ζόφος
zophos
darkness
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
ExploredThe Greek word ζόφος (zophos) carries the simple meaning of "darkness". It is rooted in the semantic domain of Light & Darkness, making it a contrast to words denoting light or illumination. The term ζόφος (zophos) appears 5 times in the Bible. This limited occurrence suggests that while it may not be as frequently used as some other biblical terms, its impact on the narrative is still significant. ζόφος (zophos) does not imply any abstract or metaphorical meaning. Its literal reference to darkness makes it a tangible representation of the absence of light, which could range from the physical absence of sunlight to the emotional state of being lost or uncertain. Its presence in the biblical text likely underscores the contrast between light and darkness, serving to highlight the presence or absence of guidance, wisdom, or divine presence.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
5 total occurrences across the text
For you have not come to a mountain that might be touched, and that burned with fire, and to blackness, darkness, storm,
2 Peter 2:4For if God didn’t spare angels when they sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus, and committed them to pits of darkness to be reserved for judgment;
2 Peter 2:17These are wells without water, clouds driven by a storm; for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever.
Jude 1:6Angels who didn’t keep their first domain, but deserted their own dwelling place, he has kept in everlasting bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day.
Jude 1:13wild waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever.