Skotia is darkness, chiefly portrayed in contrast with light as a condition in which people walk, remain, or are overcome.

The dominant usage places darkness in contrast with light: it is a condition in which people may walk or remain, one that can overtake, blind, or be passing away. The attested verses also use it for nighttime conditions and for speech said away from public hearing.

1. Darkness contrasted with light · dominant

   In John 12:35 the forms occur as the light is available and darkness may overtake those who walk without knowing where they are going; the APB renders the clause, “Whoever walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.” In 1 John 2:11, hatred of a brother is set within darkness, where the darkness has blinded the eyes; John 8:12 similarly contrasts walking in darkness with having “the light of life.”

   John 12:351 John 2:11John 8:12John 1:51 John 1:51 John 2:8
2. Nighttime darkness · occasional

   In John 6:17, the nominative singular form occurs after the travelers enter a boat, and the APB renders that “darkness had already come.” In John 20:1, the genitive singular form appears in the temporal setting of Mary Magdalene coming to the tomb “while it was still dark.”

   John 6:17John 20:1
3. A concealed setting for speech · occasional

   In Matthew 10:27, what is said in darkness is to be spoken in the light and proclaimed publicly. Luke 12:3 likewise contrasts words said in darkness with what will be heard in the light and proclaimed on housetops.

   Matthew 10:27Luke 12:3

In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB regularly presents the term with “darkness,” including contrasts with “light” in John 1:5 and John 12:35. In John 20:1 it instead renders the temporal setting as “while it was still dark”.