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# חֹשֶׁךְ

Biblical Hebrew · Strong's H2822

**darkness** — used 80 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/1495/2822/#m1)

### Brown–Driver–Briggs 1906

חֹ֫שֶׁךְ: n.m. darkness, obscurity [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1495/2822/#m2)

**The whole BDB entry:** n.m. Ex 10:21 darkness, obscurity;—abs. חֹשֶׁךְ Gn 1:2 + 75 times (+ Ex 8:12 del. Co A B etc.); cstr. id. Ex 10:22; sf. חָשְׁכִּי ψ 18:29 = 2 S 22:29;— darkness (opp. אוֹר) lit. Gn 1:2, 4 (P), Is 45:7 Jb 26:10 Ec 2:13, cf. in imprecation Jb 3:4, 5 (ח׳ וצלמות = לילה Gn 1:5, 18 (P), cf. Jos 2:5 (JE), Is 45:19 Jb 17:12; 24:16; 38:19 ψ 104:20; darkness in mines Jb 28:3; of extraordinary darkness, in Egypt Ex 10:21(×2) (E); ח׳־אֲפֵלָה Ex 10:22 (E), ψ 105:28, from pillar of cloud Ex 14:20 (J); at Mt. Sinai Dt 4:11; 5:20; of clouds of theophany 2 S 22:12 = ψ 18:12; of darkness in death, or Sheʾôl, 1 S 2:9 Jb 10:21 (אֶרֶץ ח׳ וצלמות), 17:13; 18:18 ψ 88:13 Pr 20:20 (אִישׁוֹן ח׳ = extreme of darkness). = secret place(s) Id 45:3 Jb 12:22 (‖ צלמות); = hiding-place Jb 34:22 (‖ id.), cf. ψ 139:11, 12;—on Ez 8:12, v. supr. fig., = distress Is 5:30; 9:1; 29:18 (fig. of blindness), 42:7; 49:9; 58:10; 59:9; 60:2 La 3:2 Mi 7:8 ψ 18:29 = 2 S 22:29, Jb 15:22, 23, 30; 20:26; 22:11; 23:17; 29:3 ψ 107:10, 14 (in both ‖ צלמות), 112:4 Ec 5:16; 11:8. = dread, terror, symbol. of judgment Am 5:18, 20 Zp 1:15 Na 1:8 Ez 32:8 Jo 2:4; 3:4. = mourning Is 47:5. = perplexity Jb 5:14; 12:25; 19:8; confusion ψ 35:6. = ignorance Jb 37:19 Ec 2:14. = evil, sin Is 5:20(×2) Pr 2:13. = obscurity Ec 6:4(×2).

Why these entries: BDB: headword, part of speech agrees, 75 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, 1 with the glosses (4 candidates)

## Glosses

MACULA's English glosses of the word in the text, with how often each is used: darkness (67); of darkness (10); \[be\] darkness (1).

## In the verses

[Psalms 107:10](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PSA.107.10/) · [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PSA.107.10/#tree)

יֹ֭שְׁבֵי חֹ֣שֶׁךְ וְצַלְמָ֑וֶת אֲסִירֵ֖י עֳנִ֣י וּבַרְזֶֽל׃

*Word for word:* \[those.who\].sat of.darkness and deep.darkness prisoners of.affliction and iron

*JPS 1917:* Such as sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron —

[Job 17:12](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/JOB.17.12/) · [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/JOB.17.12/#tree)

לַ֭יְלָה לְי֣וֹם יָשִׂ֑ימוּ א֝֗וֹר קָר֥וֹב מִפְּנֵי־חֹֽשֶׁךְ׃

*Word for word:* night into day they.make light \[is\].near from before darkness

*JPS 1917:* They change the night into day; the light is short because of darkness.

## On Mova

- [This word in the Tanakh dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/tanakh/w/2822.html) on Mova free.
- [Trees and pragmatics of its meanings](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1495/2822/): 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).