"THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN STUDYING THE OMER COUNT"
Many people selectively or randmly use what they want, due to personal convenience, and claim Strong's Concordance is a reliable resource, but fail to adhere to all their findings, when NOT convenient! Needless to say, Strong's and any other such publication is bound to have at least one error amongst its thousands of word entries, but we sill examine many of the hebrew and greek words to see if they are really in error...or not. So as to eliminate the possibility of being blinded by an error in Strong's, for instance, we will also compare the usage of some questionable words greek and hebrew in some passages of Scripture, to see what they really stand for. We must pray for Yahweh to open our misunderstanding, and to clear away the veil of darkness previously "bestowed" on us by our Father in gratitude because of our disobedience. By praying and by waiting patiently is how we have been learning and avoiding confusion.
In hebrew language, "Shavuot" always means "The Feast of Weeks." It is not generally regarded to mean "The Feast of the Sabbaths." In Strong's concordance, word #7676 (שבת) translated "shabbat," also refers to WEEK, SABBATICAL YEAR, DAY OF ATONEMENT (note, this is a "high shabbat"), and the PRODUCE from a shabbat year. Likewise, in Strong's word #4521 (σάββατον, ου, τό) translated as shabbat, also means shabbaton, and week. Its is a PLURAL word, not a SINGULAR NOUN. One instance where it is clearly used to mean "week" is Luke 18:12. Strong's #7677, (שַׁבָּתוֹן) " shabbathon" means total rest. But compare the hebrew #7677 ("shabbathon") to the greek #4521 ("sabbaton"), it is the same word, except each one pronounced in its own language. Also, note that in Lev 16:31, #7677 and #7677 refer to a High Shabbat (Annual Feast Day of Rest)! Likewise, in Lev 23:24, the hebrew word "shabbaton" (#7677) refers to the 1st Day of the seventh month, which is the Feast of Trumpets, an Annual Shabbat!
σάββατον, ου, τό also means "of the sevens" and "high Shabbat" (as when it refers to #4521), it is PLURAL. What’s the meaning of the word “passover” (Lev 23:5), if not the passing over from one set of reckoning to the next, as in from one set of seven to the next set of seven [e.g. days; e.g. at the beginning of the seven days beginning with Abib 15;] as in one set of twelve to the next set of twelve [e.g. months; e.g. at the beginning of Aviv when it is being determined from year to year whether or not a leap month should be added;] or as in the beginning of a new era after there has been a change of kings or rulers and the reckoning of years is being started over again from 1...
That is, using the Hebrew concept of accession time where the event within a prior time period, period #0, is “the time of the beginning” prior to and preceding the new set of numbering. Thus, the initiating event within the first day of 50, a High-day Sabbath, as well as this Sabbath itself, constitutes and is the initiating event prior to and before Day One in the first complete set of seven days.
What is more natural than numbering said 1st day of 50 as also the 1st Sabbath (Strong's #7676, "shabbat" or "week") of 8 "weeks" towards Hag HaShavuot, the Day of the "Weeks," designated in the Hebrew original text per Lev 23:16 by the words “השׁבת השׁביעת,” which words are literally translated as “the Sabbath (#7676, "week" or "shabbat") of the Sevenths,” that is, in which, "of the sevenths" means "of the seven days of Unleavened Bread," because that is the FIRST WEEK from which Shavuot is counted; or, even more literally: “The Shabbat/Week of my completions,” “the Sabbath/Week of my satisfactions,” “the Sabbath/Week of my complete sevens” (cf. Strong’s H7646-7656!) What’s more natural than translating this same day as “the Day of the Weeks/Shabbaton,” which is indeed the most literal and correct translation of the Greek words “τη ημερα των σαββατων”?
Notice also the emphasis in Lev 23:15 upon ‘seven complete Sabbaths/weeks,’ that is, as always in Scriptural reckoning, with the initiating event being found prior to (thus necessarily on the High Sabbath) the new set of reckoning from Day 1 through Day 7, of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. That is the FIRST WEEK OF THE COUNT. The Hebrew words “שׁבע שׁבתות תמימת” are indeed very literally and very correctly translated “seven complete weeks” in this case. The word employed is #7676 which also means WEEKS.
As for KJV’s translation “the morrow after the sabbath,” (Hebr.: “ממחרת השׁבת;” Lev 23:11) please study carefully the remainder of this article! It is obvious that the more correct translation of the Hebrew text is “the morrow after [the beginning of] the Sabbath.” The words “[the beginning of]” are superfluous in the context of the consistent insistence and emphasis in the Holy Scripture - as well as in true Hebrew thinking --- upon reckoning everything from its very point of beginning! Given that every day, including an Annual or a Weekly Sabbath, begins “at even” and at the onset of darkness, it is only natural that the Hebrew behind those words is more correctly understood by the words “the morrow after [the point of the beginning of] that day or Sabbath!” Indeed, it should be obvious to anyone and anybody standing in recognition of the Sabbath at sunset on a Friday evening, FOR EXAMPLE, that the word “tomorrow,” as in “the morrow after,” pertains to Sabbath morning, and certainly not to Sunday morning! It pertains to the SAME hebrew DAY! And in the case of Abib 15, a High Day, it pertains to the morning of that same day! If you have any doubts please consider those same Hebrew words from the point of view of Lot’s eldest daughter in the context of the very first instance of those Hebrew words in the Holy Scriptures!
Finally, what does מִֽמָּחֳרָ֔ת "mim-ma-horat" (Strong's #4283) means? Its is translated "on the following day." But in Genesis 19:34, we see that this word VERY CLEARLY REFERS to "the following MORNING" after the previous night! In this passage, Lots daughters had sex with their father during the night, and mim-ma-horat ( מִֽמָּחֳרָ֔ת ), the following morning, the eldest daughter said to the younger, that she had been in bed with her father. There is no way to mistranslate this verse. It CLEARLY means the MORNING AFTER, and not "the DAY AFTER." Rafael