At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock.
Parallel translations
- WEB Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.
- KJV Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.
- BSB From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land.
- NKJV Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land.
- NASB Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour.
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
Darkness covers the land from noon until three o'clock. A supernatural gloom marks Jesus' suffering.
Overview
From the sixth to the ninth hour an unnatural darkness falls over the land as Jesus hangs on the cross. The darkness signals divine judgment and the awesome significance of the moment, recalling prophetic images of the day of the Lord. Creation itself seems to mourn as the Son bears the weight of sin in the hours of deepest anguish.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Amos 8:9It will happen in that day,” says the Lord Yahweh, “that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day.
- Mark 15:33–34When the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.
- Isa 50:3I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering.”
- Luke 23:44–45It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour.
- Rev 9:2He opened the pit of the abyss, and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke from a burning furnace. The sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke from the pit.
- Mark 15:25It was the third hour, and they crucified him.
- Rev 8:12The fourth angel sounded, and one third of the sun was struck, and one third of the moon, and one third of the stars; so that one third of them would be darkened, and the day wouldn’t shine for one third of it, and the night in the same way.
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Christ at the center
Matthew presents Jesus as the promised King — son of David, son of Abraham — the new Moses and true Israel in whom every prophecy reaches 'that it might be fulfilled.'
How Matthew 27:45 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.