I dress the skies in darkness, covering them with clothes of mourning.”
Parallel translations
- WEB I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering.”
- KJV I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering.
- BSB I clothe the heavens in black and make sackcloth their covering.”
- NKJV I clothe the heavens with blackness, And I make sackcloth their covering.”
- NASB “I clothe the heavens with blackness, And make sackcloth their covering.”
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 can clothe the heavens in darkness and mourning, displaying His sovereign control over creation.
Overview
Continuing His self-defense of power (v.2), God shows He governs the skies, darkening them as a sign of judgment or mourning. Creation itself answers to His word. This sovereignty over heaven and earth belongs to Christ as well, through whom and for whom all things were made (Colossians 1:16) and at whose death the sky went dark (Luke 23:44-45).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Rev 6:12I saw when he opened the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake. The sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became as blood.
- Ps 18:11–12He made darkness his hiding place, his pavilion around him, darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies.
- Exod 10:21Yahweh said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt.”
- Matt 27:45Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.
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Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 50:3 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.