Word study
Darkness
9 Hebrew and 4 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with “darkness”. 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 “darkness” 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)
- חֹשֶׁךְ chôshekdarkness, obscuritytranslated this way 75 times of its 80 uses · Strong’s H2822Noun · Translated: darkness 74, dark 3, dusk 1, obscurity 1Full study and all 77 verses →
Genesis 1:2 Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.
Exodus 10:21 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, so that darkness may spread over the land of Egypt — a palpable darkness.”
- עֲרָפֶל ărâphelcloud, heavy cloudtranslated this way 8 times of its 15 uses · Strong’s H6205Noun · Translated: thick darkness 5, dark clouds 2, thick cloud 2, darkness 2Full study and all 15 verses →
Exodus 20:21 And the people stood at a distance as Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.
Deuteronomy 5:22 The LORD spoke these commandments in a loud voice to your whole assembly out of the fire, the cloud, and the deep darkness on the mountain; He added nothing more. And He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.
- אֹפֶל ôpheldarkness, gloomtranslated this way 6 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s H652Noun · Translated: darkness 4, thick darkness 1, deepest darkness 1, shadows 1Full study and all 8 verses →
Job 3:6 If only darkness had taken that night away! May it not appear among the days of the year; may it never be entered in any of the months.
Psalm 91:6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the calamity that destroys at noon.
- חֲשֵׁכָה chăshêkâhdarknesstranslated this way 5 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s H2825Noun · Translated: darkness 5Full study and all 5 verses →
Genesis 15:12 As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and suddenly great terror and darkness overwhelmed him.
Psalm 82:5 They do not know or understand; they wander in the darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
- צַלְמָוֶת tsalmâvethdeath-shadow, deep shadowtranslated this way 5 times of its 17 uses · Strong’s H6757Noun · Translated: shadow of death 5, darkness 3, gloom 2, deep shadow 2Full study and all 16 verses →
Job 24:17 For to them, deep darkness is their morning; surely they are friends with the terrors of darkness!
Psalm 44:19 But You have crushed us in the lair of jackals; You have covered us with deepest darkness.
- מַחְשָׁךְ machshâkdark placetranslated this way 5 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s H4285Noun · Translated: darkness 5, dark places 1, darkest 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Psalm 88:18 You have removed my beloved and my friend; darkness is my closest companion.
Isaiah 29:15 Woe to those who dig deep to hide their plans from the LORD. In darkness they do their works and say, “Who sees us, and who will know?”
- אֲפֵלָה ăphêlâhdarkness, gloominess, calamitytranslated this way 3 times of its 10 uses · Strong’s H653Noun · Translated: gloom 3, darkness 2Full study and all 10 verses →
Deuteronomy 28:29 and at noon you will grope about like a blind man in the darkness. You will not prosper in your ways. Day after day you will be oppressed and plundered, with no one to save you.
Isaiah 8:22 Then they will look to the earth and see only distress and darkness and the gloom of anguish. And they will be driven into utter darkness.
- עֵיפָה êphâhdarknesstranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s H5890Noun · Translated: utter darkness 1, darkness 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Job 10:22 to a land of utter darkness, of deep shadow and disorder, where even the light is like darkness.”
Amos 4:13 For behold, He who forms the mountains, who creates the wind and reveals His thoughts to man, who turns the dawn to darkness and strides on the heights of the earth— the LORD, the God of Hosts, is His name.”
- חָשַׁךְ châshakbe, grow darktranslated this way 2 times of its 17 uses · Strong’s H2821Verb · Translated: darkened 3Full study and all 17 verses →
Jeremiah 13:16 Give glory to the LORD your God before He brings darkness, before your feet stumble on the dusky mountains. You wait for light, but He turns it into deep gloom and thick darkness.
Micah 3:6 Therefore night will come over you without visions, and darkness without divination. The sun will set on these prophets, and the daylight will turn black over them.
Greek words (New Testament)
- σκότος skótosdarknesstranslated this way 29 times of its 30 uses · Strong’s G4655Noun · Translated: darkness 29, to 1Full study and all 29 verses →
Matthew 6:23 But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
Mark 15:33 From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land.
- σκοτία skotíadarknesstranslated this way 13 times of its 17 uses · Strong’s G4653Noun · Translated: darkness 13, dark 4Full study and all 13 verses →
Matthew 4:16 the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned.”
John 1:5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
- σκοτεινός skoteinósfull of darkness, darktranslated this way 3 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s G4652Adjective · Translated: full of darkness 2, darkness 1Full study and all 3 verses →
Matthew 6:23 But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
Luke 11:34 Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are good, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are bad, your body is full of darkness.
- ζόφος zóphosdarkness, murkinesstranslated this way 2 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s G2217Noun · Translated: darkness 2, Blackest 2, gloom 1Full study and all 5 verses →
2 Peter 2:4 For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them deep into hell, placing them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment;
Jude 1:6 And the angels who did not stay within their own domain but abandoned their proper dwelling— these He has kept in eternal chains under darkness, bound for judgment on that great day.
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.
What the Bible says about darkness: passages by topic →
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.