Hebrew word · H6205

עֲרָפֶל

'arafel

cloud

Thick cloud, dense dark cloud, deep gloom. It is almost always a heavy storm cloud or the darkness of a theophany (a visible appearance of God), not ordinary night-time darkness (that is ḥōšek).

Appears 15 times in 15 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

cloud, heavy or dark cloud, darkness, gross darkness, thick 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

From the study of Psalm 97:2

Range of meaning

Thick cloud, dense dark cloud, deep gloom. It is almost always a heavy storm cloud or the darkness of a theophany (a visible appearance of God), not ordinary night-time darkness (that is ḥōšek).

Against the English

KJV, BSB, WEB and YLT have 'darkness'. ESV, NIV and NASB have 'thick darkness', which comes closer. NLT has 'dark clouds', which keeps the cloud but loses the Sinai echo.

How it drifted

In modern English 'darkness' quickly suggests evil, ignorance or God being absent, a meaning built up by centuries of light-and-dark moral imagery. ʿărāpel points the other way. It is where God is.

Used elsewhere in the period

Sinai: Exod 20:21 (Moses approaches 'the ʿărāpel where God was'); Deut 4:11 and 5:22 (the same pairing ʿānān waʿărāpel). The temple: 1 Kgs 8:12, 'The LORD has said he would dwell in thick darkness'. Storm imagery: Ps 18:9–11 (ʿărāpel under his feet, darkness his covering). The Day of the LORD: Joel 2:2 and Zeph 1:15, 'a day of cloud and thick darkness'. The word is usually connected with Akkadian erpetu and Ugaritic ʿrpt, 'cloud(s)'. In Ugaritic, Baal is called rkb ʿrpt, 'rider of the clouds'.

From the study of Isaiah 60:2

Range of meaning

Dense, dark cloud. The heavy storm cloud that blocks out the sky. It appears about 15 times, nearly always in poetry or in descriptions of God appearing.

Against the English

"Thick darkness" (BSB, WEB, ESV), "gross darkness" (KJV), "deep darkness" (NASB). All capture its density, but none shows that this is cloud-darkness, a word with a history tied to Sinai.

How it drifted

The KJV's "gross" originally meant thick or dense. To a modern ear it means disgusting.

Used elsewhere in the period

Sinai: "Moses approached the thick darkness where God was" (Exod 20:21; Deut 4:11; 5:22). The temple: "Yahweh has said he would dwell in thick darkness" (1 Kgs 8:12). God's throne: "clouds and thick darkness surround him" (Ps 97:2; cf. Ps 18:9). The Day of the LORD: "a day of clouds and thick darkness" (Joel 2:2; Zeph 1:15; Ezek 34:12). The Ugaritic cognate ʿrpt, "clouds," appears in Baal's title "Rider of the Clouds." The LXX (the ancient Greek translation) usually renders it gnophos, its Sinai word, and does so here.

From the study of Joel 2:2

Range of meaning

Dense, dark cloud; the thick storm-darkness around God when he appears. Almost every time it occurs it is tied to God's presence rather than ordinary weather (HALOT, BDB).

Against the English

KJV, WEB and YLT have 'thick darkness'; BSB has 'blackness'. These are accurate as descriptions, but they lose the link to Sinai that a Hebrew hearer would catch at once.

Used elsewhere in the period

Exod 20:21: Moses 'drew near to the thick darkness where God was'. Deut 4:11 and 5:22: Sinai burned 'with darkness, cloud and thick darkness' (ḥōšek ʿānān waʿărāpel, three of the words in Joel's line). 1 Kgs 8:12: 'The LORD has said he would dwell in thick darkness.' Ps 97:2: 'Clouds and thick darkness surround him.' Zeph 1:15 uses Joel's whole phrase, word for word, of the Day of the LORD.

Where it appears

Exodus · 1

  1. Exodus 20:21 הָֽעֲרָפֶ֔ל the thick darkness

    And the people stood at a distance as Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.

    Here: 'The thick darkness.' This is the heavy, black storm cloud wrapped around the summit (compare 19:16, 18; Deut 4:11). In Hebrew poetry it is the covering God surrounds himself with. Here it is the place of his presence, not a sign that he is absent.

Deuteronomy · 2

  1. Deuteronomy 4:11 וַעֲרָפֶֽל׃ and thick darkness

    You came near and stood at the base of the mountain, a mountain blazing with fire to the heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness.

    Here: "And thick darkness," the heaviest word, placed last for climax. It names the dense black cloud that God himself is said to be in (Exodus 20:21; 1 Kings 8:12). The darkness hides him without meaning he is absent.

  2. Deuteronomy 5:22 וְהָֽעֲרָפֶ֔ל and the thick darkness

    The LORD spoke these commandments in a loud voice to your whole assembly out of the fire, the cloud, and the deep darkness on the mountain; He added nothing more. And He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.

    Here: Dense, black storm-cloud. It is a regular word for the darkness around God himself (Exod 20:21; 1 Kgs 8:12; Ps 97:2). This is not ordinary night-time dark.

2 Samuel · 1

  1. 2 Samuel 22:10 וַעֲרָפֶ֖ל and thick darkness

    He parted the heavens and came down with dark clouds beneath His feet.

1 Kings · 1

  1. 1 Kings 8:12 בָּעֲרָפֶֽל׃ in <the> thick darkness

    Then Solomon declared: “The LORD has said that He would dwell in the thick cloud.

    Here: 'In the thick darkness.' The Hebrew has the definite article, so it means the known darkness: the storm-cloud of Sinai where God was (Exodus 20:21). Solomon identifies the cloud now filling the temple as that same darkness. It is the sign of God's presence, not of his absence.

2 Chronicles · 1

  1. 2 Chronicles 6:1 בָּעֲרָפֶֽל׃ in <the> thick darkness

    Then Solomon declared: “The LORD has said that He would dwell in the thick cloud.

Job · 2

  1. Job 22:13 עֲרָפֶ֣ל thick darkness

    Yet you say: ‘What does God know? Does He judge through thick darkness?

    Here: Heavy, dark storm-cloud. In Israel's tradition it was the dark cloud that surrounds God's own presence (Sinai, the temple). Here the speaker treats it as a curtain that blinds God, and that is the irony.

  2. Job 38:9 וַ֝עֲרָפֶ֗ל and thick darkness

    when I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its blanket,

Psalms · 2

  1. Psalm 18:9 וַ֝עֲרָפֶ֗ל and thick darkness

    He parted the heavens and came down with dark clouds beneath His feet.

  2. Psalm 97:2 וַעֲרָפֶ֣ל and thick darkness

    Clouds and darkness surround Him; righteousness and justice are His throne’s foundation.

    Here: Not darkness in general. It means the dense, black mass of storm cloud. Paired with ʿānān it echoes Sinai word for word (Deut 4:11; 5:22), the place God was said to be in (Exod 20:21; 1 Kgs 8:12).

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 60:2 וַעֲרָפֶ֖ל and thick darkness

    For behold, darkness covers the earth, and thick darkness is over the peoples; but the LORD will rise upon you, and His glory will appear over you.

    Here: "And thick cloud-darkness." This is the heavy storm-cloud darkness of Sinai and of the Day of the LORD. It intensifies the first line: not just dark, but the dense, smothering gloom of a storm cloud.

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 13:16 לַעֲרָפֶֽל׃ into thick darkness

    Give glory to the LORD your God before He brings darkness, before your feet stumble on the dusky mountains. You wait for light, but He turns it into deep gloom and thick darkness.

    Here: The heavy, dark cloud that surrounded God's presence at Sinai and is linked to the Day of the LORD. The cloud that once meant God was near now means God coming in judgment.

Ezekiel · 1

  1. Ezekiel 34:12 וַעֲרָפֶֽל׃ and thick darkness

    As a shepherd looks for his scattered sheep when he is among the flock, so I will look for My flock. I will rescue them from all the places to which they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness.

    Here: Heavy, dense gloom. Paired with 'cloud' it is a fixed phrase for God's dreadful day (Joel 2:2; Zeph 1:15) and for the darkness around God at Sinai (Deut 4:11; 5:22).

Joel · 1

  1. Joel 2:2 וַעֲרָפֶ֔ל and thick darkness

    a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness. Like the dawn overspreading the mountains a great and strong army appears, such as never was of old, nor will ever be in ages to come.

    Here: The heavy, dark storm-cloud that surrounded God at Sinai (Exod 20:21; Deut 4:11). Here that Sinai cloud comes back, this time as a threat to Israel.

Zephaniah · 1

  1. Zephaniah 1:15 וַעֲרָפֶֽל׃ and thick darkness

    That day will be a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of destruction and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness,

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.