1. darkness, dark place — The noun machshak denoting darkness or dark places, used both literally and as a condition of gloom or obscurity. All four clusters share identical semantic content differing only in grammatical number (singular vs. plural) and prepositional framing (bare noun vs. with preposition beth). Arabic consistently uses ظُلْمَة / ظُلُمَات (zulmah/zulumat), Hindi uses अंधेरा / अंधकार (andheraa/andhakaar), Swahili renders giza throughout, Korean uses 어둠/어두운 (eodum/eo-du-un), and Spanish alternates between tinieblas and oscuridad — all pointing to the single concept of darkness as absence of light or a dark location. 7×
AR["الظُّلْمَةَ","بِـ-الظُّلُمَاتِ","ظُلْمَةٌ","فِي-الظُّلْمَةِ","فِي-ظُلمَاتٍ","فِي-ظُلُمَاتٍ","مَظالِمُ-"]·ben["অন্ধকার","অন্ধকার-স্থানগুলো","অন্ধকারকে","অন্ধকারে","অন্ধকারে-"]·DE["[במחשך]","[במחשכים]","[מחשך]","der-dunkel-stellt-von-","in-Finsternis","in-dunkel-stellt","sind-Finsternis"]·EN["In-darkness","are-darkness","darkness","in-dark-places","in-darkness","the-dark-places-of-"]·FR["[במחשך]","[במחשכים]","[מחשך]","dans-ténèbres","de-ténèbres"]·heb["ב-מחשך","ב-מחשכים","מחשך","מחשכי-"]·HI["अंधकार","अंधकार-में","अंधियारे-में","अंधेरा","अन्धकारों-में","में-अंधेरे"]·ID["Di-kegelapan","dalam-kegelapan","di-tempat-gelap","kegelapan","tempat-tempat-gelap-"]·IT["[במחשך]","[במחשכים]","[מחשך]","da-tenebre","nella-notte"]·jav["Ing-pepeteng","ing-panggenān-peteng","ing-pepeteng","ing-peteng","panggenan-peteng-","pepeteng"]·KO["어두운-곳들-에","어두운-곳들-이","어둠들-에","어둡-이라","어둡을","에-어둠에서"]·PT["Em-trevas","em-escuridão","em-trevas","nas-trevas","os-lugares-escuros","são-trevas","trevas"]·RU["Во-тьме","в-темнотах","во-тьме","тьма","тьму","тёмные-места"]·ES["En-lugares-oscuros","en-oscuridades","en-tinieblas","lugares-oscuros-de","oscuridad","tinieblas"]·SW["Katika-giza","giza","gizani","katika-giza","mahali-pa-giza","ni-giza"]·TR["Karanlıklarda","karanligi","karanlikta","karanlık-köşeleri-","karanlıklarda","karanlıklarda-","karanlıktır"]·urd["اندھیرا","اندھیروں-میں","اندھیریوں-میں","اندھیرے-مقام","اندھیرے-میں","بِ-اندھیروں"]
Senses
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† מַחְשָׁךְ n.m. dark place (poet.)—abs. מ׳ Is 29:15; 42:16; מַחְשָׁ֑ךְ ψ 88:19; pl. מַחֲשַׁכִּים 88:7; 143:3 = La 3:6; cstr. מַחֲשַׁכֵּי ψ 74:20;—dark place: a. = hiding-place מח׳־ארץ 74:20. b. dark region, in which men may lose their way Is 42:16. c. = grave, or שׁאול ψ 88:19 (v. Che); of dark place of God’s wrath (like Sheʾôl) 88:7; cf. 143:3 = La 3:6. d. = secret place, secrecy (of plots) Is 29:15.