“For behold, darkness will cover the earth And deep darkness the peoples; But the Lord will rise upon you And His glory will appear upon you.
Parallel translations
- WEB For, behold, darkness will cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but Yahweh will arise on you, and his glory shall be seen on you.
- KJV For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.
- BSB For behold, darkness covers the earth, and thick darkness is over the peoples; but the LORD will rise upon you, and His glory will appear over you.
- NKJV For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; But the Lord will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you.
- NLT Darkness as black as night covers all the nations of the earth, but the glory of the Lord rises and appears over you.
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
Though darkness covers the earth and its peoples, the Lord and His glory rise upon Zion. God's light shines on His people amid surrounding darkness.
Overview
While thick darkness blankets the nations, the Lord arises over Zion and His glory is seen upon her. God's people are distinguished by His radiant presence in a dark world. This contrast foreshadows the gospel, in which Christ's light shines in the darkness, and His people become a city set on a hill reflecting His glory.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 27
- Col 1:13who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the Kingdom of the Son of his love;
- 1 Pet 2:9But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:
- Acts 17:30–31The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked. But now he commands that all people everywhere should repent,
- Hag 2:7–9and I will shake all nations. The precious things of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory, says Yahweh of Armies.
- Eph 4:17–20This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind,
- 2 Cor 4:4–6in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the Good News of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn on them.
- Rom 1:21–32Because, knowing God, they didn’t glorify him as God, neither gave thanks, but became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless heart was darkened.
- Mal 4:2But to you who fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings. You will go out, and leap like calves of the stall.
- Acts 26:18to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
- Lev 9:23Moses and Aaron went into the Tent of Meeting, and came out, and blessed the people: and Yahweh’s glory appeared to all the people.
- Ezek 10:4Yahweh’s glory mounted up from the cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of Yahweh’s glory.
- 2 Cor 3:18But we all, with unveiled face seeing the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the Spirit.
- Num 16:19Korah assembled all the congregation opposite them to the door of the Tent of Meeting. Yahweh’s glory appeared to all the congregation.
- Acts 17:23For as I passed along, and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ What therefore you worship in ignorance, this I announce to you.
- John 1:18No one has seen God at any time. The one and only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him.
- Acts 14:16who in the generations gone by allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways.
- John 8:55You have not known him, but I know him. If I said, ‘I don’t know him,’ I would be like you, a liar. But I know him, and keep his word.
- John 1:14The Word became flesh, and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.
- Hab 3:3–4God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and his praise filled the earth.
- Matt 15:14Leave them alone. They are blind guides of the blind. If the blind guide the blind, both will fall into a pit.”
- Jer 13:16Give glory to Yahweh your God, before he causes darkness, and before your feet stumble on the dark mountains, and, while you look for light, he turns it into the shadow of death, and makes it gross darkness.
- Matt 23:19You blind fools! For which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift?
- Heb 1:2–3has at the end of these days spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds.
- John 1:1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
- 1 Kgs 8:11so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud; for Yahweh’s glory filled Yahweh’s house.
- Ps 80:1For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “The Lilies of the Covenant.” A Psalm by Asaph. Hear us, Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock, you who sit above the cherubim, shine out.
- Matt 23:24You blind guides, who strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel!
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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 60:2 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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