Hebrew word · H3990
מַאֲפֵל
ma'afel
darkness
Deep darkness, gloom. It appears only here in the Hebrew Bible. It is formed from the root ʾ-p-l, 'to be dark', the root of ʾofel ('gloom', Job 3:6; 10:22) and ʾafelah ('thick darkness', Exod 10:22, the ninth plague). A related form, maʾpelyah, 'deep darkness', appears in Jer 2:31.
Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
darkness
Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).
In depth
- Range of meaning
Deep darkness, gloom. It appears only here in the Hebrew Bible. It is formed from the root ʾ-p-l, 'to be dark', the root of ʾofel ('gloom', Job 3:6; 10:22) and ʾafelah ('thick darkness', Exod 10:22, the ninth plague). A related form, maʾpelyah, 'deep darkness', appears in Jer 2:31.
- Against the English
Most versions say simply 'darkness'. YLT's 'thick darkness' is closer to the strength of a rare, heavy word. Plain 'darkness' can sound like nightfall. This is darkness made by God, thick enough to stop an army.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Exod 14:19–20: the angel and the pillar of cloud move behind Israel, and 'there was the cloud and the darkness' between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel, so that 'the one did not come near the other all night.' Joshua 24 boils this down to one striking word. The same root names the plague darkness over Egypt (Exod 10:22), which may be heard in the background.
Where it appears
Joshua · 1
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Joshua 24:7 מַֽאֲפֵ֜ל darkness
So your fathers cried out to the LORD, and He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, over whom He brought the sea and engulfed them. Your very eyes saw what I did to the Egyptians. Then you lived in the wilderness for a long time.
Here: A rare word that appears only here in the Hebrew Bible. It comes from a root meaning 'gloom'. It is darkness thick enough to work as a barrier, and it looks back to the cloud and darkness of Exodus 14:19–20.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.