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.
Parallel translations
- WEB and look to the earth, and see distress, darkness, and the gloom of anguish. They will be driven into thick darkness.
- KJV And they shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness.
- NKJV Then they will look to the earth, and see trouble and darkness, gloom of anguish; and they will be driven into darkness.
- NASB Then they will look to the earth, and behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be driven away into darkness.
- NLT and down at the earth, but wherever they look, there will be trouble and anguish and dark despair. They will be thrown out into the darkness.
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
Looking everywhere but to God, the people find only distress, darkness, and gloom.
Overview
Having rejected the light of God's word, the people see nothing but anguish and thick darkness. The verse closes the chapter on a note of deep despair for the unbelieving. Yet this darkness sets the stage for the great light promised in chapter 9, the dawn of hope in the coming Messiah.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Isa 5:30In that day they will roar over it, like the roaring of the sea. If one looks over the land, he will see darkness and distress; even the light will be obscured by clouds.
- Matt 22:13Then the king told the servants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
- Jer 13:16Give glory to the LORD your God before He brings darkness, before your feet stumble on the dusky mountains. You wait for light, but He turns it into deep gloom and thick darkness.
- Matt 8:12But the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
- Jer 30:6–7Ask now, and see: Can a male give birth? Why then do I see every man with his hands on his stomach like a woman in labor and every face turned pale?
- Job 18:18He is driven from light into darkness and is chased from the inhabited world.
- Jude 1:13They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.
- Prov 14:32The wicked man is thrown down by his own sin, but the righteous man has a refuge even in death.
- Zeph 1:14–15The great Day of the LORD is near—near and coming quickly. Listen, the Day of the LORD! Then the cry of the mighty will be bitter.
- Matt 24:29Immediately after the tribulation of those days: ‘The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.’
- 2 Chr 15:5–6In those days there was no safety for travelers, because the residents of the lands had many conflicts.
- Amos 5:18–20Woe to you who long for the Day of the LORD! What will the Day of the LORD be for you? It will be darkness and not light.
- Isa 9:1Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those in distress. In the past He humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future He will honor the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations:
- Jer 23:12“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.
- Isa 8:20To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn.
- Luke 21:25–26There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among the nations, bewildered by the roaring of the sea and the surging of the waves.
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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 8:22 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.