So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and total darkness covered all the land of Egypt for three days.
Parallel translations
- WEB Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days.
- KJV And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days:
- NKJV So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days.
- NASB So Moses reached out with his hand toward the sky, and there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days.
- NLT So Moses lifted his hand to the sky, and a deep darkness covered the entire land of Egypt for three days.
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
Moses obeys and thick darkness covers Egypt for three days. God's word brings an oppressive, prolonged darkness.
Overview
The three days of total darkness display God's mastery over light and the heavens. The plague humiliates Egypt's sun worship at its very heart. Such enveloping darkness pictures the judgment and gloom that fall apart from God's presence. It deepens the dread building toward the climactic plague.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Ps 105:28He sent darkness, and it became dark—yet they defied His words.
- Rev 16:10And the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness, and men began to gnaw their tongues in anguish
- Deut 5:22The LORD spoke these commandments in a loud voice to your whole assembly out of the fire, the cloud, and the deep darkness on the mountain; He added nothing more. And He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.
- Amos 4:13For behold, He who forms the mountains, who creates the wind and reveals His thoughts to man, who turns the dawn to darkness and strides on the heights of the earth—the LORD, the God of Hosts, is His name.”
- Exod 20:21And the people stood at a distance as Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.
- Joel 2:31The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and awesome Day of the LORD.
- Joel 2:2a 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.
- Deut 4:11You came near and stood at the base of the mountain, a mountain blazing with fire to the heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Passover lamb whose blood turns away death, the exodus through the sea, the manna, the rock, and the tabernacle where God dwells with his people all foreshadow Jesus — our Passover, our redemption, the bread from heaven, and God-with-us in the flesh.
How Exodus 10:22 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.