Absence of sound. The Bible uses silence in several ways: as reverence to God (Hab 2:20), as a symbol of death (Ps 94:17), as a symbol of Sheol (Ps 115:17), and as an expression of despair (Lam 2:10). It is a way to shut up the opposition (Matt 22:34). It is also used as a dramatic pause following the opening of the seventh seal in Rev 8:1.
Habakkuk 2:20 – 20 But the Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.
PSALMS 94:17 – 17 Unless the Lord had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence.
PSALMS 115:17 – 17 The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence.
LAMENTATIONS 2:10 – 10 The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground, and keep silence: they have cast up dust upon their heads; they have girded themselves with sackcloth: the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.
MATTHEW 22:34 – 34 But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.
REVELATION 8:1 – And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.