Mark 15:33 Parallel Verses [⇓ See commentary ⇓]
Mark 15:33, NIV: At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon.Mark 15:33, ESV: And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.
Mark 15:33, KJV: And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.
Mark 15:33, NASB: When the sixth hour came, darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour.
Mark 15:33, NLT: At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o'clock.
Mark 15:33, CSB: When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon.
What does Mark 15:33 mean? [⇑ See verse text ⇑]
The sixth hour is noon; the ninth hour is 3:00 p.m. Jesus has been on the cross since the third hour: 9:00 a.m. (Mark 15:25). At 3:00 p.m., Jesus will die. At that same time, on the other side of the city, the priests will slaughter the lambs for the Passover meals of the people who live in Judea.In Amos 8:9–10, God speaks of a day of judgment when the "songs of the temple shall become wailings" (Amos 8:3): Darkness was the ninth plague God put on the Egyptians (Exodus 10:21–29). The darkness enveloped Egypt for three days; here it lasts three hours. The final plague was the first Passover, the origin of the feast celebrated this very moment. As God took the firstborns of the Egyptians to secure the rescue of His people the Israelites, God now accepts the death of His own Firstborn as a "ransom for many" (Mark 10:45).