Hebrew noun (feminine) · H653
אֲפֵלָה
aphelahaf-ay-law'
darkness
10 uses in the Hebrew text, one for each word STEP Bible has tagged with this key
Concordance spelling: ʼăphêlâh
Word page · Part of the concordance, one page for every word of the Hebrew and Greek text. Strong's H653is this word's number in James Strong's 1890 index of the King James Bible.
- 7 of 39Old Testament books
- 10spellings
The definition in full
Strong's key (1890) · H653
duskiness, figuratively, misfortune; concrete, concealment
The King James renders it: dark, darkness, gloominess, [idiom] thick.
James Strong, The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890), public domain. Strong indexed the King James text, and this site quotes his entry as that index.
Summary
aphelah is rendered "darkness". It stands 10 times in the Hebrew text, across seven books.
- Three of the uses stand in Isaiah, more than in any other book.
- Its first use in canonical order opens the ledger below.Exodus 10:22So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and total darkness covered all the land of Egypt for three days.
- The Greek text spells it ten different ways.
The first use
So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and total darkness covered all the land of Egypt for three days.
Exodus 10:22אֲפֵלָ֛ה
The first use, in the order of the Old Testament's books.
Where the word stands
Three of the word's ten uses are in Isaiah.
What the word means
Each meaning, and the words it is translated by
How the Greek text is glossed, word by word
- and gloom3
- in the darkness2
- and darkness1
- and gloom your1
- darkness1
- in the glooms1
- like the darkness1
The words built on the same word-part
Each word below begins with the same letters this one begins with. A shared word-part shows a family. It does not settle what any one of them means, so each word carries its own uses on its own page. Scholars call that shared part the stem.
| Word | Written | Meaning | Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| אֲפֵר | apher | bandage | Uses2 |
All 10, in canonical order
Every use, in order
Every use, grouped by book, with its verse.
10 spellings and their grammar
STEP Bible tags every word of the Hebrew and Greek text with its spelling and its grammar. Both lists below count the rows printed underneath, written out in English, with the code beside each one as it was tagged.
How it is spelled
- אֲפֵלָ֛ה1
- בָּאֲפֵלָ֔ה1
- בָּֽאֲפֵלָ֔ה1
- בָּאֲפֵל֥וֹת1
- וַאֲפֵלָ֖ה1
- וַאֲפֵלָ֗ה1
- וַאֲפֵלָ֔ה1
- וַאֲפֵלָֽה׃1
- וַאֲפֵלָתְךָ֖1
- כָּֽאֲפֵלָ֑ה1
The grammar of each form
- conjunction (“and”) + noun · feminine singular4HC/Ncfsa
- preposition with the article + noun · feminine singular3HRd/Ncfsa
- conjunction (“and”) + noun · feminine singular · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 2nd person masculine singular1HC/Ncfsc/Sp2ms
- noun · feminine singular1HNcfsa
- preposition with the article + noun · feminine plural1HRd/Ncfpa
Exodus
one use
So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and total darkness covered all the land of Egypt for three days.
- אֲפֵלָ֛הʾafelahnoun · feminine singulartagged: darkness
Deuteronomy
one use
and at noon you will grope about like a blind man in the darkness. You will not prosper in your ways. Day after day you will be oppressed and plundered, with no one to save you.
- בָּאֲפֵלָ֔הbaafelahpreposition with the article + noun · feminine singulartagged: in the darkness
Proverbs
two uses
But the way of the wicked is like the darkest gloom; they do not know what makes them stumble.
- כָּֽאֲפֵלָ֑הkaafelahpreposition with the article + noun · feminine singulartagged: like the darkness
at twilight, as the day was fading into the dark of the night.
- וַאֲפֵלָֽה׃vaafelahconjunction (“and”) + noun · feminine singulartagged: and darkness
Isaiah
three uses
Then they will look to the earth and see only distress and darkness and the gloom of anguish. And they will be driven into utter darkness.
- וַאֲפֵלָ֖הvaafelahconjunction (“and”) + noun · feminine singulartagged: and gloom
and if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light will go forth in the darkness, and your night will be like noonday.
- וַאֲפֵלָתְךָ֖vaafelatekhaconjunction (“and”) + noun · feminine singular · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 2nd person masculine singulartagged: and gloom your
Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We hope for light, but there is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in gloom.
- בָּאֲפֵל֥וֹתbaafelotpreposition with the article + noun · feminine pluraltagged: in the glooms
Jeremiah
one use
“Therefore their path will become slick; they will be driven away into the darkness and fall into it. For I will bring disaster upon them in the year of their punishment,” declares the LORD.
- בָּֽאֲפֵלָ֔הbaafelahpreposition with the article + noun · feminine singulartagged: in the darkness
Joel
one use
a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness. Like the dawn overspreading the mountains a great and strong army appears, such as never was of old, nor will ever be in ages to come.
- וַאֲפֵלָ֗הvaafelahconjunction (“and”) + noun · feminine singulartagged: and gloom
Zephaniah
one use
That day will be a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of destruction and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness,
- וַאֲפֵלָ֔הvaafelahconjunction (“and”) + noun · feminine singulartagged: and gloom
Where it leads
How the numbers are counted
Every count on this page comes from STEP Bible's tagged Hebrew and Greek text, the same text the ledger prints. A use is counted once each time the tagging marks a word with this key.
Spellings are counted as the Greek text spells them, with the sentence's own punctuation taken off the word first, so a form that ends a clause is not counted as a second spelling.
The family is read from the lexicon by the stem the two words share, with the accents off, and a person or a place named on the stem is left out.