100 Bible Verses about Darkness

John 1:5 ESV / 661 helpful votes

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Acts 26:18 ESV / 454 helpful votes

To open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

John 8:12 ESV / 435 helpful votes

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

1 John 1:5-7 ESV / 392 helpful votes

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

Luke 1:79 ESV / 372 helpful votes

To give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

Ephesians 5:8 ESV / 355 helpful votes

For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light

John 11:10 ESV / 332 helpful votes

But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”

Psalm 139:12 ESV / 332 helpful votes

Even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.

Colossians 1:13 ESV / 297 helpful votes

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,

John 3:19-21 ESV / 280 helpful votes

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

Isaiah 9:2 ESV / 273 helpful votes

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.

Genesis 1:2 ESV / 270 helpful votes

The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Ephesians 6:12 ESV / 257 helpful votes

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

1 John 1:5 ESV / 249 helpful votes

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

1 Thessalonians 5:5 ESV / 236 helpful votes

For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness.

1 Peter 2:9 ESV / 231 helpful votes

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Matthew 4:16 ESV / 215 helpful votes

The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.”

Ephesians 5:11 ESV / 203 helpful votes

Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.

2 Corinthians 6:14 ESV / 200 helpful votes

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?

2 Corinthians 4:6 ESV / 187 helpful votes

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

1 John 2:8-11 ESV / 181 helpful votes

At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

John 3:19 ESV / 180 helpful votes

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

Psalm 18:11 ESV / 178 helpful votes

He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him, thick clouds dark with water.

Psalm 18:28 ESV / 170 helpful votes

For it is you who light my lamp; the Lord my God lightens my darkness.

Exodus 10:21-23 ESV / 161 helpful votes

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness to be felt.” So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was pitch darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days, but all the people of Israel had light where they lived.

Romans 13:12 ESV / 153 helpful votes

The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.

Matthew 8:12 ESV / 135 helpful votes

While the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

1 John 1:6 ESV / 129 helpful votes

If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

1 Kings 8:12 ESV / 117 helpful votes

Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that he would dwell in thick darkness.

Isaiah 45:7 ESV / 112 helpful votes

I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the Lord, who does all these things.

Luke 12:3 ESV / 105 helpful votes

Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops.

Matthew 6:23 ESV / 103 helpful votes

But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

Proverbs 4:19 ESV / 103 helpful votes

The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble.

Matthew 25:30 ESV / 97 helpful votes

And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Exodus 10:21 ESV / 97 helpful votes

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness to be felt.”

Romans 1:21 ESV / 96 helpful votes

For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Isaiah 50:10 ESV / 95 helpful votes

Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the voice of his servant? Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God.

Isaiah 42:16 ESV / 91 helpful votes

And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them.

Matthew 22:13 ESV / 78 helpful votes

Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Exodus 20:21 ESV / 77 helpful votes

The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.

Isaiah 5:20 ESV / 76 helpful votes

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!

John 12:46 ESV / 75 helpful votes

I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.

John 12:35 ESV / 75 helpful votes

So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.

Matthew 5:16 ESV / 73 helpful votes

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Psalm 119:105 ESV / 73 helpful votes

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Isaiah 8:22 ESV / 71 helpful votes

And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness.

2 Peter 2:4 ESV / 70 helpful votes

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment;

Psalm 82:5 ESV / 69 helpful votes

They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

Exodus 10:22 ESV / 67 helpful votes

So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was pitch darkness in all the land of Egypt three days.

2 Corinthians 4:4 ESV / 64 helpful votes

In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

John 9:5 ESV / 64 helpful votes

As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

Revelation 9:2 ESV / 61 helpful votes

He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft.

Psalm 139:11-12 ESV / 61 helpful votes

If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.

Mark 15:33 ESV / 59 helpful votes

And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.

Matthew 6:22 ESV / 58 helpful votes

“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light,

Joel 2:2 ESV / 58 helpful votes

A day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains a great and powerful people; their like has never been before, nor will be again after them through the years of all generations.

Genesis 1:5 ESV / 58 helpful votes

God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

Revelation 16:10 ESV / 57 helpful votes

The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in anguish

1 John 2:11 ESV / 56 helpful votes

But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

Hebrews 12:18 ESV / 54 helpful votes

For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest

John 3:19-20 ESV / 54 helpful votes

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.

Luke 22:53 ESV / 54 helpful votes

When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.”

Genesis 1:4 ESV / 54 helpful votes

And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.

Matthew 27:45 ESV / 53 helpful votes

Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.

Matthew 6:22-23 ESV / 53 helpful votes

“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

Psalm 88:12 ESV / 53 helpful votes

Are your wonders known in the darkness, or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?

Jude 1:13 ESV / 52 helpful votes

Wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.

Genesis 1:1-31 ESV / 52 helpful votes

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. ...

Isaiah 60:1-2 ESV / 50 helpful votes

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you.

Jeremiah 13:16 ESV / 49 helpful votes

Give glory to the Lord your God before he brings darkness, before your feet stumble on the twilight mountains, and while you look for light he turns it into gloom and makes it deep darkness.

Psalm 107:10 ESV / 49 helpful votes

Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in affliction and in irons,

Ephesians 5:14 ESV / 47 helpful votes

For anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

Amos 5:18 ESV / 47 helpful votes

Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! Why would you have the day of the Lord? It is darkness, and not light,

Matthew 24:29 ESV / 46 helpful votes

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

1 John 2:9 ESV / 45 helpful votes

Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.

Proverbs 20:20 ESV / 45 helpful votes

If one curses his father or his mother, his lamp will be put out in utter darkness.

1 Thessalonians 5:4 ESV / 44 helpful votes

But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief.

Matthew 5:14-16 ESV / 42 helpful votes

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Psalm 104:20 ESV / 42 helpful votes

You make darkness, and it is night, when all the beasts of the forest creep about.

Micah 7:8 ESV / 40 helpful votes

Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me.

Amos 4:13 ESV / 40 helpful votes

For behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind, and declares to man what is his thought, who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth— the Lord, the God of hosts, is his name!

Psalm 27:1 ESV / 40 helpful votes

Of David. The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

James 1:17 ESV / 39 helpful votes

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

Job 38:9 ESV / 39 helpful votes

When I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band,

Genesis 1:2-4 ESV / 38 helpful votes

The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.

Amos 8:9 ESV / 37 helpful votes

“And on that day,” declares the Lord God, “I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.

John 12:35-36 ESV / 35 helpful votes

So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them.

Psalm 119:130 ESV / 35 helpful votes

The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.

1 Samuel 2:9 ESV / 35 helpful votes

“He will guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness, for not by might shall a man prevail.

Amos 5:20 ESV / 34 helpful votes

Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it?

Lamentations 3:2 ESV / 34 helpful votes

He has driven and brought me into darkness without any light;

Ecclesiastes 2:13 ESV / 33 helpful votes

Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness.

Revelation 8:12 ESV / 32 helpful votes

The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night.

1 Corinthians 4:5 ESV / 32 helpful votes

Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.

John 12:36 ESV / 32 helpful votes

While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them.

John 3:21 ESV / 31 helpful votes

But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

Isaiah 42:3 ESV / 30 helpful votes

A bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice.

Jeremiah 4:28 ESV / 29 helpful votes

“For this the earth shall mourn, and the heavens above be dark; for I have spoken; I have purposed; I have not relented, nor will I turn back.”

Psalm 105:28 ESV / 29 helpful votes

He sent darkness, and made the land dark; they did not rebel against his words.

Mark 13:24 ESV / 27 helpful votes

“But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light,

Suggest a Verse


Visit the Bible online to search for words if you don’t know the specific passage your’re looking for.