It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over all the land until the ninth hour.
Parallel translations
- WEB It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour.
- KJV And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.
- NKJV Now it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.
- NASB It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the entire land until the ninth hour,
- NLT By this time it was about noon, and darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock.
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
From noon to three, darkness covered the land. The cosmos itself marked the gravity of the Son of God's death.
Overview
Luke records a supernatural darkness during the hours of Jesus' suffering. This darkness signals divine judgment and the weight of sin being borne, recalling the plague of darkness in Egypt and prophetic images of the day of the LORD. Creation veils itself as its Maker bears the wrath due to sinners on the cross.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Matt 27:45From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land.
- Mark 15:33–34From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land.
- Amos 8:9And in that day, declares the Lord GOD, I will make the sun go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the daytime.
- Acts 2:20The sun will be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the coming of the great and glorious Day of the Lord.
- Matt 27:52The tombs broke open, and the bodies of many saints who had fallen asleep were raised.
- John 19:14It was the day of Preparation for the Passover, about the sixth hour. And Pilate said to the Jews, “Here is your King!”
- Amos 5:18Woe 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.
- Mark 15:39When the centurion standing there in front of Jesus saw how He had breathed His last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”
- Exod 10:21–23Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, so that darkness may spread over the land of Egypt—a palpable darkness.”
- Ps 105:28He sent darkness, and it became dark—yet they defied His words.
- Hab 3:8–11Were You angry at the rivers, O LORD? Was Your wrath against the streams? Did You rage against the sea when You rode on Your horses, on Your chariots of salvation?
- 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.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.
How Luke 23:44 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 Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.