אֲפֵלָה
a.phe.lah
darkness
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# Aphela (אֲפֵלָה): Biblical Darkness The Hebrew word *aphela* denotes darkness and appears ten times throughout the biblical text. This relatively modest frequency suggests it represents a specific semantic category rather than the most common term for darkness, indicating that biblical Hebrew employed multiple words to express different aspects or contexts of darkness. The term's limited but consistent usage points to a deliberate choice by biblical authors when this particular word was employed. Based solely on the lexical data provided, *aphela* functions as a straightforward noun meaning "darkness." Its ten occurrences across the biblical corpus suggest it was used to communicate the concrete experience or condition of absence of light. Without access to the specific passages or contextual notes, the precise theological or metaphorical significance—whether it carries moral, spiritual, or purely physical connotations—cannot be determined from the definition alone. The word's presence in the biblical vocabulary demonstrates that darkness was a concept significant enough to warrant distinct terminology.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
10 total occurrences across the text
The way of the wicked is like darkness. They don’t know what they stumble over.
Proverbs 7:9in the twilight, in the evening of the day, in the middle of the night and in the darkness.
Isaiah 8:22and look to the earth, and see distress, darkness, and the gloom of anguish. They will be driven into thick darkness.
Isaiah 58:10and if you pour out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light will rise in darkness, and your obscurity will be as the noonday;
Isaiah 59:9Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness doesn’t overtake us. We look for light, but see darkness; for brightness, but we walk in obscurity.
Jeremiah 23:12Therefore their way will be to them as slippery places in the darkness. They will be driven on, and fall therein; for I will bring evil on them, even the year of their visitation,” says Yahweh.
Joel 2:2A day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness. As the dawn spreading on the mountains, a great and strong people; there has never been the like, neither will there be any more after them, even to the years of many generations.
Zephaniah 1:15That day is a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of trouble and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness,
Exodus 10:22Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days.
Deuteronomy 28:29You will grope at noonday, as the blind gropes in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways. You will only be oppressed and robbed always, and there will be no one to save you.