Exploring the Meaning of Pheggos in Greek

φέγγος denotes “brightness,” and it appears in two eschatological sayings where sun and moon are described as losing what they ordinarily provide to the sky. In both passages the term is tied to the moon’s contribution of visible radiance and its sudden withdrawal as part of cosmic disturbance.

Root and Related Words

Strong’s connects φέγγος with φῶς (phōs), “light” (Strong’s G5457), and with φθέγγομαι (phthengomai), “to speak” (Strong’s G5350). These relationships place φέγγος within a word-family that Strong’s associates with light on the one hand and with an utterance on the other.

Occurrences

“But immediately after the suffering of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken;” (Matthew 24:29)

Here φέγγος is the moon’s “light” within a tightly packed series of celestial disruptions. The sentence moves from the sun (“will be darkened”) to the moon (“will not give its light”), then outward to the stars (“will fall from the sky”), and finally to the “powers of the heavens” (“will be shaken”). In that chain, the moon is portrayed as a regular giver—something expected to “give” brightness—yet in this moment it ceases that ordinary function. φέγγος therefore contributes the idea of a measurable, observable radiance that can be present as a gift and also withheld. The effect is not merely that the night is described as dim, but that an accustomed source fails to supply what it normally supplies, intensifying the sense that creation’s stable rhythms are being interrupted “immediately after the suffering of those days.”

The pairing of sun darkening and moon not giving its φέγγος also shapes the picture of total sky-wide loss: daylight’s primary luminary is darkened, and nighttime’s prominent luminary refuses its brightness. The verse’s cascade of clauses uses these luminaries as the opening strokes of a broader upheaval, so the moon’s withheld brightness functions as a concrete sign within a larger scene of cosmic shaking.

“But in those days, after that oppression, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light,” (Mark 13:24)

Mark’s occurrence places φέγγος in a shorter, more concentrated statement. The temporal framing (“in those days, after that oppression”) introduces an affliction-laden setting, and then the saying turns immediately to the sky: sun darkened, moon not giving its light. Without mentioning stars or the “powers of the heavens” in this verse, Mark foregrounds the two great lights as sufficient to communicate the magnitude of what is happening. φέγγος again belongs to the moon as something it “gives,” implying an active bestowal rather than a passive quality. The moon is not described as vanishing; instead, it remains in view as a body that refuses its accustomed output of brightness.

Within the verse’s compact parallelism, the moon’s failure balances the sun’s darkening. The two clauses together create a double negation of normal illumination—day disrupted, then night disrupted—so φέγγος serves as the specific component of nocturnal visibility that collapses as part of the announced crisis.

Sense and Usage

Across these two sayings, “brightness” is not treated as an abstract idea but as a concrete, sky-level phenomenon that a heavenly body supplies to the world below. The consistent phrasing (“the moon will not give its light”) makes φέγγος the element of the moon’s contribution that can be spoken of as given and withheld. In both scenes, that withholding belongs to a larger portrayal of disorder in the heavens: in Matthew it stands among falling stars and shaking powers, and in Mark it stands in stark parallel to the sun’s darkening. The word’s force in context therefore lies in its clarity and immediacy—brightness as something people ordinarily perceive and rely on, now suddenly absent.

The usage also highlights a contrast between expected continuity and announced interruption. The moon’s brightness is ordinarily predictable in human experience: it is something a speaker can mention without explanation, assuming common recognition of what the moon does for the night sky. Precisely because it is familiar, its removal is an effective way to express the extremity of “those days.” The moon’s failure to give φέγγος operates like a sensory marker of upheaval: the sky itself becomes an indicator that the period described is unlike normal times.

Finally, the collocation with the verb “give” frames brightness as a kind of output or provision. The moon is depicted not only as possessing brightness, but as dispensing it. That nuance matters in both passages because it portrays the loss not merely as dimming but as a halted act of giving—one more feature of the world’s regular order that ceases in the described moment.

Imagery

In these verses φέγγος evokes a night sky that should be lit, yet is not. The imagery is stark: sun darkened by day, and by night the moon present yet withholding the brightness that would normally wash the landscape with pale light (Matthew 24:29; Mark 13:24).

Sources: Lexical data from Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance and the Translators Brief Lexicon of Extended Strongs for Greek (STEPBible, CC BY). Occurrence data from the Translators Amalgamated Greek New Testament (STEPBible, CC BY). Scripture quotations from the World English Bible (public domain).