And they shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to 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.
- BSB 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.
- 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 5:30And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if one look unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof.
- Matt 22:13Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
- Jer 13:16Give glory to the LORD your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness.
- Matt 8:12But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
- Jer 30:6–7Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?
- Job 18:18He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world.
- Jude 1:13Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.
- Prov 14:32The wicked is driven away in his wickedness: but the righteous hath hope in his death.
- Zeph 1:14–15The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.
- 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:
- 2 Chr 15:5–6And in those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in, but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries.
- Amos 5:18–20Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light.
- Isa 9:1Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations.
- Jer 23:12Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, saith the LORD.
- Isa 8:20To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
- Luke 21:25–26And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;
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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.