darkness

חשֶׁךְ וַֽאֲפֵלָה (Yoel 2:2), darkness and gloom; בַּֽאֲפֵלוֹת נְהַלֵּֽךְ (Yeshayahu 59:9), we walk in gloom; and the adjective וְאָפֵל וְלֹֽא־נֹגַֽהּ לֽוֹ (Amos 5:20), dark, with no brightness to it. Since it says darkness and אֲפֵלָה together, it seems that the אֲפֵלָה is more than the darkness. Another pattern is וַתֹּפַע כְּמוֹ־ אֹֽפֶל (Iyov 10:22), and it shines like the dark, and a third is מַֽאֲפֵל, as וַיָּשֶׂם מַֽאֲפֵל בֵּינֵיכֶם וּבֵין הַמִּצְרִים (Yehoshua 24:7), and He put darkness between you and the Egyptians.

אֶרֶץ מַאְפֵּלְיָה (Yirmiyahu 2:31), a land of deep darkness: in all books it is one word, but its sense is two, and some exact books point it מְאַפֵּלְיָה. The divine Name is joined to מאפל for the greatness of the darkness, as in שַׁלְהֶבֶתְיָֽה (Shir HaShirim 8:6) it is joined for the greatness of the flame; and so anything that is to be made great is joined to the Name: כְּֽהַרְרֵי־אֵל (Tehillim 36:7), like the mountains of Hashem, עִיר־גְּדוֹלָה לֵֽאלֹהִים (Yonah 3:3), a city great to Hashem, and וַתְּהִי לְחֶרְדַּת אֱלֹהִֽים (Shmuel I 14:15), and it became a trembling of Hashem. Or מאפליה is an adjective for the land, and its yud is a yud of relation, like the yud of תחתיה, lower, and שׁלישׁיה, third.

כִּי אֲפִילֹת הֵֽנָּה (Shemos 9:32), for they are אֲפִילֹת: dark and hidden under the ground, or else late. So in the words of Chazal (Taanis 3b), הא בחרפי הא באפלי, this of the early and this of the late, and they spoke (Shekalim 1:3) of a year that was אפלה, a late year, in which the growths could not be made out.

וְלֹֽא־ חָשַׂךְ מִמֶּנִּי מְאוּמָה (Bereishis 39:9), he withheld nothing from me; וְאֶת־עַבְדּוֹ חָשַׂךְ מֵֽרָעָה (Shmuel I 25:39), He kept His servant back from evil; גַּם מִזֵּדִים חֲשׂךְ עַבְדֶּךָ (Tehillim 19:14), keep Your servant back from the insolent too; וְחוֹשֵׂךְ שְׂפָתָיו מַשְׂכִּֽיל (Mishlei 10:19), one who holds his lips back is wise. מֻרְדָּף בְּלִי חָשָֽׂךְ (Yeshayahu 14:6), pursued without holding back, means that the pursuer did not hold back from pursuing him. And the passive, לֹא־ יֵֽחָשֵׂךְ כְּאֵבִי (Iyov 16:6), my pain is not held back. All of them are ענין מניעה, holding back.

קְרָא בְגָרוֹן אַל־ תַּחְשֹׂךְ (Yeshayahu 58:1), call with the throat, do not hold back, means do not hold back the call; so too וְצַדִּיק יִתֵּן וְלֹא יַחְשֹֽׂךְ (Mishlei 21:26), the righteous gives and does not hold back, means he does not hold back the gift: all of them are verbs that carry an object. But וְנִיד שְׂפָתַי יַחְשֹֽׂךְ (Iyov 16:5), and the moving of my lips would hold back, seems to be a verb that stands on its own. חָשַׂכְתָּֽ לְמַטָּה מֵֽעֲוֹנֵנוּ (Ezra 9:13) means You held back from our iniquities, from bringing us low and from repaying us as they deserved.

וּבִתְחַפְנְחֵס חָשַׂךְ הַיּוֹם (Yechezkel 30:18), and in Techafneches the day held back. Rabbi Yonah explained it as חָשַֹך השׁמשׁ, the sun grew dark; Radak answers that such an exchange of letters is not found in Lashon Hakodesh, and the word means what it says, holding back, with a word left unsaid, אוֹרוֹ, its light: the day held back its light. The pasuk says it for the greatness of the trouble that was to come upon them.

חָשַׁךְ הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ בְּצֵאתוֹ (Yeshayahu 13:10), the sun is darkened as it goes forth; וַתֶּחְשַׁךְ הָאָרֶץ (Shemos 10:15), the land was darkened; וְחָשְׁכָה לָכֶם מִקְּסֹם (Michah 3:6), it will be dark for you, with no divining; and תֶּחְשַׁכְנָה עֵינֵיהֶם מֵרְאוֹת (Tehillim 69:24), let their eyes grow too dark to see.

וְחשֶׁךְ עַל־פְּנֵי תְהוֹם (Bereishis 1:2), darkness on the face of the deep, and יַגִּיהַּ חָשְׁכִּֽי (Tehillim 18:29), He lights up my darkness. With a mem added, וְהָיָה בְמַחְשָׁךְ מַֽעֲשֵׂיהֶם (Yeshayahu 29:15), their deeds are in the dark, and מְֽיֻדָּעַי מַחְשָֽׁךְ (Tehillim 88:19), my friends are a dark place, meaning that my friends are as though in a dark place, where I cannot see them and they do not come to visit me in my illness. Also בְּמַֽחֲשַׁכִּים הוֹשִׁיבַנִי (Eichah 3:6), He has set me in dark places. In another pattern, כַּֽחֲשֵׁיכָה כָּאוֹרָֽה (Tehillim 139:12), the dark as the light, with its construct חֶֽשְׁכַת ־מַיִם (Tehillim 18:12), a darkness of waters, and its plural in the masculine, אֲשֶׁר הָלַךְ חֲשֵׁכִים (Yeshayahu 50:10), who has walked in darkness.

כִּי־מָלְאוּ מַֽחֲשַׁכֵּי ־אֶרֶץ (Tehillim 74:20), for the dark ones of the land are full: these are the lowly of men, who are in darkness. So too בַּל־יִתְיַצֵּב לִפְנֵי חֲשֻׁכִּֽים (Mishlei 22:29), he will not stand before dark ones, that is, lowly men, where the word is an adjective on the pattern of עֲרֻמִּים, naked. The Targum renders וּמִן־הָעָם הַדַּלִּים (Yirmiyahu 39:10), and of the poor of the people, as וּמִן עַמָא חֲשִׁיכַיָא, and of the people, the dark ones; and דַּלּוֹת וְרָעוֹת (Bereishis 41:19), poor and bad, as חֲסִיכָן וּבִישָׁן, poor ones and bad ones.

גַּם־חשֶׁךְ לֹֽא־ יַחְשִׁיךְ מִמֶּךָ (Tehillim 139:12), even darkness does not darken from You, meaning it darkens nothing from You; שָׁלַֽח חשֶׁךְ וַיַּחְשִׁךְ (Tehillim 105:28), He sent darkness and made it dark; and בְּטֶרֶם יַחְשִׁךְ (Yirmiyahu 13:16), before He brings darkness.