ἐφημερία, ἐφημερίας, ἡ (efeemerios], ἐφημεριον, by day, lasting or acting for a day, daily), a word not found in secular authors; the Sept. in Chronicles and Nehemiah;

1. a service limited to a stated series of days (cf. German Tagdienst,Wochendienst); so used of the service of the priests and Levites: Neh 13:30; 1Ch 25:8; 2Ch 13:10, etc.

2. "the class or course itself of priests who for a week at a time performed the duties of the priestly office" (German Wöchnerzunft): 1Ch 23:6; 1Ch 28:13, etc.; 1Es 1:2; 1Es 1:15; so twice in the N. T.: Luk 1:5; Luk 1:8. For David divided the priests into twenty-four classes, each of which in its turn discharged the duties of the office for an entire week from sabbath to sabbath, 1Ch 24:4; 2Ch 8:14; Neh 12:24; these classes Josephus calls πατριαί and ἐφημεριδες, Antiquities 7, 14, 7; de vita sua1; Suidas, ἐφημερία. ἡ πατριά λέγεται δέ καί ἡ τῆς ἡμέρας λειτουργία. Cf. Fritzsche, commentary on 3 Esdras, p. 12. (BB. DD. under the word Priests; Edersheim, Jesus the Messiah, book ii., chapter iii.)