Deuteronomy 4:11

4:11 You approached and stood at the foot of the mountain, a mountain ablaze to the sky above it ¹  and yet dark with a thick cloud. ² 

Ezekiel 30:3

30:3 For the day is near,

the day of the Lord is near;

it will be a day of storm clouds, ³ 

it will be a time of judgment ⁴  for the nations.

Ezekiel 34:12

34:12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will seek out my flock. I will rescue them from all the places where they have been scattered on a cloudy, dark day. ⁵ 

Joel 2:2

2:2 It will be ⁶  a day of dreadful darkness, ⁷ 

a day of foreboding storm clouds, ⁸ 

like blackness ⁹  spread over the mountains.

It is a huge and powerful army ¹⁰  –

there has never been anything like it ever before,

and there will not be anything like it for many generations to come! ¹¹ 

Hebrews 12:18

12:18 For you have not come to something that can be touched, ¹²  to a burning fire and darkness and gloom and a whirlwind

¹ tn Heb “a mountain burning with fire as far as the heart of the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

² tn Heb “darkness, cloud, and heavy cloud.”

³ tn Heb “a day of clouds.” The expression occurs also in Joel 2:2 and Zeph 1:15; it recalls the appearance of God at Mount Sinai (Exod 19:9, 16, 18).

⁴ tn Heb “a time.” The words “of judgment” have been added in the translation for clarification (see the following verses).

⁵ sn The imagery may reflect the overthrow of the Israelites by the Babylonians in 587/6 b.c.

⁶ tn The phrase “It will be” does not appear in the Hebrew, but is supplied in the translation for the sake of smoothness and style.

⁷ tn Heb “darkness and gloom.” These two terms probably form a hendiadys here. This picture recalls the imagery of the supernatural darkness in Egypt during the judgments of the exodus (Exod 10:22). These terms are also frequently used as figures (metonymy of association) for calamity and divine judgment (Isa 8:22; 59:9; Jer 23:12; Zeph 1:15). Darkness is often a figure (metonymy of association) for death, dread, distress and judgment (BDB 365 s.v. חשֶׁךְ 3).

⁸ tn Heb “a day of cloud and darkness.”

⁹ tc The present translation here follows the proposed reading שְׁחֹר (shÿkhor, “blackness”) rather than the MT שַׁחַר (shakhar, “morning”). The change affects only the vocalization; the Hebrew consonants remain unchanged. Here the context calls for a word describing darkness. The idea of morning or dawn speaks instead of approaching light, which does not seem to fit here. The other words in the verse (e.g., “darkness,” “gloominess,” “cloud,” “heavy overcast”) all emphasize the negative aspects of the matter at hand and lead the reader to expect a word like “blackness” rather than “dawn.” However, NIrV paraphrases the MT nicely: “A huge army of locusts is coming. They will spread across the mountains like the sun when it rises.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “A huge and powerful people”; KJV, ASV “a great people and a strong.” Many interpreters understand Joel 2 to describe an invasion of human armies, either in past history (e.g., the Babylonian invasion of Palestine in the sixth century b.c.) or in an eschatological setting. More probably, however, the language of this chapter referring to “people” and “armies” is a hypocatastic description of the locusts of chapter one. Cf. TEV “The great army of locusts advances like darkness.”

¹¹ tn Heb “it will not be repeated for years of generation and generation.”

¹² tn This describes the nation of Israel approaching God on Mt. Sinai (Exod 19). There is a clear contrast with the reference to Mount Zion in v. 22, so this could be translated “a mountain that can be touched.” But the word “mountain” does not occur here and the more vague description seems to be deliberate.