Dark, Darken, Darkly, Darkness

"full of darkness, or covered with darkness," is translated "dark" in Luke 11:36; "full of darkness," in Matthew 6:23; Luke 11:34 , where the physical condition is figurative of the moral. The group of skot-words is derived from a root ska---, meaning "to cover." The same root is to be found in skene, "a tent."

from auchmos, "drought produced by excessive heat," hence signifies "dry, murky, dark," 2—Peter 1:19 (RV marg., "squalid"). No. 1 signifies "darkness" produced by covering; No. 2, "darkness" produced by being squalid or murky.

is used (a) of physical darkness, "dark," John 6:17 , lit., "darkness had come on," and John 20:1 , lit., "darkness still being;" (b) of secrecy, in general, whether what is done therein is good or evil, Matthew 10:27; Luke 12:3; (c) of spiritual or moral "darkness," emblematic of sin, as a condition of moral or spiritual depravity, Matthew 4:16; John 1:5; 8:12; 12:35,46; 1—John 1:5; 2:8,9,11 .

an older form than No. 1, grammatically masculine, is found in some mss. in Hebrews 12:18 .

a neuter noun, frequent in the Sept., is used in the NT as the equivalent of No. 1; (a) of "physical darkness," Matthew 27:45; 2—Corinthians 4:6; (b) of "intellectual darkness," Romans 2:19 (cp. C, No. 1); (c) of "blindness," Acts 13:11; (d) by metonymy, of the "place of punishment," e.g., Matthew 8:12; 2—Peter 2:17; Jude 1:13; (e) metaphorically, of "moral and spiritual darkness," e.g., Matthew 6:23; Luke 1:79; 11:35; John 3:19; Acts 26:18; 2—Corinthians 6:14; Ephesians 6:12; Colossians 1:13; 1—Thessalonians 5:4,5; 1—Peter 2:9; 1—John 1:6; (f) by metonymy, of "those who are in moral or spiritual darkness," Ephesians 5:8; (g) of "evil works," Romans 13:12; Ephesians 5:11; (h) of the "evil powers that dominate the world," Luke 22:53; (i) "of secrecy" [as in No. 1, (b)]. While skotos is used more than twice as many times as skotia in the NT, the Apostle John uses skotos only once, 1—John 1:6 , but skotia 15 times out of the 18.

denotes "the gloom of the nether world;" hence, "thick darkness, darkness that may be felt;" it is rendered "darkness" in Hebrews 12:18; 2—Peter 2:4; Jude 1:6; in 2—Peter 2:17 , RV, "blackness," AV, "mists;" in Jude 1:13 , RV and AV, "blackness." See BLACKNESS , B, Nos. 1 and 2, MIST.

"to deprive of light, to make dark," is used in the NT in the Passive Voice only, (a) of the heavenly bodies, Matthew 24:29; Mark 13:24; Revelation 8:12; (b) metaphorically, of the mind, Romans 1:21; 11:10; (some mss. have it in Luke 23:45 ).

"to darken," is used (a) of the heavenly bodies, Revelation 9:2; 16:10; (b) metaphorically, of the mind, Ephesians 4:18 .