Hebrew word · H652

אֹ֫פֶל

'ofel

darkness

Ḥoshekh: darkness in general, whether physical night, the darkness before creation (Gen 1:2), the plague of Egypt, or by extension distress, ignorance, death and judgment. ʾOfel: a rarer, poetic word for thick gloom, used mostly in Job and Psalms (Job 3:6; 10:22; Ps 91:6).

Appears 9 times in 8 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) darkness, gloom

2) spiritual unreceptivity, calamity (fig.)

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 Isaiah 29:18

Range of meaning

Ḥoshekh: darkness in general, whether physical night, the darkness before creation (Gen 1:2), the plague of Egypt, or by extension distress, ignorance, death and judgment. ʾOfel: a rarer, poetic word for thick gloom, used mostly in Job and Psalms (Job 3:6; 10:22; Ps 91:6).

Against the English

KJV 'obscurity, and... darkness' keeps both words, though 'obscurity' now sounds like 'being little-known.' BSB merges them into 'deep darkness,' which keeps the intensity but drops the doubled 'out of... and out of...'

Used elsewhere in the period

Isa 9:2 'the people walking in darkness (ḥoshekh) have seen a great light'; Isa 59:9–10 'we hope for light, but behold darkness... we grope for the wall like the blind'; Isa 8:22 'distress and darkness, gloom of anguish.' Joel 2:2 pairs the two kinds of darkness for the Day of the LORD.

From the study of Job 30:26

Range of meaning

Deep darkness, gloom. A rare poetic word, heavier than the ordinary word for darkness (choshekh). It is linked with the night of disaster, the underworld and hidden danger.

Against the English

"Darkness" (all major versions) is fair but flattens the word. "Gloom" or "thick darkness" keeps more of its weight. BSB's "darkness fell" adds a sense of sudden descent that the Hebrew "came" does not spell out, though it fits.

Used elsewhere in the period

Concentrated in Job: 3:6 (Job's curse on his birth night, "let ofel seize it"), 10:22 (the land of the dead, "where even the light is like ofel"), 23:17, 28:3. Also Ps 11:2 (shooting "in the dark"), Ps 91:6 (pestilence "that stalks in ofel"), Isa 29:18. Related forms: Isa 59:9 "for brightness, but we walk in gloom ('afelot)" and Amos 5:20 "gloom ('afel) with no brightness."

Where it appears

Job · 6

  1. Job 3:6 אֹ֥פֶל darkness

    If only darkness had taken that night away! May it not appear among the days of the year; may it never be entered in any of the months.

  2. Job 10:22 אֹ֗פֶל אֹֽפֶל׃ פ gloom of, gloom

    to a land of utter darkness, of deep shadow and disorder, where even the light is like darkness.”

    Here: A poetic word for heavy, murky darkness, often linked with calamity in Job (3:6; 23:17; 30:26). The source tags it as bound to the next word: 'the gloom of deep darkness'.

  3. Job 23:17 אֹֽפֶל׃ gloom

    Yet I am not silenced by the darkness, by the thick darkness that covers my face.

  4. Job 28:3 אֹ֣פֶל gloom

    Man puts an end to the darkness; he probes the farthest recesses for ore in deepest darkness.

  5. Job 30:26 אֹֽפֶל׃ darkness

    But when I hoped for good, evil came; when I looked for light, darkness fell.

    Here: A rare, heavy, poetic word for thick gloom, the darkness of disaster or of the grave. It is the same word Job called down on the night of his birth in Job 3:6. The darkness he once wished on that night has now settled on his life.

Psalms · 2

  1. Psalm 11:2 אֹ֝֗פֶל darkness

    For behold, the wicked bend their bows. They set their arrow on the string to shoot from the shadows at the upright in heart.

  2. Psalm 91:6 בָּאֹ֣פֶל [which] in the darkness

    nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the calamity that destroys at noon.

    Here: A poetic word for thick, heavy darkness, stronger than ordinary nightfall. It is the hour when you cannot see what is coming. It picks up 'night' from verse 5.

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 29:18 וּמֵאֹ֣פֶל and from gloom

    On that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of the deep darkness the eyes of the blind will see.

    Here: A rare, poetic word for thick, murky darkness, close to the darkness of the grave or of disaster (as in Job). With 'out of' in front, the blind are pictured coming out of it.

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