I will make all the bright lights of the sky dark over you, and set darkness on your land,” says the Lord Yahweh.
Parallel Translations
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I will make all the bright lights of the sky dark over you, and set darkness on your land,” says the Lord Yahweh.
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All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord GOD.
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All the bright lights of heaven will I make black over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord GOD.
Cross-references (2)
Passages linked to Ezekiel 32:8 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Genesis 1:14 God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs to mark seasons, days, and years;
- Proverbs 20:20 Whoever curses his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in blackness of darkness.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (7 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain By this manner of speech is meant the great…
By this manner of speech is meant the great sorrow that shall be for the slaughter of the king and his people.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Eze 32:8 All the bright lights of heaven will…
Eze 32:8 All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord GOD.
Ver. 8. All the bright lights of heaven.] See Eze 32:7. All this shall befall the world really and without a hyperbole at the last day {Mat 24:29}
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“ Impiaque aeternam patientur saecula noctem. ”
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain These two foregoing verses contain the same thing four…
These two foregoing verses contain the same thing four times with a little variation, repeated to affect the hearers, and to impress it the more deeply on their minds.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain All the bright lights of heaven will I make…
All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee,.... Or, "all the lights of the light" (a); the rest of the luminaries of heaven; the other five planets, as Kimchi, besides the sun and moon:
and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord God; as there must needs be, the sun, moon, and stars, and all the lights of heaven, being darkened above: there seems to be an allusion to the thick darkness that was formerly over the land of Egypt; and this is a figure and representation of that darkness that shall be in the kingdom of the beast, or spiritual Egypt, yet to come; see Exo 10:21. The Targum is,
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"tribulation as darkness shall cover thy land.''
(a) "omnia luminaria lucis", Pagninus, Montanus, Cocceius.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 8. And set darkness upon thy land] As…
Verse 8. And set darkness upon thy land] As I did when a former king refused to let my people go to the wilderness to worship me. I will involve thee, and thy house, and thy people, and the whole land, in desolation and wo.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 8. bright lights] Lit. luminaries of light.
8. bright lights] Lit. luminaries of light.
upon thy land] Possibly with LXX.: upon the earth. The extinction of the lights in heaven referred to in the previous clause suggests a more general darkness than one over Pharaoh’s own land.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Lights darkened.
Lights darkened.
I MAN CANNOT DISPENSE WITH LIGHTS OF HEAVEN. He may never look up. Yet he cannot live without the light that comes from over his head. In spiritual experience there are men who ignore the light above and the very existence of the heavenly world. Yet they are not the less largely dependent on those higher influences. If the sun were blotted out, all life on our globe would perish in darkness and cold the world reduced to a block of silent frozen matter. If God were to withdraw, all being would come to an end.
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II THE LIGHTS OF HEAVEN ARE DARKENED BY SIN. Sin eclipses the soul"s sun. It spreads black clouds between the offender and the heavenly regions. It shuts a man out from fellowship with God. This is its worst effect, though men may treat it lightly at first. The process is twofold.
1. Man is blinded. Though the sun shines in noonday splendor the blind man walks in midnight darkness. Now, sin puts out the eyes of the soul. It is like a red-hot iron that burns away the vision of spiritual things; then the bright lights of heaven are made black.
2. God withdraws his brightness. We pray that God may lift up the light of his countenance upon us. But he may do the reverse, and turn his face from us. He will not forever display his graciousness to heedless, rebellious souls.
III THE DARKENING ON THE LIGHTS OF HEAVEN BRINGS MANY GRIEVOUS CONSEQUENCES.
1. Knowledge is obscured. We cannot see truth when God"s light is withdrawn or when our souls are blinded to the perception of it. "In thy light we shall see light". (Psa_36:9) "Judicial blindness" must be a fearful fate.
2. Joy is extinguished. A gloomy day is depressing. Darkness brings sadness. When heaven is dark all sunshine vanishes from the Soul.
3. Life is threatened. The soul"s higher life Trows sickly and threatens to pass away in the darkness of separation from God.
IV THERE IS A DARKENING OF THE BRIGHT LIGHTS OF HEAVEN WHICH MAY COME IN THE COURSE OF THE SOUL"S DISCIPLINE. There was darkness round the cross when Jesus was dying. Then in mysterious spiritual gloom he cried, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?". (Mat_27:46) Earnest souls may have times of darkness, during which the vision of heaven is obscured, seasons of deep depression, when all that once seemed most real melts into the blackness of a great doubt.
V CHRIST BRINGS A NEW LIGHT TO BENIGHTED SOULS. If we are dark now we need not remain in gloom forever. "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light". (Isa_9:2) Christ came as "the Light that shineth in darkness," as "the Light of the world." Though the bright lights of heaven be made dark over us, they are not annihilated; they are but beclouded or at worst eclipsed. For all dim, bewildered, sorrow-laden souls there is the hope of light in Christ. But as sin brings on the deepest night of darkness, so it is by repentance and after-forgiveness that we can hope to see the darkness clear away and a new light from heaven arise to shine into our Souls.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.