Amos 4:13

4:13 For here he is!

He ¹  formed the mountains and created the wind.

He reveals ²  his plans ³  to men.

He turns the dawn into darkness ⁴ 

and marches on the heights of the earth.

The Lord, the God who commands armies, ⁵  is his name!”

Amos 5:8

5:8 (But there is one who made the constellations Pleiades and Orion;

he can turn the darkness into morning

and daylight ⁶  into night.

He summons the water of the seas

and pours it out on the earth’s surface.

The Lord is his name!

Job 5:14

5:14 They meet with darkness in the daytime, ⁷ 

and grope about ⁸  in the noontime as if it were night. ⁹ 

Isaiah 13:10

13:10 Indeed the stars in the sky and their constellations

no longer give out their light; ¹⁰ 

the sun is darkened as soon as it rises,

and the moon does not shine. ¹¹ 

Isaiah 29:9-10

God’s People are Spiritually Insensitive

29:9 You will be shocked and amazed! ¹² 

You are totally blind! ¹³ 

They are drunk, ¹⁴  but not because of wine;

they stagger, ¹⁵  but not because of beer.

29:10 For the Lord has poured out on you

a strong urge to sleep deeply. ¹⁶ 

He has shut your eyes (the prophets),

and covered your heads (the seers).

Isaiah 59:9-10

Israel Confesses its Sin

59:9 For this reason deliverance ¹⁷  is far from us ¹⁸ 

and salvation does not reach us.

We wait for light, ¹⁹  but see only darkness; ²⁰ 

we wait for ²¹  a bright light, ²²  but live ²³  in deep darkness. ²⁴ 

59:10 We grope along the wall like the blind,

we grope like those who cannot see; ²⁵ 

we stumble at noontime as if it were evening.

Though others are strong, we are like dead men. ²⁶ 

Jeremiah 15:9

15:9 The mother who had seven children ²⁷  will grow faint.

All the breath will go out of her. ²⁸ 

Her pride and joy will be taken from her in the prime of their life.

It will seem as if the sun had set while it was still day. ²⁹ 

She will suffer shame and humiliation. ³⁰ 

I will cause any of them who are still left alive

to be killed in war by the onslaughts of their enemies,” ³¹ 

says the Lord.

Micah 3:6

3:6 Therefore night will fall, and you will receive no visions; ³² 

it will grow dark, and you will no longer be able to read the omens. ³³ 

The sun will set on these prophets,

and the daylight will turn to darkness over their heads. ³⁴ 

Matthew 24:29

The Arrival of the Son of Man

24:29 “Immediately ³⁵  after the suffering ³⁶  of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven will be shaken. ³⁷ 

Revelation 6:12

6:12 Then ³⁸  I looked when the Lamb opened the sixth seal, and a huge ³⁹  earthquake took place; the sun became as black as sackcloth made of hair, ⁴⁰  and the full moon became blood red; ⁴¹ 

Revelation 8:12

8:12 Then ⁴²  the fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened. And there was no light for a third of the day ⁴³  and for a third of the night likewise.

[4:13]  ¹ tn Heb “For look, the one who.” This verse is considered to be the first hymnic passage in the book. The others appear at 5:8-9 and 9:5-6. Scholars debate whether these verses were originally part of a single hymn or three distinct pieces deliberately placed in each context for particular effect.

[4:13]  ² tn Or “declares” (NAB, NASB).

[4:13]  ³ tn Or “his thoughts.” The translation assumes that the pronominal suffix refers to God and that divine self-revelation is in view (see 3:7). If the suffix refers to the following term אָדַם (’adam, “men”), then the expression refers to God’s ability to read men’s minds.

[4:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “he who makes dawn, darkness.” The meaning of the statement is unclear. The present translation assumes that allusion is made to God’s approaching judgment, when the light of day will be turned to darkness (see 5:20). Other options include: (1) “He makes the dawn [and] the darkness.” A few Hebrew mss, as well as the LXX, add the conjunction (“and”) between the two nouns. (2) “He turns darkness into glimmering dawn” (NJPS). See S. M. Paul (Amos [Hermeneia], 154), who takes שָׁחַר (shakhar) as “blackness” rather than “dawn” and עֵיפָה (’efah) as “glimmering dawn” rather than “darkness.”

[4:13]  ⁵ tn Traditionally, “God of hosts.”

[5:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “darkens the day into night.”

[5:14]  ⁷ sn God so confuses the crafty that they are unable to fulfill their plans – it is as if they encounter darkness in broad daylight. This is like the Syrians in 2 Kgs 6:18-23.

[5:14]  ⁸ tn The verb מָשַׁשׁ (mashash) expresses the idea of groping about in the darkness. This is part of the fulfillment of Deut 28:29, which says, “and you shall grope at noonday as the blind grope in darkness.” This image is also in Isa 59:10.

[5:14]  ⁹ sn The verse provides a picture of the frustration and bewilderment in the crafty who cannot accomplish their ends because God thwarts them.

[13:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “do not flash forth their light.”

[13:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “does not shed forth its light.”

[29:9]  ¹² tn The form הִתְמַהְמְהוּ (hitmahmÿhu) is a Hitpalpel imperative from מָהַהּ (mahah, “hesitate”). If it is retained, one might translate “halt and be amazed.” The translation assumes an emendation to הִתַּמְּהוּ (hittammÿhu), a Hitpael imperative from תָּמַה (tamah, “be amazed”). In this case, the text, like Hab 1:5, combines the Hitpael and Qal imperatival forms of תָּמַה (tamah). A literal translation might be “Shock yourselves and be shocked!” The repetition of sound draws attention to the statement. The imperatives here have the force of an emphatic assertion. On this use of the imperative in Hebrew, see GKC 324 §110.c and IBHS 572 §34.4c.

[29:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “Blind yourselves and be blind!” The Hitpalpel and Qal imperatival forms of שָׁעַע (sha’a’, “be blind”) are combined to draw attention to the statement. The imperatives have the force of an emphatic assertion.

[29:9]  ¹⁴ tc Some prefer to emend the perfect form of the verb to an imperative (e.g., NAB, NCV, NRSV), since the people are addressed in the immediately preceding and following contexts.

[29:9]  ¹⁵ tc Some prefer to emend the perfect form of the verb to an imperative (e.g., NAB, NCV, NRSV), since the people are addressed in the immediately preceding and following contexts.

[29:10]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “a disposition [or “spirit”] of deep sleep.” Through this mixed metaphor (sleep is likened to a liquid which one pours and in turn symbolizes spiritual dullness) the prophet emphasizes that God himself has given the people over to their spiritual insensitivity as a form of judgment.

[59:9]  ¹⁷ tn מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat), which refers to “justice” in the earlier verses, here refers to “justice from God,” or “vindication.” Because the people are unjust, God refuses to vindicate them before their enemies. See v. 11.

[59:9]  ¹⁸ sn The prophet speaks on behalf of the sinful nation and confesses its sins.

[59:9]  ¹⁹ sn Light here symbolizes prosperity and blessing.

[59:9]  ²⁰ tn Heb “but, look, darkness”; NIV “but all is darkness.”

[59:9]  ²¹ tn The words “we wait for” are supplied in the translation; the verb is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[59:9]  ²² tn The plural noun form may indicate degree here.

[59:9]  ²³ tn Or “walk about”; NCV “all we have is darkness.”

[59:9]  ²⁴ tn The plural noun form may indicate degree here.

[59:10]  ²⁵ tn Heb “like there are no eyes.”

[59:10]  ²⁶ tn Heb among the strong, like dead men.”

[15:9]  ²⁷ tn Heb “who gave birth to seven.”

[15:9]  ²⁸ tn The meaning of this line is debated. Some understand this line to mean “she has breathed out her life” (cf., e.g., BDB 656 s.v. נָפַח and 656 s.v. ֶנפֶשׁ 1.c). However, as several commentaries have noted (e.g., W. McKane, Jeremiah [ICC], 1:341; J. Bright, Jeremiah [AB], 109) it makes little sense to talk about her suffering shame and embarrassment if she has breathed her last. Both the Greek and Latin versions understand “soul” not as the object but as the subject and the idea being one of fainting under despair. This idea seems likely in light of the parallelism. Bright suggests the phrase means either “she gasped out her breath” or “her throat gasped.” The former is more likely. One might also render “she fainted dead away,” but that idiom might not be familiar to all readers.

[15:9]  ²⁹ tn Heb “Her sun went down while it was still day.”

[15:9]  ³⁰ sn She has lost her position of honor and the source of her pride. For the concepts here see 1 Sam 2:5.

[15:9]  ³¹ tn Heb “I will deliver those of them that survive to the sword before their enemies.” The referent of “them” is ambiguous. Does it refer to the children of the widow (nearer context) or the people themselves (more remote context, v. 7)? Perhaps it was meant to include both. Verse seven spoke of the destruction of the people and the killing off of the children.

[3:6]  ³² tn Heb “it will be night for you without a vision.”

[3:6]  ³³ tn Heb “it will be dark for you without divination.”

[3:6]  ³⁴ tn Heb “and the day will be dark over them.”

[24:29]  ³⁵ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[24:29]  ³⁶ tn Traditionally, “tribulation.”

[24:29]  ³⁷ sn An allusion to Isa 13:10, 34:4 (LXX); Joel 2:10. The heavens were seen as the abode of heavenly forces, so their shaking indicates distress in the spiritual realm. Although some take the powers as a reference to bodies in the heavens (like stars and planets, “the heavenly bodies,” NIV) this is not as likely.

[6:12]  ³⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[6:12]  ³⁹ tn Or “powerful”; Grk “a great.”

[6:12]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “like hairy sackcloth” (L&N 8.13).

[6:12]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “like blood,” understanding αἷμα (aima) as a blood-red color rather than actual blood (L&N 8.64).

[8:12]  ⁴² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[8:12]  ⁴³ tn Grk “the day did not shine [with respect to] the third of it.”