8:9 that day. See note 5:18.

I will make . . . darken. Though such idolatry was strictly prohibited by the covenant (Deut. 4:19), Judah and Israel engaged in star and sun worship (5:26 note; 2 Kin. 23:5, 11). The assertions here affirm that He alone is God, and the sun merely one of His creations (Gen. 1:16 and notes).

the earth. Or, “the land,” since the land of Israel was to be punished. The phrase directly recalls the plague of darkness that the Lord brought upon the land of Egypt (cf. Ex. 10:21, 22; Ps. 105:28). Here again, the Lord is about to judge Israel with a judgment similar to that of Egypt.