For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

The word "the Sabbath" is defined as "the seventh day of the week" and others on this site believe that in the NT it only refers to the seventh day of the week.

So, Jesus died on Nisan 14 on Friday and resurrected Nisan 16 on Sunday.

But what is He referring to here? A big clue is His choice of words: heart of the earth.
If He had said "the grave", it would be open-and-shut.

I read a theory that the 3 days, 3 nights include the time spent dead but also include the night He was arrested (I don't have the link but you can work it out: if you use inclusive duration i.e. any part of sunlight/night counts as one of the 3 days/night, you get 3 days and 3 nights).

QUESTION 1
Based on the usage of this phrase in 1st century, what can it mean?

QUESTION 2
If the above theory is correct, what did Jesus mean?

For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

The word "the Sabbath" is defined as "the seventh day of the week" and others on this site believe that in the NT it only refers to the seventh day of the week.

So, Jesus died on Nisan 14 on Friday and was resurrected on Nisan 16 on Sunday.

But what is He referring to here? A big clue is His choice of words: 'heart of the earth'.
If He had said "the grave", it would be open-and-shut.

I read a theory that the 3 days, and 3 nights include the time spent dead but also include the night He was arrested (I don't have the link but you can work it out: if you use inclusive duration i.e. any part of sunlight/night counts as one of the 3 days/night, you get 3 days and 3 nights).

Question 1
Based on the usage of this phrase in 1st century, what can it mean?

Question 2
If the above theory is correct, what did Jesus mean?