Biblica Analytica

חֹ֫שֶׁךְ

cho.shekh (H2822)

darkness

80 verses 18 books OT 77 / NT 0
AI Word Study

The Hebrew word "cho.shekh" (חֹ֫שֶׁךְ) has a specific and singular meaning: darkness. This word is the most frequently used term for darkness in the Hebrew Bible, appearing 80 times. The meaning of this word goes beyond a mere absence of light, but refers to an actual, palpable presence that can be felt or experienced. In its occurrences, "cho.shekh" often describes physical environments, such as the night sky (Gen 1:2, 5) or a cave (Jdg 16:14). It can also symbolize fear (Deut 28:29) and uncertainty (Isa 50:10). In various passages, "cho.shekh" represents a condition of separation from God or divine truth (Ex 10:21, Ps 104:20), emphasizing the word's role in conveying a sense of separation or disconnection. The widespread use of "cho.shekh" indicates its importance in Hebrew thought, highlighting the concept of darkness as an integral aspect of human experience. The word's recurrence also suggests its capacity to evoke a range of emotions and ideas, serving as a powerful metaphor for both tangible and spiritual states.

AI synthesis uses only provided lexicon data -- never training knowledge.

Genesis 1:2

The earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep and God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters.

Genesis 1:4

God saw the light, and saw that it was good. God divided the light from the darkness.

Genesis 1:5

God called the light “day”, and the darkness he called “night”. There was evening and there was morning, the first day.

Genesis 1:18

and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good.

Exodus 10:21

Yahweh said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt.”

Exodus 10:22

Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days.

Exodus 14:20

It came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel. There was the cloud and the darkness, yet gave it light by night. One didn’t come near the other all night.

Deuteronomy 4:11

You came near and stood under the mountain. The mountain burned with fire to the heart of the sky, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness.

Deuteronomy 5:23

When you heard the voice out of the middle of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you came near to me, even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders;

Joshua 2:5

About the time of the shutting of the gate, when it was dark, the men went out. Where the men went, I don’t know. Pursue them quickly. You may catch up with them.”

1 Samuel 2:9

He will keep the feet of his holy ones, but the wicked will be put to silence in darkness; for no man will prevail by strength.

2 Samuel 22:12

He made darkness a shelter around himself: gathering of waters, and thick clouds of the skies.

2 Samuel 22:29

For you are my lamp, Yahweh. Yahweh will light up my darkness.

Job 3:4

Let that day be darkness. Don’t let God from above seek for it, neither let the light shine on it.

Job 3:5

Let darkness and the shadow of death claim it for their own. Let a cloud dwell on it. Let all that makes black the day terrify it.

Job 5:14

They meet with darkness in the day time, and grope at noonday as in the night.

Job 10:21

before I go where I will not return from, to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death;

Job 12:22

He uncovers deep things out of darkness, and brings out to light the shadow of death.

Job 12:25

They grope in the dark without light. He makes them stagger like a drunken man.

Job 15:22

He doesn’t believe that he will return out of darkness. He is waited for by the sword.

Job 15:23

He wanders abroad for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’ He knows that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.

Job 15:30

He will not depart out of darkness. The flame will dry up his branches. He will go away by the breath of God’s mouth.

Job 17:12

They change the night into day, saying ‘The light is near’ in the presence of darkness.

Job 17:13

If I look for Sheol as my house, if I have spread my couch in the darkness,

Job 18:18

He will be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world.

Job 19:8

He has walled up my way so that I can’t pass, and has set darkness in my paths.

Job 20:26

All darkness is laid up for his treasures. An unfanned fire will devour him. It will consume that which is left in his tent.

Job 22:11

or darkness, so that you can not see, and floods of waters cover you.

Job 23:17

Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither did he cover the thick darkness from my face.

Job 24:16

In the dark they dig through houses. They shut themselves up in the daytime. They don’t know the light.

Job 26:10

He has described a boundary on the surface of the waters, and to the confines of light and darkness.

Job 28:3

Man sets an end to darkness, and searches out, to the furthest bound, the stones of obscurity and of thick darkness.

Job 29:3

when his lamp shone on my head, and by his light I walked through darkness,

Job 34:22

There is no darkness, nor thick gloom, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.

Job 37:19

Teach us what we will tell him, for we can’t make our case by reason of darkness.

Job 38:19

“What is the way to the dwelling of light? As for darkness, where is its place,

Psalms 18:11

He made darkness his hiding place, his pavilion around him, darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies.

Psalms 18:28

For you will light my lamp, Yahweh. My God will light up my darkness.

Psalms 35:6

Let their way be dark and slippery, Yahweh’s angel pursuing them.

Psalms 88:12

Are your wonders made known in the dark? Or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?

Psalms 104:20

You make darkness, and it is night, in which all the animals of the forest prowl.

Psalms 105:28

He sent darkness, and made it dark. They didn’t rebel against his words.

Psalms 107:10

Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron,

Psalms 107:14

He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and broke away their chains.

Psalms 112:4

Light dawns in the darkness for the upright, gracious, merciful, and righteous.

Psalms 139:11

If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me. The light around me will be night,”

Psalms 139:12

even the darkness doesn’t hide from you, but the night shines as the day. The darkness is like light to you.

Proverbs 2:13

who forsake the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness,

Proverbs 20:20

Whoever curses his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in blackness of darkness.

Ecclesiastes 2:13

Then I saw that wisdom excels folly, as far as light excels darkness.

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