Isaiah 5:30

5:30 At that time ¹  they will growl over their prey, ² 

it will sound like sea waves crashing against rocks. ³ 

One will look out over the land and see the darkness of disaster,

clouds will turn the light into darkness. ⁴ 

Isaiah 34:4

34:4 All the stars in the sky will fade away, ⁵ 

the sky will roll up like a scroll;

all its stars will wither,

like a leaf withers and falls from a vine

or a fig withers and falls from a tree. ⁶ 

Isaiah 50:3

50:3 I can clothe the sky in darkness;

I can cover it with sackcloth.”

Joel 2:30-31

2:30 I will produce portents both in the sky ⁷  and on the earth –

blood, fire, and columns of smoke.

2:31 The sunlight will be turned to darkness

and the moon to the color of blood, ⁸ 

before the day of the Lord comes –

that great and terrible day!

Matthew 27:45

Jesus’ Death

27:45 Now from noon until three, ⁹  darkness came over all the land. ¹⁰ 

Mark 15:33

Jesus’ Death

15:33 Now ¹¹  when it was noon, ¹²  darkness came over the whole land ¹³  until three in the afternoon. ¹⁴ 

Luke 23:44

23:44 It was now ¹⁵  about noon, ¹⁶  and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, ¹⁷ 

Revelation 6:12

6:12 Then ¹⁸  I looked when the Lamb opened the sixth seal, and a huge ¹⁹  earthquake took place; the sun became as black as sackcloth made of hair, ²⁰  and the full moon became blood red; ²¹ 

[5:30]  ¹ tn Or “in that day” (KJV).

[5:30]  ² tn Heb “over it”; the referent (the prey) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:30]  ³ tn Heb “like the growling of the sea.”

[5:30]  ⁴ tn Heb “and one will gaze toward the land, and look, darkness of distress, and light will grow dark by its [the land’s?] clouds.”

[34:4]  ⁵ tc Heb “and all the host of heaven will rot.” The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a inserts “and the valleys will be split open,” but this reading may be influenced by Mic 1:4. On the other hand, the statement, if original, could have been omitted by homoioarcton, a scribe’s eye jumping from the conjunction prefixed to “the valleys” to the conjunction prefixed to the verb “rot.”

[34:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “like the withering of a leaf from a vine, and like the withering from a fig tree.”

[2:30]  ⁹ tn Or “in the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

[2:31]  ¹³ tn Heb “to blood,” but no doubt this is intended to indicate by metonymy the color of blood rather than the substance itself. The blood red color suggests a visual impression here – something that could be caused by fires, volcanic dust, sandstorms, or other atmospheric phenomena.

[27:45]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “from the sixth hour to the ninth hour.”

[27:45]  ¹⁸ sn This imagery has parallels to the Day of the Lord: Joel 2:10; Amos 8:9; Zeph 1:15.

[15:33]  ²¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

[15:33]  ²² tn Grk “When the sixth hour had come.”

[15:33]  ²³ sn This imagery has parallels to the Day of the Lord: Joel 2:10; Amos 8:9; Zeph 1:15.

[15:33]  ²⁴ tn Grk “until the ninth hour.”

[23:44]  ²⁵ tn Grk “And it was.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

[23:44]  ²⁶ tn Grk “the sixth hour.”

[23:44]  ²⁷ tn Grk “until the ninth hour.”

[6:12]  ²⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[6:12]  ³⁰ tn Or “powerful”; Grk “a great.”

[6:12]  ³¹ tn Or “like hairy sackcloth” (L&N 8.13).

[6:12]  ³² tn Grk “like blood,” understanding αἷμα (aima) as a blood-red color rather than actual blood (L&N 8.64).