What Does Luke 23:44 Mean?
And it was about the sixth hour, and darkness came over all the land until the ninth hour.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.THE KEY
The darkness reaches over all the earth, yet the verse gives it an edge: until the ninth hour.
THE MEANING
You can name a darkness at its full scale without mistaking it for forever: this verse holds “over all the earth” beside “until the ninth hour.” Its reach is complete, and its duration is bounded.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that a darkness reaching everywhere must be endless.
THE ROOT
σκότος
skotos
GROWS FROM
σκοτ-
skot-
Darkness, obscurity
English gives σκότος (skotos, darkness) as a condition, while its related verb σκοτίζω (skotizō, to darken) names the act of darkening. Here the darkness covers the whole earth, but the sentence also gives that covering a limit: until the ninth hour.
ALSO GROWS
skotia: Darkness
σκοτία
John uses this related noun in John 1:5, where light shines within the darkness.
skotizō: To darken
σκοτίζω
This related verb appears in Matthew 24:29 for the sun being darkened, linking the noun here to the act of darkening.
THE PATTERN
Scripture names darkness fully while showing that it does not erase every boundary or presence.
And God saw the light, that it was good, and God parted the light from the darkness.Even darkness does not darken from you; the night lights up like day, and darkness is as light to you.And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not take hold of it.THE THREAD
And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not take hold of it.Luke’s σκότος (skotos, darkness) and John’s σκοτία (skotia, darkness) belong to the same Greek word family. Luke gives the darkness a span; John shows light shining within it.
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