Lectionary Calendar
Friday, October 25th, 2024
the Week of Proper 24 / Ordinary 29
Attention!
For 10¢ a day you can enjoy StudyLight.org ads
free while helping to build churches and support pastors in Uganda.
Click here to learn more!

Read the Bible

King James Version

Job 29:3

When his candle shined upon my head, and when by his light I walked through darkness;

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - God;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Lamps;  

Dictionaries:

- Easton Bible Dictionary - Candle;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Job, the Book of;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Candle;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Lamp;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Interesting facts about the bible;   Lamp;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Candle;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Lamp;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Candle;   Shine;  

Parallel Translations

New Living Translation
when he lit up the way before me and I walked safely through the darkness.
English Revised Version
When his lamp shined upon my head, and by his light I walked through darkness;
Update Bible Version
When his lamp shined on my head, And by his light I walked through darkness;
New Century Version
God's lamp shined on my head, and I walked through darkness by his light.
New English Translation
when he caused his lamp to shine upon my head, and by his light I walked through darkness;
Webster's Bible Translation
When his candle shined upon my head, [and when] by his light I walked [through] darkness;
World English Bible
When his lamp shone on my head, And by his light I walked through darkness;
Amplified Bible
When His lamp shone upon my head And by His light I walked through darkness;
English Standard Version
when his lamp shone upon my head, and by his light I walked through darkness,
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Whanne his lanterne schynede on myn heed, and Y yede in derknessis at his liyt.
Berean Standard Bible
when His lamp shone above my head, and by His light I walked through the darkness,
Contemporary English Version
and the light from his lamp showed me the way through the dark.
American Standard Version
When his lamp shined upon my head, And by his light I walked through darkness;
Bible in Basic English
When his light was shining over my head, and when I went through the dark by his light.
Complete Jewish Bible
when his lamp shone over my head, and I walked through the dark by its light;
Darby Translation
When his lamp shone over my head, [and] by his light I walked through darkness;
Easy-to-Read Version
God's light shined above me, so I could walk through the darkness.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
When His lamp shined above my head, and by His light I walked through darkness;
King James Version (1611)
When his candle shined vpon my head, and when by his light I walked through darkenesse:
New Life Bible
His lamp shined over my head then and by His light I walked through darkness.
New Revised Standard
when his lamp shone over my head, and by his light I walked through darkness;
Geneva Bible (1587)
When his light shined vpon mine head: and when by his light I walked thorowe the darkenesse,
George Lamsa Translation
When he put his worship high upon my head, when his lamp shone over me; and when by his light I walked through darkness.
Good News Translation
God was always with me then and gave me light as I walked through the darkness.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
When his lamp shone over my head, by whose light, I could go through darkness;
Douay-Rheims Bible
When his lamp shined over my head, and I walked by his light in darkness?
Revised Standard Version
when his lamp shone upon my head, and by his light I walked through darkness;
Bishop's Bible (1568)
When his light shined vpon my head, when I went after the same light and shining, euen through the darknesse:
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
As when his lamp shone over my head; when by his light I walked through darkness.
Christian Standard Bible®
when his lamp shone above my head,and I walked through darkness by his light!
Hebrew Names Version
When his lamp shone on my head, And by his light I walked through darkness;
Lexham English Bible
when his shining lamp was over my head— by his light I walked through darkness—
Literal Translation
when His lamp shone on my head, when I walked through darkness by His light;
Young's Literal Translation
In His causing His lamp to shine on my head, By His light I walk [through] darkness.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
when his light shyned vpon my heade: whe I wente after the same light & shyne eue thorow the darcknesse.
New American Standard Bible
When His lamp shone over my head, And by His light I walked through darkness;
New King James Version
When His lamp shone upon my head, And when by His light I walked through darkness;
New American Standard Bible (1995)
When His lamp shone over my head, And by His light I walked through darkness;
Legacy Standard Bible
When His lamp shone over my head,And by His light I walked through darkness,

Contextual Overview

1 Moreover Job continued his parable, and said, 2 Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me; 3 When his candle shined upon my head, and when by his light I walked through darkness; 4 As I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle; 5 When the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were about me; 6 When I washed my steps with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil;

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

candle: or, lamp, Job 18:6, Job 21:17, Psalms 18:28, Proverbs 13:9, Proverbs 20:20, Proverbs 24:20

by his light: Job 22:28, Psalms 4:6, Psalms 23:4, Psalms 27:1, Psalms 84:11, Isaiah 2:4, John 8:12, John 12:46, Ephesians 5:8, Ephesians 5:14

Reciprocal: 2 Samuel 22:29 - lamp Job 13:24 - hidest thou Job 16:12 - at ease Psalms 36:9 - in thy Psalms 51:12 - Restore Psalms 89:15 - in the light Psalms 119:105 - lamp Isaiah 50:10 - that walketh

Gill's Notes on the Bible

When his candle shined upon my head,.... Which may be understood either of outward prosperity, sometimes signified by a candle, Job 18:5; and may be called the candle of the Lord, because it is from him, it is of his lighting and setting up; and its shining on his head may denote the large measure and degree of it possessed by him, in allusion to torches carried on high to light with; or lamps, or candles, set up in the higher part of the house to give the more light; or to the sun in the firmament, and especially when in its meridian, and shines clearest right over our heads, and casts no shadow: or else it may be understood of light in a figurative sense, not of the light of nature in men, which, though called the candle of the Lord, Proverbs 20:27; yet, in man's fallen state, shines not clearly; and with respect to this there was no difference in Job than heretofore; but rather it is the light of grace, the true light, which had shone upon him and in him, but now not so clearly as formerly, and as he could wish for; or else the word of God, which is a light unto the feet, and a lamp to the path; or it may be, best of all, the favour of God, the light of his countenance he had before enjoyed, having had a comfortable display of his love, a clear view of interest in it, and had the blessings of it bestowed upon him, and enjoyed by him; and nothing was more desirable by him, as is by every good man, than the return of the light of God's countenance; and that he might be remembered with his special favour, as his people are, and as he had been in times past:

[and when] by his light I walked [through] darkness; that is, either by the light of outward prosperity he had escaped those calamities, distresses, and dangers, and got over those difficulties which attended others, though now surrounded with them; or by the light of divine grace, or of the word of God, and especially by and in the light of God's countenance, he walked cheerfully and comfortably, without any fear of the darkness of affliction and calamities, or of the dark valley of the shadow of death, or of the prince of darkness, or of the darkness of hell and damnation; but now clouds of darkness being about him, and he without the light of God's countenance, could not see the way in which he walked and therefore wished that that again might be lifted up upon him.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

When his candle shined upon my head - Margin, or, “lamp;” compare notes Job 18:6. It was remarked in the note on that place, that it was common to have lamps or lights always burning in a house or tent. When Job speaks of the lamps shining “on his head,” the allusion is probably to the custom of suspending a lamp from the ceiling - a custom which prevails among the wealthy Arabs. “Scott.” Virgil speaks of a similar thing in the palace of Dido:

- Dependent lychni laquearibus aureis Incensi.

Aeneid i. 726.

“From gilded roofs depending lamps display

Nocturnal beams that imitate the day.”

Dryden

See, also Lucretius, ii. 24. Indeed the custom is common everywhere and the image is a beautiful illustration of the divine favor - of light and happiness imparted by God, the great source of blessedness from above. The Hebrew word rendered “shined” בהלו behilô) has been the occasion of some perplexity in regard to its form. According to Ewald, Hebrew Gram. p. 471, and Gesenius, Lex, it is the Hiphil form of הלל hâlal - to shine, the He preformative being dropped. The sense is, “In his causing the light to shine.” Others suppose that it is the infinitive of the Qal, with a pleonastic suffix; meaning “when it shined;” that is, the light. The sense is essentially the same; compare Schultens and Rosenmuller in loc.

And when by his light - Under his guidance and direction.

I walked through darkness - “Here is reference probably to the fires or other lights which were carried before the caravans in their nightly travels through the deserts.” “Noyes.” The meaning is, that God afforded him protection, instruction, and guidance. In places, and on subjects that would have been otherwise dark, he counselled and led him. He enjoyed the manifestations’ of the divine favor; his understanding was enlightened, and he was enabled to comprehend subjects that would have been otherwise perplexing and difficult. He refers, probably, to the inquiries about the divine government and administration, and to the questions that came before him as a magistrate or an umpire - questions that he was enabled to determine with wisdom.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 29:3. When his candle shined upon my head — Alluding most probably to the custom of illuminating festival or assembly rooms by lamps pendant from the ceiling. These shone literally on the heads of the guests.

By his light I walked through darkness — His light - prosperity and peace - continued to illuminate my way. If adversity came, I had always the light of God to direct me. Almost all the nations of the world have represented their great men as having a nimbus or Divine glory about their heads, which not only signified the honour they had, but was also an emblem of the inspiration of the Almighty.


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile