Misinterpretation in KJV (II)

Genesis 15:12 (King James Version)

And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.

Genesis 15:12 (New International Version)

As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him.

and

•

a

thick

and

dreadful

darkness

came

over

him

.

12 וְ

13 הִנֵּ֥ה

►15

16 גְדֹלָ֖ה

•

14 אֵימָ֛ה

15 חֲשֵׁכָ֥ה

17 נֹפֶ֥לֶת

18 עָל

19 ָֽיו

The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Ge 15:12.

Genesis 15:12 presents a critical mistranslation where the KJV’s grammatical confusion obscures the unified nature of God’s manifestation to Abram.

The Grammatical Error

The Hebrew literally reads “behold! a terror of great darkness,” or “behold! a terror, even great darkness, falling upon him,” where two separate entities of terror and darkness did not occur—the terror was the darkness.[1] The KJV’s rendering as “an horror of great darkness fell upon him” treats these as distinct phenomena, when the Hebrew employs a single construct phrase where darkness functions as a modifier intensifying the terror. The translators mistook an adjective relationship for a noun relationship, essentially reading the Hebrew as if two separate things descended upon Abram rather than recognizing that darkness itself constitutes the terror.

What This Means Theologically

In this special pronouncement of God’s presence, on the day when God ratified the eternally important Abrahamic Covenant, He did so by means of darkness.[1] The unified nature of this experience matters profoundly. The terror was the darkness[1]—not terror plus darkness, but a single overwhelming encounter where God’s presence manifests through obscurity rather than illumination. God could have manifested Himself with light, such as when His glory filled His tabernacle and later His temple, but He chose not to. In this case God revealed Himself by means of darkness.[1]

The KJV’s separation of these elements weakens the paradox at the heart of the narrative: God’s presence, typically associated with light and clarity, here appears as impenetrable darkness. The narrator pictures Abram as experiencing the approach of God, which produces a great sense of fear. The darkness may be so that Abram will not see God, as this could cause death.[2] By treating terror and darkness as distinct phenomena rather than as a unified manifestation, the KJV loses the theological force—that encountering the divine produces an experience so overwhelming it can only be described as terrifying darkness itself.

[1] Greg Harris, The Darkness and the Glory: His Cup and the Glory from Gethsemane to the Ascension. (The Woodlands, TX: Kress Christian Publications, 2008), 80.
[2] William David Reyburn and Euan McG. Fry, A Handbook on Genesis, UBS Handbook Series (New York: United Bible Societies, 1998), 341.