Bible Strands
Matthew 27:45
From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The evangelist narrates the crucifixion scene, recording a supernatural event that occurs between the sixth and ninth hours while Jesus hangs on the cross. No speaker is quoted; the text simply reports the environmental shift to the reader.
The words — The passage highlights σκότος (skotos), meaning darkness, and ἐγένετο (egeneto), meaning came to be or was, to describe a sudden, total environmental change. These terms emphasize the abrupt onset and complete coverage of the phenomenon.
The thread — The event echoes Amos 8:9, where God promises to darken the earth at noon, and runs parallel to Mark 15:33, which records the identical timeline. Isaiah 50:3 also provides the prophetic backdrop of darkening the heavens as a sign of divine action.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition of a deliberate, timed interruption of natural order during the execution. It asks the reader to note the precise window of darkness before the next spoken cry, establishing a factual sequence rather than offering explanation.
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 Greek words
King James Version
Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.
Cross-references
- Amos 8:9 And in that day, declares the Lord GOD, I will make the sun go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the daytime.
- Mark 15:33 From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land.
- Isaiah 50:3 I clothe the heavens in black and make sackcloth their covering.”
- Luke 23:44 It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over all the land until the ninth hour.
- Revelation 9:2 The star opened the pit of the Abyss, and smoke rose out of it like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the pit.
- Mark 15:25 It was the third hour when they crucified Him.
- Revelation 8:12 Then the fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun and moon and stars were struck. A third of the stars were darkened, a third of the day was without light, and a third of the night as well.