I clothe the heavens with blackness. I make sackcloth their covering.”
Parallel Translations
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I clothe the heavens with blackness. I make sackcloth their covering.”
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I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering.
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I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering.
Cross-references (4)
Passages linked to Isaiah 50:3 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Revelation 6:12 I saw when he opened the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake. The sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became as blood.
- Psalms 18:11-12 He made darkness his hiding place, his pavilion around him, darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies. At the brightness before him his thick clouds passed, hailstones and coals of fire.
- Exodus 10:21 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.”
- Matthew 27:45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (11 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain As I did in Egypt in token of my…
As I did in Egypt in token of my displeasure, Exod. 10:21.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Isa 50:3 I clothe the heavens with blackness, and…
Isa 50:3 I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering.
Ver. 3. I clothe the heavens with blackness.] I did so in that three days’ darkness in Egypt, {Exo 10:21-22} and shall do so again at the time of my passion. I can therefore, doubtless, deliver you, not only from Babylon, but from sin, death, and hell, by giving you an entrance into heaven by the waters of baptism, and by bringing you out of darkness into my marvellous light. {1Pe 2:9}
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And make sackcloth their covering.] Ita ut coelum pullata veste obtensum fuisse dixeris. So Rev 6:12.
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 I clothe the heavens with blackness; or, I will…
I clothe the heavens with blackness; or, I will or can clothe &c. What I once did in Egypt, when I drew black curtains before all the heavenly lights, and caused an unparalleled and amazing darkness for three days together, to the great terror of mine enemies, so I can and will do still when it is necessary to save my people. And therefore you have no reason to distrust me.
I make sackcloth their covering; I cover them with thick and dark clouds, black as sackcloth, as is said, Rev 6:12, or as that stuff of which the tents of Kedar were made, Son 1:5. From this and some other expressions it appears that they wore a black sackcloth, which also was most suitable to the state of mourners, by whom it was used.
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 I clothe the heavens with blackness,.... With gross and…
I clothe the heavens with blackness,.... With gross and thick darkness; perhaps referring to the three days' darkness the Egyptians were in, Exo 10:12, or with thick and black clouds, as in tempestuous weather frequently; or by eclipses of the sun; there was an extraordinary instance of great darkness at the time of Christ's crucifixion, Mat 27:45.
and I make sackcloth their covering; that being black, and used in times of mourning; the allusion may be to the tents of Kedar, which were covered with sackcloth, or such like black stuff. The fall of the Pagan empire, through the power of Christ and his Gospel, is signified by the sun becoming black as sackcloth of hair, Rev 6:12. Jarchi interprets this parabolically of the princes of the nations, when the Lord shall come to take vengeance upon them; as Kimchi does the sea, and the rivers, in the preceding verse, of the good things of the nations of the world, which they had in great abundance, and should be destroyed.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain I clothe - When it is necessary to save…
I clothe - When it is necessary to save my people, I cover them with thick and dark clouds black as sackcloth, Rev. vi, 12.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain I clothe the heavens with blackness - With the…
I clothe the heavens with blackness - With the dark clouds of a tempest - perhaps with an allusion to the remarkable clouds and tempests that encircled the brow of Sinai when he gave the law. Or possibly alluding to the thick darkness which he brought over the land of Egypt (Exo 10:21; Grotius). In the previous verse, he had stated what he did on the earth, and referred to the exhibitions of his great power there. He here refers to the exhibition of his power in the sky; and the argument is, that he who had thus the power to spread darkness over the face of the sky, had power also to deliver his people.
I make sackcloth their covering - Alluding to the clouds. Sackcloth was a coarse and dark cloth which was usually worn as an emblem of mourning (see the note at Isa 3:24). The same image is used in Rev 6:12 : ‘And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair.’ To say, therefore, that the heavens were clothed with sackcloth, is one of the most striking and impressive figures which can be conceived.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain heavens . . . blackness--another of the judgments on…
heavens . . . blackness--another of the judgments on Egypt to be repeated hereafter on the last enemy of God's people (Exo 10:21).
sackcloth-- (Rev 6:12).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 3. I clothe the heavens with blackness — As…
3. I clothe the heavens with blackness — As at Sinai, but I cause the terror stricken still to live, and lay before them my commands. Should not such a husband, such a father, helper, friend, be worthy of confidence?
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 3. Comp. Exo_10:21 with blackness] with murky storm-clouds. The…
3. Comp. Exo_10:21 with blackness] with murky storm-clouds. The word, which occurs only here, denotes (like sackcloth in the next clause) the garb of mourning. Cf. Rev_6:12.
The strophe ends somewhat abruptly, and the thought is perhaps incomplete.
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 I clothe the heavens with blackness. (comp. Jer_4:28 Eze_32:7,…
I clothe the heavens with blackness. (comp. Jer_4:28 Eze_32:7, 8 Joe_2:10 Joe_3:15 Mat_24:29 Luk_21:25 Rev_6:12) The Egyptian plague of darkness (Exo_10:21-23) is not adequate to the expressions here used. God means to assert his power of leaving all nature in absolute darkness, if he so choose a power necessarily belonging to him who said, "Let there be light; and there was light". (Gen_1:3) I make sackcloth their covering. (see Rev_6:12, "The sun became black as sackcloth of hair
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 50:3 Phenomena such as darkness and the wearing of…
50:3 Phenomena such as darkness and the wearing of clothes of mourning were associated with the day of the Lord (13:10; see study note on 2:5-22). The mention of darkness might allude to the plague of darkness in Egypt (Exod 10:21).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.