'Darkness' in the Bible

The earth was formless and void or a waste and emptiness, and darkness was upon the face of the deep [primeval ocean that covered the unformed earth]. The Spirit of God was moving (hovering, brooding) over the face of the waters.

God saw that the light was good (pleasing, useful) and He affirmed and sustained it; and God separated the light [distinguishing it] from the darkness.

And God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

to rule over the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good and He affirmed and sustained it.

When the sun was setting, a deep sleep overcame Abram; and a horror (terror, shuddering fear, nightmare) of great darkness overcame him.

When the sun had gone down and a [deep] darkness had come, there appeared a smoking brazier and a flaming torch which passed between the [divided] pieces [of the animals].

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky, so that darkness may come over the land of Egypt, a darkness which [is so awful that it] may be felt.”

So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and for three days a thick darkness was all over the land of Egypt [no sun, no moon, no stars].

So it came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel. It was a cloud along with darkness [even by day to the Egyptians], but it gave light by night [to the Israelites]; so one [army] did not come near the other all night.

So the people stood at a [safe] distance, but Moses approached the thick cloud where God was.

You approached and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the [very] heart of the heavens: darkness, cloud and thick gloom.

“The Lord spoke these words with a great voice to all your assembly at the mountain out of the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, and He added no more. He wrote these commandments on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.

And when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you approached me, all the leaders (heads) of your tribes and your elders;

and you will be groping at noon [in broad daylight], just as the blind grope in the darkness, and nothing you do will prosper; but you will only be oppressed and exploited and robbed continually, with no one to save you.

When they cried out to the Lord [for help], He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them and covered them; and your own eyes saw what I did in Egypt. And you lived in the wilderness a long time (forty years).

“He guards the feet of His godly (faithful) ones,But the wicked ones are silenced and perish in darkness;For a man shall not prevail by might.

The next morning Saul put the men into three companies; and they entered the [Ammonites’] camp during the [darkness of the early] morning watch and killed the Ammonites until the heat of the day; and the survivors were scattered, and no two of them were left together.

David’s men said to him, “Behold, this is the day of which the Lord said to you, ‘Behold, I will hand over your enemy to you, and you shall do to him as seems good to you.’” Then David arose [in the darkness] and stealthily cut off the hem (edge) of Saul’s robe.

“He bowed the heavens also, and came downWith thick darkness under His feet.

“He made darkness canopies around Him,A mass of waters, thick clouds of the skies.

“For You, O Lord, are my lamp;The Lord illumines and dispels my darkness.

Then Solomon said,“The Lord has said that He would dwell in the thick darkness [of the cloud].

When these lepers came to the edge of the camp, they went into one tent and ate and drank, and carried away from there silver, gold, and clothing, and went and hid them. Then they went back and entered another tent and carried [some valuable things] from there also, and went and hid them.

Then Solomon said,“The Lord has said that He would dwell in the thick cloud.

“May that day be darkness;Let God above not care about it,Nor light shine on it.

“Let darkness and gloom claim it for their own;Let a cloud settle upon it;Let all that blackens the day terrify it (the day that I was born).

“As for that night, let darkness seize it;Let it not rejoice among the days of the year;Let it not be counted in the number of the months.

“In the daytime they meet in darkness,And at noon they grope as in the night.

Before I go—and I shall not return—To the land of darkness and the deep shadow [of death],

The [sunless] land of utter gloom as darkness itself,[The land] of the shadow of death, without order,And [where] it shines as [thick] darkness.”

“And your life would be brighter than the noonday;Darkness [then] would be like the morning.

“He uncovers mysteries [that are difficult to grasp and understand] out of the darknessAnd brings black gloom and the shadow of death into light.

“He does not believe that he will return out of the darkness [for fear of being murdered],And he is destined for the sword [of God’s vengeance].

“He wanders about for food, saying, ‘Where is it?’He knows that the day of darkness and destruction is already at hand.

“He will not escape from darkness [fleeing disaster];The flame [of God’s wrath] will wither his branch,And by the blast of His mouth he will go away.

“These [thoughts try to] make the night into the day;‘The light is near,’ they say in the presence of darkness [but they pervert the truth].

“But if I look to Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead) as my home,If I make my bed in the darkness,

“He is driven and propelled from light into darkness,And chased from the inhabited world.

“He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass,And He has set darkness upon my paths.

“You say, ‘What does God know [about me]?Can He judge through the thick darkness?

But I am not silenced by the darkness [of these woes that fell on me],Nor by the thick darkness which covers my face.

“For the morning is the same to him as the thick darkness [of midnight];For he is familiar with the terrors of thick darkness.

“He has inscribed a circular limit (the horizon) on the face of the watersAt the boundary between light and darkness.

“Man puts an end to darkness [by bringing in a light],And to the farthest bounds he searches outThe rock buried in gloom and deep shadow.

When His lamp shone upon my headAnd by His light I walked through darkness;

“When I expected good, then came evil [to me];And when I waited for light, then came darkness.

“There is no darkness nor deep shadowWhere the evildoers may hide themselves.

When I made the clouds its garmentAnd thick darkness its swaddling band,

“Have the gates of death been revealed to you,Or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?

“Where is the way where light dwells?And as for darkness, where is its place,

For look, the wicked are bending the bow;They take aim with their arrow on the stringTo shoot [by stealth] in darkness at the upright in heart.

Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;Give light (life) to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,

He bowed the heavens also and came down;And thick darkness was under His feet.

He made darkness His hiding place (covering); His pavilion (canopy) around Him,The darkness of the waters, the thick clouds of the skies.

For You cause my lamp to be lighted and to shine;The Lord my God illumines my darkness.

Yet You have [distressingly] crushed us in the place of jackalsAnd covered us with [the deep darkness of] the shadow of death.

The rulers do not know nor do they understand;They walk on in the darkness [of complacent satisfaction];All the foundations of the earth [the fundamental principles of the administration of justice] are shaken.

You have laid me in the lowest pit,In dark places, in the depths.

Lover and friend You have placed far from me;My familiar friends are in darkness.

Nor of the pestilence that stalks in darkness,Nor of the destruction (sudden death) that lays waste at noon.

Clouds and thick darkness surround Him [as at Sinai];Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.

You [O Lord] make darkness and it becomes night,In which prowls about every wild beast of the forest.

He sent [thick, oppressive] darkness and made the land dark;And Moses and Aaron did not rebel against His words.

Some dwelt in darkness and in the deep (deathly) darkness,Prisoners [bound] in misery and chains,

He brought them out of darkness and the deep (deathly) darknessAnd broke their bonds apart.

Light arises in the darkness for the upright;He is gracious and compassionate and righteous (upright—in right standing with God).

If I say, “Surely the darkness will cover me,And the night will be the only light around me,”

Even the darkness is not dark to You and conceals nothing from You,But the night shines as bright as the day;Darkness and light are alike to You.

My frame was not hidden from You,When I was being formed in secret,And intricately and skillfully formed [as if embroidered with many colors] in the depths of the earth.

From those who leave the paths of uprightnessTo walk in the ways of darkness;

The way of the wicked is like [deep] darkness;They do not know over what they stumble.

Whoever curses his father or his mother,His lamp [of life] will be extinguished in time of darkness.

Then I saw that [even secular] wisdom [that brings sorrow] is better than [the pleasures of] folly and self-indulgence as light excels darkness.

The wise man’s eyes are in his head, but the fool walks in darkness; and yet I know that [in the end] one fate happens to them both.

All of his life he also eats in darkness [cheerlessly, without sweetness and light], with great frustration, sickness, and anger.

for the miscarriage comes in futility (in vain) and passes into obscurity; and its name is covered in obscurity.

Yes, if a man should live many years, let him rejoice in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness, for they will be many. All that is to come will be futility.

Woe (judgment is coming) to those who call evil good, and good evil;Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness;Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!

And in that day they will roar against them (Judah) like the roaring of the sea.And if one looks to the land, in fact, there is darkness and distress;Even the light will be darkened by its clouds.

Then they will look to the earth, they will see only distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be driven away into darkness and overwhelming night.

The people who walk in [spiritual] darknessWill see a great Light;Those who live in the dark land,The Light will shine on them.

In that day the Lord will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpentWith His fierce and great and mighty sword [rescuing Israel from her enemy],Even Leviathan the twisted serpent;And He will kill the dragon who lives in the sea.

On that day the deaf will hear the words of a book,And out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see [the words of the book].

To open the eyes of the blind,To bring out prisoners from the dungeonAnd those who sit in darkness from the prison.

“I will lead the blind by a way they do not know;I will guide them in paths that they do not know.I will make darkness into light before themAnd rugged places into plains.These things I will do [for them],And I will not leave them abandoned or undone.”

“I will give you the treasures of darkness [the hoarded treasures]And the hidden riches of secret places,So that you may know that it is I,The Lord, the God of Israel, who calls you (Cyrus the Great) by your name.

The One forming light and creating darkness,Causing peace and creating disaster;I am the Lord who does all these things.

“I have not spoken in secret,In a corner of a land of darkness;I did not say to the descendants of Jacob,‘Seek Me in vain [with no benefit for yourselves].’I, the Lord, speak righteousness [the truth—trustworthy, a straightforward correlation between deeds and words],Declaring things that are upright.

“Sit in silence, and go into darkness,O daughter of the Chaldeans;For you will no longer be calledThe queen of kingdoms.

Saying to those who are bound and captured, ‘Go forth,’And to those who are in [spiritual] darkness, ‘Show yourselves [come into the light of the Savior].’They will feed along the roads [on which they travel],And their pastures will be on all the bare heights.

Who is among you who fears the Lord,Who obeys the voice of His Servant,Yet who walks in darkness and has no light?Let him trust and be confident in the name of the Lord and let him rely on his God.

And if you offer yourself to [assist] the hungryAnd satisfy the need of the afflicted,Then your light will rise in darknessAnd your gloom will become like midday.

Therefore justice is far from us,And righteousness does not overtake us.We [expectantly] hope for light, but only see darkness;We hope for gleam of light, but we walk in darkness and gloom.

“For in fact, darkness will cover the earthAnd deep darkness will cover the peoples;But the Lord will rise upon you [Jerusalem]And His glory and brilliance will be seen on you.

“They did not say, ‘Where is the LordWho brought us up from the land of Egypt,Who led us through the wilderness,Through a land of deserts and of pits,Through a land of drought and of the deep darkness [of the shadow of death],Through a land that no man passed throughAnd where no man lived?’

“O generation [that you are], consider and regard carefully the word of the Lord.Have I been a wilderness to Israel [like a land without food],A land of thick and deep darkness [like a path without light]?Why do My people say, ‘We [have broken loose and we] are free to roam [at will];We will no longer come to You’?

Give glory to the Lord your God,Before He brings darknessAnd before your feet stumbleOn the dark and shadowy mountains,And while you are longing for lightHe turns it into the shadow of death,And makes it into thick darkness.

He has led me and made me walkIn darkness and not in light.

Their appearance is [now] blacker than soot [because of the prolonged famine];They are not recognized in the streets;Their skin clings to their bones;It is withered, and it has become [dry] like wood.

“All the bright lights in the heavensI will darken over youAnd I will place darkness on your land,”Says the Lord God.