[Elamur Dictionary](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/biblical-hebrew/%D7%90%D7%A4%D7%9C/)

[dictionaries](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [Biblical Hebrew](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/biblical-hebrew/) / [א](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/biblical-hebrew/alef/)‎ / אֹפֶל‎

# אֹפֶל

Biblical Hebrew · Strong's H652

**darkness** — used 9 times in the Hebrew Bible. Below: its meanings with their sources, MACULA's glosses, and 2 verses word for word and in JPS 1917.

## Meaning

### OpenScriptures lexical index

darkness [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1488/652/#m1)

### Brown–Driver–Briggs 1906

אֹ֫פֶל: n.m. darkness, gloom [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1488/652/#m2)

**The whole BDB entry:** n.m. Jb 3:6 darkness, gloom (only poet.)—א׳ always abs.— darkness, of night ψ 91:6 (opp. צָֽהֳרָֽיִם); deep in the earth, אֶבֶן א׳ Jb 28:3 (‖ חֹשֶׁךְ, צַלְמָוֶת); darkness, gloom of underworld Jb 10:22(×2) (‖ אֶרֶץ חֹשֶׁךְ, א׳ עֵיפָפָה, צַלְמָוֶת); personif. Jb 3:6 that night—let darkness take it יִקָּחֵהוּ א׳; fig. of spiritual darkness Is 29:18 (‖ חֹשֶׁךְ); of secrecy, treachery ψ 11:2. especially fig. of calamity Jb 23:17 (‖ חשׁך q.v.), 30:26 (opp. אוֹר).

Why these entries: BDB: headword, part of speech agrees, 8 of its verses cited, 1 words shared with the glosses, lists its Strong's number (4 candidates); OSHB: headword, part of speech agrees, 1 words shared with the BDB entry, 0 with the glosses (3 candidates)

## Glosses

MACULA's English glosses of the word in the text, with how often each is used: gloom (8); of gloom (1).

## In the verses

[Psalms 91:6](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PSA.91.6/) · [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PSA.91.6/#tree)

מִ֭דֶּבֶר בָּאֹ֣פֶל יַהֲלֹ֑ךְ מִ֝קֶּ֗טֶב יָשׁ֥וּד צָהֳרָֽיִם׃

*Word for word:* from a.plague \[which\].in the gloom it.will.walk from destruction \[which\].it.will.devastate noon(s)

*JPS 1917:* Of the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor of the destruction that wasteth at noonday.

[Job 23:17](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/JOB.23.17/) · [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/JOB.23.17/#tree)

כִּֽי־לֹ֣א נִ֭צְמַתִּי מִפְּנֵי־חֹ֑שֶׁךְ וּ֝מִפָּנַ֗י כִּסָּה־אֹֽפֶל׃

*Word for word:* (dm) not I.have.been.silenced from before darkness and from before me it.covers gloom

*JPS 1917:* Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither did He cover the thick darkness from my face.

## On Mova

- [This word in the Tanakh dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/tanakh/w/652.html) on Mova free.
- [Trees and pragmatics of its meanings](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1488/652/): every English meaning parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.

Sources. The words, their counts, glosses and the word-for-word renderings: MACULA Hebrew (the Westminster Leningrad Codex; Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0). Meanings: the OpenScriptures lexical index (CC BY 4.0), Brown–Driver–Briggs 1906 and Jastrow 1903 (public domain, via Sefaria); Targum Onkelos from Sefaria (public domain). Translation: JPS 1917 (public domain, from eBible.org).