Back to Exodus 10

Exodus 10:21-23

Yahweh said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt.” Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days. They didn’t see one another, and nobody rose from his place for three days; but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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Parallel Translations

  • WEB World English Bible

    Yahweh said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt.”

    Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days.

    They didn’t see one another, and nobody rose from his place for three days; but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.

  • KJV King James Version

    And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt.

    And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days:

    They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.

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  • JPS JPS Tanakh (1917)

    And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Stretch out thy hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt.'

    And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days;

    they saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days; but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.

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Cross-references (36)

  • Psalms 105:28 (vv21–22) He sent darkness, and made it dark. They didn’t rebel against his words.
  • Exodus 8:22 (v23) I will set apart in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there, to the end you may know…
  • Revelation 16:10 (v22) The fifth poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was darkened. They gnawed their tongues because of the pain,
  • Luke 23:44 (v21) It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour.
  • 2 Peter 2:4 (v21) For if God didn’t spare angels when they sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus, and committed them to pits of darkness to be reserved for…
Show all 35 cross-references
  • 2 Peter 2:17 (v21) These are wells without water, clouds driven by a storm; for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever.
  • Jude 1:6 (v21) Angels who didn’t keep their first domain, but deserted their own dwelling place, he has kept in everlasting bonds under darkness for the…
  • Revelation 16:10-11 (v21) The fifth poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was darkened. They gnawed their tongues because of the pain, and…
  • Exodus 9:4 (v23) Yahweh will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt; and nothing shall die of all that belongs to the…
  • Exodus 9:22 (v21) Yahweh said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky, that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, on man, and on animal, and on…
  • Deuteronomy 28:29 (v21) You will grope at noonday, as the blind gropes in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways. You will only be oppressed and robbed…
  • Proverbs 4:19 (v21) The way of the wicked is like darkness. They don’t know what they stumble over.
  • Isaiah 8:21-22 (v21) They will pass through it, very distressed and hungry. It will happen that when they are hungry, they will worry, and curse by their king…
  • Isaiah 42:16 (v23) I will bring the blind by a way that they don’t know. I will lead them in paths that they don’t know. I will make darkness light before…
  • Matthew 27:45 (v21) Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.
  • Mark 15:33 (v21) When the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.
  • 1 Peter 2:9 (v23) But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of…
  • Exodus 9:26 (v23) Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, there was no hail.
  • Exodus 14:20 (v23) It came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel. There was the cloud and the darkness, yet gave it light by night. One didn’t come…
  • Exodus 20:21 (v22) The people stayed at a distance, and Moses came near to the thick darkness where God was.
  • Deuteronomy 4:11 (v22) You came near and stood under the mountain. The mountain burned with fire to the heart of the sky, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness.
  • Deuteronomy 5:22 (v22) Yahweh spoke these words to all your assembly on the mountain out of the middle of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with…
  • Joshua 24:7 (v23) When they cried out to Yahweh, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea on them, and covered them; and your eyes…
  • Psalms 78:49 (v21) He threw on them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, indignation, and trouble, and a band of angels of evil.
  • Ecclesiastes 2:14 (v21) The wise man’s eyes are in his head, and the fool walks in darkness—and yet I perceived that one event happens to them all.
  • Ecclesiastes 6:4 (v21) for it comes in vanity, and departs in darkness, and its name is covered with darkness.
  • Isaiah 60:1-3 (v23) “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and Yahweh’s glory has risen on you. For, behold, darkness will cover the earth, and thick darkness…
  • Isaiah 65:13-14 (v23) Therefore the Lord Yahweh says, “Behold, my servants will eat, but you will be hungry; behold, my servants will drink, but you will be…
  • Joel 2:2 (v22) A day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness. As the dawn spreading on the mountains, a great and strong people;…
  • Joel 2:31 (v22) The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes.
  • Amos 4:13 (v22) For, behold, he who forms the mountains, and creates the wind, and declares to man what is his thought; who makes the morning darkness, and…
  • Malachi 3:18 (v23) Then you shall return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him who serves God and him who doesn’t serve him.
  • Colossians 1:13 (v23) who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the Kingdom of the Son of his love,
  • Jude 1:13 (v21) wild waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever.
  • Psalms 35:6 (v21) Let their way be dark and slippery, Yahweh’s angel pursuing them.

35 distinct cross-references across this passage (36 total citations).

Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)

Explain this passage (21 sources)

Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.

Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv21–22 Because it was so thick.

Because it was so thick.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.

John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv21–23 Exo 10:21 And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch…
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv21, 23 It is an hyperbolical expression, such being very frequent…
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v21 Here is, I. The plague of darkness brought upon…
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv21–23 And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven, and…
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv21, 23 We may observe concerning this plague.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv21, 23 The NINTH plague - THICK DARKNESS
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv21, 23 Exo 10:21. We may observe concerning this plague, 1st,…
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv21, 23 Darkness - This infliction was specially calculated to affect…
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v21 Darkness upon the land of Egypt so thick that…
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v21 I.—The darkness
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v21 PLAGUE OF DARKNESS. (Exo 10:21-29)
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv21–22 FIFTH PLAGUE — DARKNESS, Exo_10:21-29.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv21, 23 21. Stretch out, &c.] addressed to Moses, as Exo_9:22,…
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv21, 23 (21) Darkness which may be felt.—Heb., one shall grasp…
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv21–23 Vers. 21-29THE NINTH PLAGUE. The ninth plague, like the…
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v21 Darkness over the land of Egypt.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v21 Exo_10:21. Darkness which may be felt] Fürst takes the…
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v21 The Plague of Darkness
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v21 darkness that may be felt
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v21 10:21-29 The ninth plague was the plague of darkness…
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