when I attempted to submit my critique in the “Comments” section under the video, an error message indicated that my response was too lengthy. I was thus compelled to post a watered-down version that will likely raise more questions than it answers. To that end, I decided to include my commentary, modified to accommodate my newsletter-type format, in its entirety here.

Brother Nick’s Qualifications to Expound Greek Linguistics

         I do not question Nick’s sincerity, and I’m sure he’s a nice person; but I do challenge his exegetical approach. My first concern lies with the fact that it very quickly became obvious Nick does not know Greek,  nor does he seem to understand how idiomatic expressions work in different languages. I’m not saying I’ve mastered Greek, although I do have a background in foreign languages. In spite of his lack of expertise in the Greek language, Nick takes it upon himself to exegete on how its words should be translated, while labeling the various Bible translators as “deceived.” As displayed within the slide shown at left, he even ignores the plain information found in the references he cites. My first clue as to his lack of expertise lies with his (mis)pronunciations of Greek words. I realize you don’t need to be a Greek scholar to rightly divide the Word or to be spiritual, so I did not allow Nick’s mispronunciations to determine whether or not he rightly divides the Word. Nevertheless, the experts—those who are fluent in Greek—agree that mia ton sabbaton, in the context of its appearance in the New Testament, truly does mean “first day of the week.” Even one of the sources Nick cites agrees, but I don’t think he was able to recognize that fact. I’ll get to that later.

         The bottom line: Nick does not cite a single Greek scholar who upholds his view that the mia ton sabbaton of Matthew 28:1, Mk 16:2 & 9, Luke 24:1 and John 20:1 is the “day of firstfruits.” He only offers his interpretation of Scripture, an interpretation that not everyone agrees with. Nick also fails to cite a single Greek scholar who agrees with his claim that “first day of the week” is a mistranslation of mia ton sabbaton. Instead, he treats the translators as though they conspired to mistranslate the Greek text.

If the Greek Author Meant “First,” Why Did He Use the Word “Mia” (μια)?

         Nick asserts that if “first day of the week” is what the original NT author intended, the Greek word protos would have been used instead of mia, which literally means “one.” Here’s what he said at the 2:31 mark of the video:

Now these translators made a significant deceptive error in translating mia ton sabbaton to “first day of the week” in the New Testament. Translating mia as “first” when protos and proton are the Greek words for words for “first” can be very deceptive, and we’re going to get into that—we’re going to look at all these words in the lexicon.”

         Please notice that Nick doesn’t cite any scholars who agree with his “significant deceptive error” claim. Why not? Does he believe there’s a conspiracy among Greek scholars to produce a flawed translation of mia ton sabbaton? As we are about to see, the answer is yes. But why do Sacred Name Bibles published by Sabbath keepers who share Nick’s belief (that the day following Yeshua’s resurrection was the “day of firstfruits”) disagree with him? The Sacred Scriptures, Bethel Edition, renders mia ton sabbaton as “first day of the week.” This fact alone should serve as a clue that maybe Nick lacks the proper credentials to determine how Greek words should be translated. Suffice it to say scholars who actually know Greek and its idioms disagree with Nick’s claim.

         It’s not only Bible scholars who disagree with Nick’s claim. The secular Liddell & Scott Greek-English Lexicon, p. 1370, freely ack-nowledges the fact that, in addition to meaning “Sabbath,” sabbaton can also mean “a period of seven days, a week.” The same goes for The New Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon and The Analytical Greek Lexicon of the New Testament. They collectively acknowledge that in such verses as Matt 28:1, mian sabbaton means “first day of the week,” even though it more literally means “[day] one of the sabbaths.”

         For the record, I do not dispute the fact that “first day of the week” can be translated proté hemera tes hebdomadas in Greek; but it can also be translated mia ton sabbaton. It appears Nick may disregard the fact that more than one word in a language can be used to express the same thing. These are called “synonyms.” There are many examples of synonyms in our own language. For example, I grew up calling a couch a “davenport,” but it can also be called a “sofa.” My grandmother never referred to a refrigerator as a refrigerator–she called it the “icebox.” One person might say I’m “noisy,” but someone else might say I’m “loud.” These are but a few of the many synonyms in our own language. The same thing exists in other languages as well. As agreed upon by all Greek scholars, even those who have no axe to grind, the Greek word “sabbaton” can be used to mean “week,” and so can the Greek word “hebdomada.” Context helps us to understand whether or not “sabbaton” means “Sabbath” or “week.” For Nick, “sabbaton” can only have one meaning, and that meaning is “Sabbath.”

Traditional Western Culture Mentality Versus Semitic Culture

         Here in our modern western culture, we think nothing of saying, “Sunday is the first day of the week,” so it’s only natural that Nick expects this same, literal phraseology to exist in ancient Greek or Hebrew culture. The fact is, in Hebraic thought, the day we know as Sunday was not literally called “the first day of the week”; rather, it was called “day one of the Sabbaths.” Monday, then, was “day two of the Sabbaths.” The Hebrew culture did not have names for the days of the week; they were all numbered, with each day leading up to the seventh day—the Sabbath; hence their “day one of the Sabbaths” equates to our “first day of the week.” Beginning at the 9:43 mark of his video, Nick displays a screen capture of the Blue Letter Bible’s translation of the Greek word sabbaton, but even though it includes the meaning of “seven days, a week,” Nick completely ignores this meaning. In fact, he openly declares that it’s wrong. Instead, he says, “It means the sabbath day—Sabbath—that’s it, plain and simple. Sabbaton is the Sabbath day.”

         Nick also displays an Explanatory Note from The Scriptures translation (12:38 mark). To Nick’s detriment, they essentially agree that “first day of the week” is the correct translation, even though it’s not a literal word-for-word translation. They write, “There is a strong argument that ‘mia ton sabbaton’ should  be rendered according to Semitic idiom as ‘day one of the week.’” Nick actually read this quote in his video presentation, yet he doesn’t seem to grasp its significance: he says sabbaton never meant “week.” The Scriptures translator says, “There’s a strong argument that, yes, it did.”

         I’m afraid the issue here lies not so much in Nick’s lack of expertise in Greek linguistics, which is concerning, as it is in his lack of cultural understanding. Simply put, how one culture phrases a sentence might be considered strange by another culture. For example, in English someone might say, “She gave light to a boy,” and we might visualize a woman giving a boy a flashlight. But in Spanish, the above phrase would be “Ella dio luz a un nino,” which means “She gave birth to a boy.” No translator would literally translate such a phrase into English; instead of saying “She gave light to a boy,” they would render it, “She gave birth to a boy.” This is the way linguistics works in the various languages. Translators must be careful to convey the intended meaning, and all evidence supports that the scholars who render mia ton sabbaton as “first day of the week,” while not offering a literal translation, do indeed convey the intended understanding of the phrase.

         Colloquially, we say, “first day of the week,” but in Semitic thought it’s “day one of the Sabbaths,” and that’s the thought process behind the Greek phrase mia ton sabbaton. I suppose we could argue whether or not “day one of the Sabbaths” means “the first day of the week,” but I think we already agree that particular day was indeed the first day of the week, since Yeshua had risen from the dead in the end of the Sabbath. The following day is always the first day of the week, at least on YHWH’s calendar.

Does the “Day of Firstfruits” Fall Within the Feast of Unleavened Bread?

         At the 15:52 mark, Nick points out that mia ton sabbaton should be rendered “day one of the Sabbaths.” I agree, but as I’ve already pointed out, that’s the literal translation, which all Greek scholars agree is best conveyed as meaning “first day of the week” in English. Nick then proceeds to go off the rails by claiming that “day one of the Sabbaths” = “day of firstfruits.” I have no idea how and where he came up with this notion because he offers no evidence of such a claim. He cites no scholarly references, and certainly no verses from Scripture. Those who are thus subliminally influenced are sent off on an unscriptural “red herring” trail. Displayed below is a table demonstrating Passover week of 2025. As you can see, Nick regarded the day following the weekly Sabbath as the “Day of Firstfruits,” which is also the day on which he began the count to Pentecost:

 

 

 

         Again, Nick supplied no evidence validating his claim that “day one of the Sabbaths” is the “Day of Firstfruits.” We are simply expected to take his word for it. The only day of firstfruits specifically mentioned in Scripture is the day of Pentecost (Shavuot), which in Numbers 28:26 is called “yom HaBikkurim.” See also Exodus 23:16. In the Greek Septuagint, this day is called “day of the new” (hemera ton neon). I understand the word “firstfruits” is found in Leviticus 23:10, but it’s a reference to an offering, not a day. If you want to go with Scripture, the official “day of Firstfruits” is the day of Pentecost, not the day following the weekly Sabbath that falls during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Thus, Nick is attempting to impose his interpretation on his viewers, an interpretation that many disagree with. Judging by the comments to Nick’s video, it appears some have fallen for his eisegetical theology,[1] i.e., poor exegesis. We all need to be careful, and that goes for anything I write here in my review of Nick’s teaching.

         But even if we are supposed to understand that the morrow after the weekly Sabbath that falls during the Feast of Unleavened Bread is the “day of Firstfruits,” then shouldn’t we read something to that effect in the four accounts describing the aftermath of Yeshua’s resurrection? Since the Greek phrase for “day of Firstfruits” is hemera ton neon, we should expect to see that phrase in at least one of the accounts of Yeshua’s resurrection (Matt. 28:1, Mk 16:2 & 9, Lk 24:1, John 20:1). But it’s not there. Please keep in mind that this teaching is a big deal to folks such as Nick; if it was as big a deal to the New Testament writers as it is to Nick, I’m absolutely certain at least one of them would have included the phrase hemera ton neon in their narrative. This should be yet another clue that, indeed, Nick is taking his viewers down the wrong path.

“Sunday-Only Pentecost” Believers Agree That “First Day of the Week” is a Legitimate Translation

         I should add that even those who agree with Nick that the day following Yeshua’s resurrection was the day one of the count to Pentecost—even they understand that “first day of the week” is a legitimate, correct translation of mia ton sabbaton. This fact further demonstrates that Nick’s protests of a mistranslation are quite premature. For example, a Torah-observant believer named James Scott Trimm, like Nick, adamantly claims that the Sunday following Yeshua’s resurrection was the first day of the count to Pentecost. This same James Trimm, in his Hebraic-Roots Version Scriptures, offered his own translation of Matthew 28:1, which supports his understanding that the day being referred to is the first day of the week. His translation, like all others, offers no clue that that day was the “day of Firstfruits.” Here’s how he translated Matthew 28:1:

1 And in the evening of the Sabbath, as it dawned toward the first day of the week, came Miriam from the Magdala and the other Miriam to see the sepulcher.

         Since James Trimm agrees with Nick’s view that this first day of the week was “day one” of the count to Pentecost, why did he go with “first day of the week” instead of “day one of the Sabbaths” when he translated Matthew 28:1? And why doesn’t he, like Nick, include so much as a hint that that day was the “day of Firstfruits”? This should be yet another clue of the kind of path Nick has chosen to take.

Isn’t “One of the Sabbaths” a Sabbath?

         But there’s more. As we know, according to Nick, the phrase mia ton sabbaton should have been translated “day one of the Sabbaths.” If that day was literally “day one of the Sabbaths,” and if Nick’s claim that “Sabbaths” can only refer to the Sabbath day and not to weeks, then that day was a Sabbath day, right? I mean, a “day one Sabbath” IS a Sabbath, correct? And when was “day two” of the Sabbaths? When was “day seven of the Sabbaths”? If they’re all on a Sunday, wouldn’t this mean there are seven double Sabbaths leading up to Pentecost? But there is nothing in the text suggesting that “day one of the Sabbaths” was a day of rest. Moreover, there is nothing in the text alluding to that day being “day one” of the count to Shavuot. Such would be an interpretation—an interpretation never devised by man, to the best of my knowledge, until the 20th century. The proper understanding, as conveyed by Bible translators for centuries, is that “day one of the Sabbaths” is the Hebraic equivalent to our “first day of the week.”

         As an aside, isn’t it a bit strange that mankind has had to wait thousands of years before someone like Nick arose, who at long last figured out that “first day of the week” is a mistranslation of mia ton sabbaton?

         I could also address mia ton sabbaton as it appears in 1 Cor. 16:2. Does Nick truly believe the Apostle Paul was asking the Corinthian believers to set aside their offerings on the day following the weekly Sabbath that falls during the Feast of Unleavened Bread? That’s it? Just a one-time (or once-per-year) offering? Well, since Paul later (verse 8) states that he would remain in Ephesus until Pentecost, I guess Nick’s answer would be yes (39:08 mark of his video).

The Meaning of “Pentecost”

         At the 29:35 mark, Nick states that Pentecost means “fiftieth day.” While I agree that Pentecost falls on day #50, that’s not quite what the Greek word Pentecostes means. It simply means “fiftieth.” For example, if I were to say “fiftieth year” in Greek, I would say Pentecosto etos. Granted, when Pentecosto is used by itself, the word “day” is usually understood. The word “day,” however, is supplied in both Acts 2:1 and Acts 20:16. It would be awkward to read “And when the day of Pentecost day was fully come ….”

         At the 29:57 mark, Nick explains that the Messiah opened his eyes to this “truth” about the correct translation of mia ton sabbaton. With all due respect, I highly doubt the Messiah revealed to Nick the “correct” translation of this phrase. My experience with these sorts of claims has been that the individual had a thought, and to bolster its intended significance, they say things like “the LORD showed me,” etc. And if the Almighty reveals something to someone, then who can argue with what the Almighty says? I have heard this type of expression used many times, and it always means the same thing, as in, “The thing is confirmed and certain. My mind is made up; I’m not open to any other understanding.” Personally, I prefer to avoid discussions with those whose minds are already made up.

Is the Acts 20:7 “First Day of the Week” Actually Day #1 of the Count to Pentecost?

         At the 34:39 mark of his video presentation, Nick asks us to look at Acts 20:7. This is where the disciples gathered with Paul to break bread, and he spoke until midnight. This was on mia ton sabbaton, which Nick believes is day one of the count to Pentecost, and not the “first day of the week” that’s found in our Bibles. However, such a scenario is not at all possible because,  remember, they had already sailed away from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread. As we all hopefully know, the count to Pentecost begins during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. How could the day of Paul’s sermon have coincided with day one of the count to Pentecost if the count to Pentecost had already begun at least 12 days prior?

         We know from Acts 20:6 that Paul sailed away from Philippi after the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and that it was a five-day journey from there to his next destination, Troas. Let’s assume Nick is correct that the count to Shavuot begins on the morrow after the weekly Sabbath. Let’s also assume that this particular year, the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Abib 21) was a weekly Sabbath day. The following day, Abib 22, the first day of the week, would have been “day one of the Sabbaths” by Nick’s understanding of the term. However, I repeat that after the feast had ended, it was a five-day journey from Philippi to Troas, where Paul stayed for seven days. It wasn’t until Paul’s final day in Troas that he preached until midnight, which means that final day in Troas was at least 12 days after their departure from Philippi. That day, according to Acts 20:7, was “day one of the Sabbaths,” commonly translated “the first day of the week.” Yet Nick insists that day was “day one of the Sabbaths,” as in the beginning day of the count to Shavuot. He has the count to Shavuot beginning at least 12 days after the Feast of Unleavened Bread concluded. I am left to wonder how well Nick researched this matter before producing his video.

         But the “elephant in the room” question begging to be answered is, “Why does the New Testament record no Pentecost controversy?”[2] This is a question that very, very few are willing to address, and it’s certainly not addressed by Nick in his video. I can tell he put a lot of work into producing it, but sadly, he put very little into what should have been diligent, ironclad research.

 

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[1] Eisegesis is defined as the interpretation of a text, especially a biblical text, by reading one’s own ideas, opinions, or biases into it, rather than drawing out the meaning from the text itself. It’s essentially the opposite of exegesis, where the focus is on understanding the text’s original meaning. Eisegesis can lead to misinterpretations and distortions of the text’s intended message.

[2] I address my view of why the Bible does not record a “Pentecost Controversy” in three studies I have composed on this topic, as well as a recent, very brief newsletter article.