Word study
Darken
3 Hebrew and 3 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: darkened, darken, darkens. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.
At a glance
How often each original word is translated “darken” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side Compare the Greek words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- חָשַׁךְ châshakbe, grow darktranslated this way 5 times of its 17 uses · Strong’s H2821Verb · Translated: darkened 3Full study and all 17 verses →
Psalm 69:23 May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever.
Ecclesiastes 12:2 before the light of the sun, moon, and stars is darkened, and the clouds return after the rain,
- קָדַר qâdarbe darktranslated this way 3 times of its 17 uses · Strong’s H6937Verb · Translated: grow dark 3, sorrow 2, mourn 2, darken 2Full study and all 17 verses →
Job 6:16 darkened because of the ice and the inflow of melting snow,
Ezekiel 32:7 When I extinguish you, I will cover the heavens and darken their stars. I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light.
- חָשַׂךְ châsakwithhold, refraintranslated this way 1 time of its 27 uses · Strong’s H2820Verb · Translated: withheld 3, restrained 3, restrain 2, restrains 2Full study and all 27 verses →
Ezekiel 30:18 The day will be darkened in Tahpanhes when I break the yoke of Egypt and her proud strength comes to an end. A cloud will cover her, and her daughters will go into captivity.
Greek words (New Testament)
- σκοτίζω skotízōI darkentranslated this way 5 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s G4654Verb · Translated: darkened 5Full study and all 5 verses →
Matthew 24:29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days: ‘The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.’
Mark 13:24 But in those days, after that tribulation: ‘The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light;
- σκοτόω skotóōI darkentranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G4656Verb · Translated: darkened 2, plunged into darkness 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Ephesians 4:18 They are darkened in their understanding and alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts.
Revelation 9:2 The star opened the pit of the Abyss, and smoke rose out of it like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the pit.
- ἐκλείπω ekleípōI fail utterly, cease, dietranslated this way 1 time of its 4 uses · Strong’s G1587Verb · Translated: gone 1, fail 1, darkened 1, never end 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Luke 23:45 The sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn down the middle.
How to study a word well
- Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
- Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
- Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
- Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
- See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
- Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
- Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.
Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.