Dark, Darken, Darkly, Darkness

1. skoteinos
2. auchmeros

1. skotia
2. skotos
3. skotos
4. zophos

1. skotizo
2. skotoo

skoteinos "full of darkness, or covered with darkness," is translated "dark" in Luke_11:36; "full of darkness," in Matt_6:23; Luke_11:34, where the physical condition is figurative of the moral. The group of skot-words is derived from a root ska---, meaning "to cover." The same root is to be found in skene, "a tent."

Note: Contrast photeinos, "full of light," e.g., Matt_6:22.

auchmeros from auchmos, "drought produced by excessive heat," hence signifies "dry, murky, dark," 2_Pet_1:19 (RV marg., "squalid"). skoteinos signifies "darkness" produced by covering; auchmeros, "darkness" produced by being squalid or murky.

skotia is used
(a) of physical darkness, "dark," John_6:17, lit., "darkness had come on," and John_20:1, lit., "darkness still being;"
(b) of secrecy, in general, whether what is done therein is good or evil, Matt_10:27; Luke_12:3;
(c) of spiritual or moral "darkness," emblematic of sin, as a condition of moral or spiritual depravity, Matt_4:16; John_1:5; John_8:12; John_12:35,46; 1_John_1:5; 1_John_2:8,9,11.

skotos an older form than skotia, grammatically masculine, is found in some mss. in Heb_12:18.

skotos a neuter noun, frequent in the Sept., is used in the NT as the equivalent of skotia;
(a) of "physical darkness," Matt_27:45; 2_Cor_4:6;
(b) of "intellectual darkness," Rom_2:19 (cp. skotizo);
(c) of "blindness," Acts_13:11;
(d) by metonymy, of the "place of punishment," e.g., Matt_8:12; 2_Pet_2:17; Jude_1:13;
(e) metaphorically, of "moral and spiritual darkness," e.g., Matt_6:23; Luke_1:79; Luke_11:35; John_3:19; Acts_26:18; 2_Cor_6:14; Eph_6:12; Col_1:13; 1_Thess_5:4,5; 1_Pet_2:9; 1_John_1:6;
(f) by metonymy, of "those who are in moral or spiritual darkness," Eph_5:8;
(g) of "evil works," Rom_13:12; Eph_5:11;
(h) of the "evil powers that dominate the world," Luke_22:53; (i) "of secrecy" [as in B1(b)]. While skotos is used more than twice as many times as skotia in the NT, the Apostle John uses skotos only once, 1_John_1:6, but skotia 15 times out of the 18.

"With the exception of the significance of secrecy [#1(b) and B3(i),] darkness is always used in a bad sense. Moreover the different forms of darkness are so closely allied, being either cause and effect, or else concurrent effects of the same cause, that they cannot always be distinguished; 1_John_1:5; 1_John_2:8, e.g., are passages in which both spiritual and moral darkness are intended." [ From Notes on Thessalonians, by Hogg and Vine, pp 157-158.]

zophos denotes "the gloom of the nether world;" hence, "thick darkness, darkness that may be felt;" it is rendered "darkness" in Heb_12:18; 2_Pet_2:4; Jude_1:6; in 2_Pet_2:17, RV, "blackness," AV, "mists;" in Jude_1:13, RV and AV, "blackness." See gnophos_under_BLACKNESS and zophos_under_BLACKNESS, MIST.

See also : zophos in other topics

skotizo "to deprive of light, to make dark," is used in the NT in the Passive Voice only,
(a) of the heavenly bodies, Matt_24:29; Mark_13:24; Rev_8:12;
(b) metaphorically, of the mind, Rom_1:21; Rom_11:10; (some mss. have it in Luke_23:45).

skotoo "to darken," is used
(a) of the heavenly bodies, Rev_9:2; Rev_16:10;
(b) metaphorically, of the mind, Eph_4:18.

Note: The phrase en ainigmati, lit., "in an enigma," is rendered "darkly" in 1_Cor_13:12. Ainigma is akin to the verb anissomai, "to hint obscurely." The allusion is to Num_12:8 (Sept.), "not in (dia, "by means of") dark speeches" (lit., "enigmas"); God's communications to Moses were not such as in the case of dreams, etc. After the same analogy, what we see and know now is seen "darkly" compared with the direct vision in the presence of God hereafter. The riddles of seeming obscurity in life will all be made clear.