Nevertheless for David’s sake, Yahweh his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him, and to establish Jerusalem;
Parallel Translations
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Nevertheless for David’s sake, Yahweh his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him, and to establish Jerusalem;
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Nevertheless for David’s sake did the LORD his God give him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him, and to establish Jerusalem:
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Nevertheless for David's sake did the LORD his God give him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him, and to establish Jerusalem;
Cross-references (26)
Passages linked to 1 Kings 15:4 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 1 Kings 11:36 I will give one tribe to his son, that David my servant may have a lamp always before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen for myself to put my name there.
- 2 Chronicles 21:7 However Yahweh would not destroy David’s house, because of the covenant that he had made with David, and as he promised to give a lamp to him and to his children always.
- Genesis 12:2 I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing.
- 2 Samuel 7:12-16 When your days are fulfilled, and you sleep with your fathers, I will set up your offspring after you, who will proceed out of your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men; but my loving kindness will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before you. Your house and your kingdom will be made sure forever before you. Your throne will be established forever.” ’ ”
- 1 Kings 11:12 Nevertheless, I will not do it in your days, for David your father’s sake; but I will tear it out of your son’s hand.
- 1 Kings 11:32 (but he shall have one tribe, for my servant David’s sake and for Jerusalem’s sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel);
- Psalms 18:28 For you will light my lamp, Yahweh. My God will light up my darkness.
- Psalms 132:17 I will make the horn of David to bud there. I have ordained a lamp for my anointed.
- Isaiah 37:35 ‘For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.’ ”
- Genesis 19:29 When God destroyed the cities of the plain, God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the middle of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.
- Genesis 26:5 because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my requirements, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”
- Deuteronomy 4:37 Because he loved your fathers, therefore he chose their offspring after them, and brought you out with his presence, with his great power, out of Egypt;
- 2 Samuel 21:17 But Abishai the son of Zeruiah helped him, and struck the Philistine, and killed him. Then the men of David swore to him, saying, “Don’t go out with us to battle any more, so that you don’t quench the lamp of Israel.”
- Psalms 87:5 Yes, of Zion it will be said, “This one and that one was born in her;” the Most High himself will establish her.
- Isaiah 9:7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, on David’s throne, and on his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from that time on, even forever. The zeal of Yahweh of Armies will perform this.
- Isaiah 14:32 What will they answer the messengers of the nation? That Yahweh has founded Zion, and in her the afflicted of his people will take refuge.
- Isaiah 62:7 and give him no rest, until he establishes, and until he makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.
- Jeremiah 33:2 “Yahweh who does it, Yahweh who forms it to establish it—Yahweh is his name, says:
- Jeremiah 33:20-26 “Yahweh says: ‘If you can break my covenant of the day and my covenant of the night, so that there will not be day and night in their time; then may my covenant also be broken with David my servant, that he won’t have a son to reign on his throne; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers. As the army of the sky can’t be counted, and the sand of the sea can’t be measured; so I will multiply the offspring of David my servant and the Levites who minister to me.’ ” Yahweh’s word came to Jeremiah, saying, “Don’t consider what this people has spoken, saying, ‘Has Yahweh cast off the two families which he chose?’ Thus they despise my people, that they should be no more a nation before them.” Yahweh says: “If my covenant of day and night fails, if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth; then I will also cast away the offspring of Jacob, and of David my servant, so that I will not take of his offspring to be rulers over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to be reversed and will have mercy on them.”
- Micah 4:1-2 But in the latter days, it will happen that the mountain of Yahweh’s temple will be established on the top of the mountains, and it will be exalted above the hills; and peoples will stream to it. Many nations will go and say, “Come! Let’s go up to the mountain of Yahweh, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” For the law will go out of Zion, and Yahweh’s word from Jerusalem;
- Matthew 16:18 I also tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my assembly, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.
- Luke 1:69-79 and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets who have been from of old), salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us; to show mercy toward our fathers, to remember his holy covenant, the oath which he swore to Abraham our father, to grant to us that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, should serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life. And you, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the remission of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the dawn from on high will visit us, to shine on those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death; to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
- Luke 2:32 a light for revelation to the nations, and the glory of your people Israel.”
- John 8:12 Again, therefore, Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.”
- Romans 11:28 Concerning the Good News, they are enemies for your sake. But concerning the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sake.
- Revelation 22:16 I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify these things to you for the assemblies. I am the root and the offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (15 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Meaning, a son to reign over Judah.
Meaning, a son to reign over Judah.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 1Ki 15:4 Nevertheless for David’s sake did the LORD…
1Ki 15:4 Nevertheless for David’s sake did the LORD his God give him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him, and to establish Jerusalem:
Ver. 4. Did the Lord his God give him a lamp.] That is, A royal glory in a successor.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain A lamp, i.e. a son and successor to perpetuate…
A lamp, i.e. a son and successor to perpetuate his name and memory, which otherwise had gone into obscurity. The same phrase is used above, 1Ki 11:36; 2Ki 8:19; 2Ch 21:7.
To establish Jerusalem, i.e. that he might maintain that city, and temple, and worship, as a witness for God in the world against the Israelites and heathen world, who should have inquired after it, and embraced the true religion there established and set up, as a beacon upon a high hill, that all men might take notice of it.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Because David did that which was right in the…
Because David did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord,.... With respect to worship: and turned not aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life; especially in matters of religion, nor even in his moral walk and conversation, deliberately, studiously, and with design:
save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite; the killing of him, and other sins which led on to it, and were in connection with it; Abarbinel thinks, because the affair of Bathsheba is not mentioned, that was not reckoned to David as a sin; but no doubt it was, and is included here.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain A lamp - A son and successor to perpetuate…
A lamp - A son and successor to perpetuate his name and memory, which otherwise had gone into obscurity. Jerusalem - That he might maintain that city, and temple, and worship, as a witness for God, in the world, against the Israelites and heathen world.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 4. The Lord - give him a lamp]…
Verse 4. The Lord - give him a lamp] That is, a son to succeed him; see 1Kg 11:36.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain 1Ki 15:4. And the Lord gave him a lamp…
1Ki 15:4. And the Lord gave him a lamp — A son and successor, to perpetuate his name and memory, which otherwise had gone into obscurity. Jerusalem — That he might maintain that city, and temple, and worship, as a witness for himself in the world, against the Israelites and heathen world.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain To set up his son - The idolatry of…
To set up his son - The idolatry of Abijam deserved the same punishment as that of Jeroboam 1Ki 14:10-14, of Baasha 1Ki 16:2-4, or of Zimri 1Ki 16:19, the cutting off of his seed, and the transfer of the crown to another family. That these consequences did not follow in the kingdom of Judah, was owing to the “faithfulness” of David (see the marginal reference), which brought a blessing on his posterity. Few things are more remarkable and more difficult to account for on mere grounds of human reason, than the stability of the succession in Judah, and its excessive instability in the sister kingdom. One family in Judah holds the throne from first to last, during a space but little short of four centuries, while in Israel there are nine changes of dynasty within two hundred and fifty years.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Lamp, son; (chap. xi. 36.) though he deserved to…
Lamp, son; (chap. xi. 36.) though he deserved to have his family exterminated. (Calmet) --- He is preserved for his father’s sake. (Worthington)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain for David's sake did the Lord his God give…
for David's sake did the Lord his God give him a lamp--"A lamp" in one's house is an Oriental phrase for continuance of family name and prosperity. Abijam was not rejected only in consequence of the divine promise to David (see on 1Ki. 11:13-36).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 4. A lamp in Jerusalem — A light sacredly…
4. A lamp in Jerusalem — A light sacredly preserved in the person of the successive kings of Jerusalem to attract the gaze of men, and shine out a constant evidence of the promise to David, and a standing prophecy of the coming Messiah, the light of the world. See note on 1Ki_11:36.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 4. a lamp] Cf. above on 1Ki_11:36. The LXX.…
4. a lamp] Cf. above on 1Ki_11:36. The LXX. gives κατάλειμμα here = a remnant, thus expressing the sense of the original, instead of translating. Similarly in 1Ki_11:36 the rendering is θέσις = a position.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (4) Give him a lamp in Jerusalem.—There is here…
(4) Give him a lamp in Jerusalem.—There is here a brief allusion to the victory recorded in the Chronicles, which obviously was the turning-point in the struggle, saving the “lamp” of the house of David from extinction, and “establishing” Jerusalem in security. “For David’s sake” is, of course, for the fulfilment of the promise to David (2Sa_7:12-16). In virtue of the continuity of human history, the Divine law always ordains that, in respect of consequences, the good deeds as well as the sins of fathers are “visited on their children.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Nevertheless yKi but, sed, sondern, Gesen. 393 for David"s…
Nevertheless yKi but, sed, sondern, Gesen. 393 for David"s sake did the Lord his God give him a lamp Better than margin, candle. The word is "always used figuratively of progeny." (See note on 1Ki_2:26; 2Sa_21:17; Job_18:5, Job_18:6; Psa_132:17) in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him, and to establish Jerusalem But for David"s piety, that is to say, his family would have been dethroned, if not destroyed, as was that of Jeroboam, (1Ki_14:10) of Baasha, (1Ki_16:2) of Ahab, (2Ki_10:11) etc. Abijah was the third prince of that line who had permitted idolatrous worship, so that that dynasty had richly deserved to forfeit its position. The stability of the family of David on the throne for nearly 400 years, amid all the changes and chances of that period, and whilst in Israel there were "nine changes of dynasty within 250 years" is, as Rawlinson remarks, very "difficult to account for on mere grounds of human reason":
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 gave him a lamp in Jerusalem
gave him a lamp in Jerusalem
The word "lamp" here represents a descendant who would be king as David was. AT: "gave David a descendant to rule in Jerusalem" (See: Metaphor)
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by raising up his son after him
"by raising up Abijah's son after him" or "by giving Abijah a son"
what was right in his eyes
The eyes here represent seeing, and seeing represents thoughts or judgment. AT: "what Yahweh judges to be right" or "what Yahweh considers to be right" (See:Metaphor)
for all the days of his life
"the whole time that David lived" or "throughout David's whole life"
he had not turned away from anything that he commanded him
Turning away from a command represents disobeying it. AT: "David did not disobey anything that God commanded him" (See: Metaphor)
except only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite
This is a general way to refer to the situation with Uriah. It can be stated more clearly what this matter was. AT: "except for what he did to Uriah the Hittite" or "except when he caused Uriah the Hittite to be killed" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
between Rehoboam and Jeroboam
These kings represent themselves and their armies. Rehoboam was Abijah's father. AT: "between the armies of Rehoboam and Jeroboam" (See: Synecdoche)
all the days of Abijah's life
"the whole time that Abijah lived"
translationWords
lamp
raise
life
turn
command
Uriah
Hittite
Rehoboam
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.