Bible Strands
Ezekiel 32:8
All the shining lights in the heavens I will darken over you, and I will bring darkness upon your land,’ declares the Lord GOD.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The Lord GOD speaks through Ezekiel to pronounce judgment on Egypt. This declaration occurs within an oracle detailing the nation's destruction and the cosmic signs accompanying it.
The words — The Hebrew אַקְדִּירֵם ('akdirêm) literally means "I will darken them," referring to the luminaries (מְאוֹרֵי, me'ōrê) of the heavens. The phrase חֹשֶׁךְ (chōshek) translates directly to "darkness" that God will place upon the land.
The thread — This imagery of darkened celestial bodies echoes the creation account where God placed lights in the sky to distinguish day from night (Genesis 1:14). It also parallels the warning that familial curses result in a lamp extinguished in deepest darkness (Proverbs 20:20).
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that divine judgment operates on both national and cosmic scales. It requires the reader to accept that God sovereignly controls natural order to execute historical consequences.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord God.
Cross-references
- Genesis 1:14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to distinguish between the day and the night, and let them be signs to mark the seasons and days and years.
- Proverbs 20:20 Whoever curses his father or mother, his lamp will be extinguished in deepest darkness.