And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day:
Parallel translations
- WEB It will happen in that day,” says the Lord Yahweh, “that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day.
- BSB And in that day, declares the Lord GOD, I will make the sun go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the daytime.
- NKJV “And it shall come to pass in that day,” says the Lord God, “That I will make the sun go down at noon, And I will darken the earth in broad daylight;
- NASB “And it will come about on that day,” declares the Lord God, “That I will make the sun go down at noon, And make the earth dark in broad daylight.
- NLT “In that day,” says the Sovereign Lord, “I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth while it is still day.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God declares he will darken the day, causing the sun to set at noon. The reversal of light into darkness pictures sudden, overwhelming calamity.
Overview
Darkness at midday is a sign of disaster and divine judgment, turning expected light into gloom. It echoes the earlier warning that the day of the Lord is darkness, not light, for the unrepentant. Strikingly, darkness fell at noon when Christ hung on the cross, bearing the judgment we deserved so that day might dawn for his people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Mark 15:33And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.
- Matt 27:45Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.
- Luke 23:44And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.
- Jer 15:9She that hath borne seven languisheth: she hath given up the ghost; her sun is gone down while it was yet day: she hath been ashamed and confounded: and the residue of them will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, saith the LORD.
- Matt 24:29Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
- Mic 3:6Therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them.
- Amos 5:8Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name:
- Isa 59:9–10Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness.
- Isa 13:10For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
- Job 5:14They meet with darkness in the day time, and grope in the noonday as in the night.
- Amos 4:13For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The LORD, The God of hosts, is his name.
- Rev 6:12And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
- Rev 8:12And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.
- Isa 29:9–10Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.
- Exod 10:21–23And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt.
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Christ at the center
Amid judgment on injustice, Amos promises the raising up of David's fallen tent — read by James in Acts 15 as the ingathering of the nations into the kingdom of the risen Christ.
How Amos 8:9 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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