A period of time used to divide the night in both the Old and New Testaments.
During the Old Testament period, the night was divided into three military watches (guard shifts):
The beginning or evening watch ran from sunset to roughly 22:00 (Lamentations 2:19).
The middle or night watch was from 22:00 to 02:00 (Judges 7:19).
The morning watch was from approximately 02:00 until sunrise (Exodus 14:24; 1 Samuel 11:11).
During the Roman period, the number of watches was increased from three to four. These were sometimes described by the numbers, first, second, third, and fourth. Or they were sometimes described as evening, midnight, cock-crowing, and morning (Matthew 14:25; Mark 6:48). The respective watches ended at roughly 21:00, 00:00 (midnight), 03:00, and 06:00.