o.phel denotes dark conditions or places, and can frame obscurity, adversity, or restored sight in Scripture.

The term most often marks dark settings or conditions: a night, a land, concealed shooting, pestilence's path, and a searched-out limit. In other clauses it helps express an adverse or obscuring condition, set against hoped-for light, covering a face, or the blind seeing from gloom.

1. Dark setting, place, or condition · dominant

   The absolute noun occurs with a night in Job 3:6, with concealed shooting in Psalm 11:2, and with pestilence walking in Psalm 91:6; in each case the APB renders the surrounding clause with “darkness.” Job 10:22 has two construct forms characterizing a land, while Job 28:3 places the noun in the search for the “stone of darkness and the shadow of death.”

   Job 3:6Psalm 11:2Psalm 91:6Job 10:22Job 28:3
2. Obscurity or adverse contrast · occasional

   In Job 30:26, the absolute noun stands in the clause contrasting awaited light with the arrival of an adverse outcome; the APB renders that outcome as “darkness.” In Job 23:17 it is set beside gloom covering the speaker's face, and in Isaiah 29:18 it stands in the setting from which blind eyes will see.

   Job 30:26Job 23:17Isaiah 29:18

In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB commonly presents the relevant clauses with “darkness,” including the night, land, concealed shooting, and pestilence scenes. It also uses “gloom” in Job 23:17 and Isaiah 29:18; These renderings indicate the clauses' presentation rather than fixed English equivalents.