'Black' in the Bible

Let me pass through your entire flock today, removing from it every speckled and spotted sheep and every dark or black one among the lambs and the spotted and speckled among the goats; and those shall be my wages.

So my honesty will be evident for me later, when you come [for an accounting] concerning my wages. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and dark among the young lambs, if found with me, shall be considered stolen.”

So on that same day Laban [secretly] removed the male goats that were streaked and spotted and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one with white on it, and all the dark ones among the sheep, and put them in the care of his sons.

But if the priest examines the spot infected by the scale, and it does not appear deeper than the skin and there is no black hair in it, the priest shall isolate the person with the scaly infection for seven days.

If, in the priest’s estimation, the scale has remained [without spreading], and black hair has grown in it, the scale is healed; he is clean, and the priest shall pronounce him clean.

In a little while the sky grew dark with clouds and wind, and there were heavy showers. And Ahab mounted and rode [his chariot] and went [inland] to Jezreel.

Which are dull and dirty because of ice,And into which the snow melts and hides itself;

“He uncovers mysteries [that are difficult to grasp and understand] out of the darknessAnd brings black gloom and the shadow of death into light.

In the twilight, in the evening;In the black and dark night.

(The Chorus)“We will rejoice and be glad in you;We will remember and extol your love more [sweet and fragrant] than wine.Rightly do they love you.”(The Shulammite Bride)“I am deeply tanned but lovely,O daughters of Jerusalem,[I am dark] like the tents of [the Bedouins of] Kedar,Like the [beautiful] curtains of Solomon.

(The Bridegroom)“How fair and beautiful you are, my darling,How very beautiful!Your eyes behind your veil are like those of a dove;Your hair is like [the shimmering black fleece of] a flock of [Arabian] goatsThat have descended from Mount Gilead [beyond the Jordan].

“His head is like [precious] gold, pure gold;His hair is [curly] like clusters of datesAnd black as a raven.

“Now what are you doing by going to Egypt [in search of an ally],To drink the [muddy] waters of the Nile?Or what are you doing by going to Assyria [in search of an ally],To drink the [muddy] waters of the Euphrates?

“For this reason the earth shall mournAnd the heavens above shall become dark,Because I have spoken, I have decided,And I will not change my mind (relent), nor will I turn back from it.”

“Judah mournsAnd her gates languish;Her people sit on the ground in mourning clothesAnd the cry of Jerusalem has gone up.

Javan (Greece), Tubal and Meshech (Asia Minor) traded with you; with the lives of men [taken as slaves] and vessels of bronze they paid for your merchandise.

‘Thus says the Lord God, “On the day when Assyria went down to Sheol (the place of the dead) I caused mourning; I closed the deep [subterranean waters] over it and restrained its rivers. And the many waters [that contributed to its prosperity] were held back; and I made [the heart of] Lebanon mourn for it, and all the trees of the field wilted away because of it.

Therefore it will be night (tragedy) for you—without vision,And darkness (cataclysm) for you—without foresight.The sun shall go down on the [false] prophets,And the day shall become dark and black over them.

The first chariot had red horses (war, bloodshed), the second chariot had black horses (famine, death),

with the chariot with the black horses going toward the north country; then the one with the white horses follows after them [because there are two northern powers to overcome], and the chariot with the dappled horses goes toward the south country.”

Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you are not able to make a single hair white or black.

Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets [who spoke a new message of God to the people] and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod [Antipas] the tetrarch, and Saul.

When He (the Lamb) broke open the third seal, I heard the third living creature call out, “Come.” I looked, and behold, a black horse [of famine]; and the rider had in his hand a pair of scales (a balance).

So I looked, and behold, an ashen (pale greenish gray) horse [like a corpse, representing death and pestilence]; and its rider’s name was Death; and Hades (the realm of the dead) was following with him. They were given authority and power over a fourth part of the earth, to kill with the sword and with famine and with plague (pestilence, disease) and by the wild beasts of the earth.

I looked when He (the Lamb) broke open the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth [made] of hair, and the whole moon became like blood;