σκοτία
skotía · G4653 · Greek · 17 occurrences
Meanings
-
darkness
A condition resulting from the partial or complete absence of light (see φέγγος (phéngos, G5338))
ExamplesMatthew 10:27 “What I tell you in the darkness, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim on the housetops.
Luke 12:3 “Accordingly, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.
John 6:17 and after getting into a boat, they started to cross the sea to Capernaum. It had already become dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them.
-
evil world, realm of evil, darkness
(Figurative extension of meaning σκοτία ‘darkness,’) The realm of sin and evil
ExamplesJohn 1:5 And the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not grasp it.
John 8:12 Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; the one who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”
John 12:35 So Jesus said to them, “For a little while longer the Light is among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you; also, the one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.
-
in secret, in private, secretly, privately
Pertaining to not being able to be known by the public but known by some in-group or by those immediately involved
ExamplesMatthew 10:27 “What I tell you in the darkness, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim on the housetops.
Luke 12:3 “Accordingly, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.
How it’s used In 5 roles
Every occurrence, grouped by the words it is grammatically related to.
the word studied the word it goes with
Words describing itAdjectives, demonstratives, participles
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- οὐδείςno one 1
What it doesIt is the subject
5 occurrences in 4 groups
- καταλαμβάνωto seize, to grasp, to attain 2
- γίνομαιto become, to happen, to be 1
- παράγωto move along 1
- τυφλόωto make someone not understand 1
What it is said to bePredicate
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- αὐτόςhe, she, it, same 1
What is said to be itIt is the predicate
2 occurrences in 2 groups
- μισέωto hate 2
- λέγωto say 1
After prepositionsPrepositional phrases
10 occurrences in 1 groups
- ἐνin 18
When two words share a role, as in “Paul and Barnabas said”, the verse appears under each, so a section’s counts can add up to more than the number of occurrences.
MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.
Near synonyms 1 word
- γνόφος gnóphos · G1105 · darkness
- σκοτία is the broader, more common term for darkness across both literal and figurative uses, while γνόφος denotes a more specialized, storm-like, theophanic gloom. Both share the core sense of darkness, with γνόφος representing a narrower, more intense register.
Semantic domains 3 entries
- Darkness14.53
- The noun names the literal absence of light. John writes, “the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not grasp it” (John 1:5).
- In secret, in private, secretly, privately28.71
- The same noun is also used idiomatically of speaking privately, in contrast with speaking openly. Jesus instructs His disciples, “What I tell you in the darkness, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim on the housetops” (Matthew 10:27).
- Evil world, realm of evil, darkness88.125
- The same noun, used figuratively, also describes a moral and spiritual state opposed to God. John writes, “the one who hates his brother or sister is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going” (1 John 2:11).
Word family 9 words
Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.
Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon σκοτίας, ἡ (on its derivation cf. σκηνή), (Thomas Magister, ὁ σκότος καί τό σκότος. τό δέ…
Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (1889), public domain
Topical studies with this word 3 entries
Meanings adapted from the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament, © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0 and the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew (from the Semantic Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew), © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0; MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.
Sources
eRhema lexical overview, based on the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew and the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (© United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Macula Hebrew and Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0); released under CC BY-SA 4.0
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