Even darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You.
Parallel translations
- WEB even the darkness doesn’t hide from you, but the night shines as the day. The darkness is like light to you.
- KJV Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.
- BSB even the darkness is not dark to You, but the night shines like the day, for darkness is as light to You.
- NKJV Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, But the night shines as the day; The darkness and the light are both alike to You.
- NLT but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to 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
Darkness cannot conceal anything from God, because to Him night is as bright as day. It means there is no place or moment where God's knowledge and presence fail.
Overview
David continues his meditation on God's omniscience and omnipresence: even the dark, where humans hide and lose sight, is fully lit before God. This both comforts the upright, who are never alone, and warns the wicked, who can hide nothing. In Christ this becomes gospel, for the Light of the world exposes our sin yet shines on us with grace (John 1:5; 3:20-21).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Dan 2:22he reveals the deep and secret things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him.
- Job 34:22There is no darkness, nor thick gloom, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.
- Exod 20:21The people stayed at a distance, and Moses came near to the thick darkness where God was.
- Heb 4:13There is no creature that is hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.
- Job 26:6Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering.
- Exod 14:20It came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel; and there was the cloud and the darkness, yet gave it light by night: and one didn’t come near the other all night.
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
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 139:12 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.