DARKNESS — the word that is present in the Bible's second sentence, 'and DARKNESS was over the face of the deep' (Genesis 1:2), before light is spoken. The ninth plague brings it back over Egypt for three days, doubled for weight as choshech-afelah, a darkness of thick gloom, and described by a strange phrase: 'let the darkness be FELT' (Exodus 10:21). ⚠️ It is aimed at Ra, the sun god at the head of Egypt's pantheon, whose son the Pharaoh claimed to be. Scripture keeps the word moral as well as physical — 'the people walking in DARKNESS have seen a great light' (Isaiah 9:2) — and the plague's own image returns at the cross, where darkness covers the land for three hours (Mark 15:33). → first discussed at Exod 10:21