Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

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

God called the light “day,” and He called the darkness “night.” Evening came and then morning: the first day.

to dominate the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good.

As the sun was setting, a deep sleep fell on Abram, and suddenly great terror and darkness descended on him.

The Ninth Plague: Darkness

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, and there will be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness that can be felt.”

So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was thick darkness throughout the land of Egypt for three days.

It came between the Egyptian and Israelite forces. The cloud was there in the darkness, yet it lit up the night. So neither group came near the other all night long.

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

The People’s Response

“The Lord spoke these commands in a loud voice to your entire assembly from the fire, cloud, and thick darkness on the mountain; He added nothing more. He wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me.

All of you approached me with your tribal leaders and elders when you heard the voice from the darkness and while the mountain was blazing with fire.

Your fathers cried out to the Lord, so He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea over them, engulfing them. Your own eyes saw what I did to Egypt. After that, you lived in the wilderness a long time.

He guards the steps of His faithful ones, but the wicked perish in darkness, for a man does not prevail by his own strength.

He made darkness a canopy around Him, a gathering of water and thick clouds.

Lord, You are my lamp; the Lord illuminates my darkness.

Then Solomon said: The Lord said that He would dwell in thick darkness.

Solomon’s Dedication of the Temple

Then Solomon said: The Lord said He would dwell in thick darkness,

If only that day had turned to darkness! May God above not care about it, or light shine on it.

May darkness and gloom reclaim it, and a cloud settle over it. May an eclipse of the sun terrify it.

If only darkness had taken that night away! May it not appear among the days of the year or be listed in the calendar.

They encounter darkness by day, and they grope at noon as if it were night.

before I go to a land of darkness and gloom, never to return.

It is a land of blackness like the deepest darkness, gloomy and chaotic, where even the light is like the darkness.”

Your life will be brighter than noonday; its darkness will be like the morning.

He reveals mysteries from the darkness and brings the deepest darkness into the light.