when his lamp shone on my head, and by his light I walked through darkness,
as I was in my prime, when the friendship of God was in my tent,
when the Almighty was yet with me, and my children were around me,
Parallel Translations
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when his lamp shone on my head, and by his light I walked through darkness,
as I was in my prime, when the friendship of God was in my tent,
when the Almighty was yet with me, and my children were around me,
-
When his candle shined upon my head, and when by his light I walked through darkness;
As I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle;
When the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were about me;
Show all 3 translations
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When His lamp shined above my head, and by His light I walked through darkness;
As I was in the days of my youth, when the converse of God was upon my tent;
When the Almighty was yet with me, and my children were about me;
Cross-references (41)
- Psalms 18:28 (v3) For you will light my lamp, Yahweh. My God will light up my darkness.
- John 8:12 (v3) 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…
- Job 18:6 (v3) The light will be dark in his tent. His lamp above him will be put out.
- Psalms 25:14 (v4) The friendship of Yahweh is with those who fear him. He will show them his covenant.
- John 12:46 (v3) I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in the darkness.
Show all 41 cross-references
- Ephesians 5:8 (v3) For you were once darkness, but are now light in the Lord. Walk as children of light,
- Job 11:17 (v3) Life will be clearer than the noonday. Though there is darkness, it will be as the morning.
- Job 22:28 (v3) You will also decree a thing, and it will be established to you. Light will shine on your ways.
- Psalms 84:11 (v3) For Yahweh God is a sun and a shield. Yahweh will give grace and glory. He withholds no good thing from those who walk blamelessly.
- Proverbs 24:20 (v3) for there will be no reward to the evil man. The lamp of the wicked will be snuffed out.
- Psalms 23:4 (v3) Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they…
- Psalms 27:1 (v3) Yahweh is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? Yahweh is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid?
- Psalms 128:3 (v5) Your wife will be as a fruitful vine in the innermost parts of your house, your children like olive plants around your table.
- Proverbs 3:32 (v4) For the perverse is an abomination to Yahweh, but his friendship is with the upright.
- Proverbs 13:9 (v3) The light of the righteous shines brightly, but the lamp of the wicked is snuffed out.
- Isaiah 2:4 (v3) He will judge between the nations, and will decide concerning many peoples. They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears…
- Ephesians 5:14 (v3) Therefore he says, “Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
- Job 21:17 (v3) “How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out, that their calamity comes on them, that God distributes sorrows in his anger?
- Psalms 4:6 (v3) Many say, “Who will show us any good?” Yahweh, let the light of your face shine on us.
- Psalms 127:3-5 (v5) Behold, children are a heritage of Yahweh. The fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows in the hand of a mighty man, so are the children…
- Proverbs 20:20 (v3) Whoever curses his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in blackness of darkness.
- Deuteronomy 33:27-29 (v5) The eternal God is your dwelling place. Underneath are the everlasting arms. He thrust out the enemy from before you, and said, ‘Destroy!’…
- Joshua 1:9 (v5) Haven’t I commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be dismayed, for Yahweh your God is with you wherever you go.”
- Job 1:10 (v4) Haven’t you made a hedge around him, and around his house, and around all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his…
- Job 15:8 (v4) Have you heard the secret counsel of God? Do you limit wisdom to yourself?
- Psalms 27:5 (v4) For in the day of trouble, he will keep me secretly in his pavilion. In the secret place of his tabernacle, he will hide me. He will lift…
- Psalms 30:7 (v5) You, Yahweh, when you favored me, made my mountain stand strong; but when you hid your face, I was troubled.
- Song of Solomon 2:4 (v5) He brought me to the banquet hall. His banner over me is love.
- Song of Solomon 3:1-2 (v5) By night on my bed, I sought him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but I didn’t find him. I will get up now, and go about the city; in the…
- Judges 6:12-13 (v5) Yahweh’s angel appeared to him, and said to him, “Yahweh is with you, you mighty man of valor!” Gideon said to him, “Oh, my lord, if Yahweh…
- Job 1:2-5 (v5) There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. His possessions also were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred…
- Job 23:3 (v5) Oh that I knew where I might find him! That I might come even to his seat!
- Job 23:8-10 (v5) “If I go east, he is not there; if west, I can’t find him; He works to the north, but I can’t see him. He turns south, but I can’t catch a…
- Job 42:13-16 (v5) He had also seven sons and three daughters. He called the name of the first, Jemimah; and the name of the second, Keziah; and the name of…
- Psalms 43:2 (v5) For you are the God of my strength. Why have you rejected me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
- Psalms 44:8-9 (v5) In God we have made our boast all day long, we will give thanks to your name forever. But now you rejected us, and brought us to dishonor,…
- Psalms 91:1 (v4) He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
- Jeremiah 14:8 (v5) You hope of Israel, its Savior in the time of trouble, why should you be as a foreigner in the land, and as a wayfaring man who turns aside…
- Matthew 9:15 (v5) Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the…
- Proverbs 17:6 (v5) Children’s children are the crown of old men; the glory of children are their parents.
- Colossians 3:3 (v4) For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (15 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv3–4 When I felt his favor.
When I felt his favor.
I was free from affliction.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv3–5 Job 29:3 When his candle shined upon my head,…
Job 29:3 When his candle shined upon my head, [and when] by his light I walked [through] darkness;
Ver. 3. When his candle shined upon my head] When I was apparently blessed by him, and all went hail well with me. The sun smote me not by day nor the moon by night, Psa 121:6, but both seemed to be made and to make for me. Nay, more; the sweet sunshine of God’s loving countenance was displayed upon me, which is not like the winter sun, that casts a goodly countenance when it shines, but gives little comfort and heat. Job had both counsel and comfort from God; and that when other men were to seek of both: for,
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By his light I walked through darkness] Without the least fear of those evils and miseries that put others into very great distemper. So Noah was - Mediis tranquillus in undis. Abraham stands upon the hill, and seeth the cities of the plain burning. David can walk (not step) through (not cross) the valley (not a dark entry) of the shadow of death (the darkest side of death), and not fear (though he should go back again in the same way). And why? "for thou art with me," saith he, "thy rod and thy staff they comfort me," Psa 23:4.
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 On vv3–5 His candle, i.e. his favour and blessing, oft signified…
His candle, i.e. his favour and blessing, oft signified by the name light; as his displeasure and a state of affliction is frequently called darkness. Upon my head, or, over my head, to comfort and direct me. The ground of the expression is this, that lights used to be carried and set on high, that men may make the better use of them, as the sun for that end was placed above us.
I walked through darkness; I passed safely through many difficulties, and dangers, and common calamities, which befell others who lived round about me, and overcame those troubles which fell upon myself.
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 On vv3–5 When his candle shined upon my head,.... Which may…
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, Pro 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.
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 On v3 Darkness - I passed safely through many difficulties, and…
Darkness - I passed safely through many difficulties, and dangers, and common calamities.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv3–4 Verse 3. When his candle shined upon my head]…
Verse 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.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv4–5 Job 29:4. As I was in the days of…
Job 29:4. As I was in the days of my youth — In my former and flourishing days; when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle — When there was a secret blessing of God upon me and my family, succeeding us in all our affairs; and when God conversed freely with me, as one bosom friend with another; when I knew his mind, and was not in uncertainty respecting it, as I have been of late. It may be proper, however, to observe, that the word סוד, sod, here translated the secret, signifies not only secret counsels, in which sense it is used Amo 3:7, but also the assembly where such consultations are held, in which latter sense it is used much more frequently, as Psa 89:8; Psa 111:1; Jer 6:11. And in this sense Sol. Jarchi understands it here. Thus interpreted, the meaning of the clause is, when the society of God, a company of devout persons, assembled in my tabernacle, namely, for divine worship, and other purposes of religion. In these meetings, no doubt, Job presided, and in them he took a great deal of pleasure, and it was no little grief to him to have them intermitted, and the persons that composed them scattered.
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 On vv3–5 When his candle shined upon my head - Margin,…
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.
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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.
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 On v4 Youth. Hebrew, also "autumn or winter," which are seasons…
Youth. Hebrew, also "autumn or winter," which are seasons of repose, when people enjoy the fruits of their labours. --- Tabernacle, and all consulted me as an oracle. (Calmet) -- Septuagint, "when God made the visit of my house," (Haydock) and filled it with blessings, like that of Obededom, 2 Kings vi. 12.
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 On vv3–4 candle--when His favor shone on me (see on Job…
candle--when His favor shone on me (see on Job 18:6 and Psa 18:28).
darkness--By His safeguard I passed secure through dangers. Perhaps alluding to the lights carried before caravans in nightly travels through deserts [NOYES].
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 On vv3–5 3. When his candle shined — Literally, When he,…
3. When his candle shined — Literally, When he, his lamp, shone above my head. The glory of a providential God, under a figure of marked beauty, is represented as taking the place of the lamp which Orientals are accustomed to suspend, often from the ceiling, in every occupied apartment. Thus the light shone the live-long night upon the heads of those who slept below on the floors or divans. (Note, Job_18:6.) Ecc_12:6 figures existence under the image of a golden lamp, (bowl,) suspended from the ceiling by a silver cord, upon the breaking of which life ceases. (DELITZSCH, Bib. Psych., 269.) The second clause of the verse may contain, as Kitto supposes, an allusion to the torches or cressets carried aloft in the night marches of large caravans.
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 On vv3–5 3. This verse expands “preserved” or “watched over” in…
3. This verse expands “preserved” or “watched over” in Job_29:2.
his candle shined upon] Or, his lamp shined over. God’s lamp shone above him, and lighted his path, so that the darkness before him was made to be light, Isa_42:16. God’s “lamp” is a figure for His favour and enlightenment and prospering of him.
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 On vv3–4 (3) When his candle shined.—See Isa_1:10.
(3) When his candle shined.—See Isa_1:10.
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 On vv3–5 When his candle shined upon my head. (comp. Psa_18:28,…
When his candle shined upon my head. (comp. Psa_18:28, "For thou wilt light my candle: the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness A "candle," or "lamp," is a general symbol in Scripture for life and prosperity. God is said to light men"s candles when he blesses them and maizes his countenance to shine upon them; conversely, when he withdraws his favour he is said to put their candles out. (Job_18:6 Job_21:17) And when by his light I walked through darkness. The light of God"s countenance shining about a man"s path enables him to walk securely even through thick darkness, i.e. through trouble and perplexity.
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 On v4 in the ripeness of my days
in the ripeness of my days
Job speaks of when he was young and strong as if his days were the time when the harvest is ripe. AT: "when I was young and strong" (See: Metaphor)
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when the friendship of God was on my tent
The abstract noun "friendship" can be expressed with the noun "friend." The word "tent" represents Job's home. AT: "when God was my friend and protected my home" (See: Abstract Nouns and Metonymy)
when my way was covered with cream
"when my path was flowing with cream." Job uses this exaggeration to express that he had many cows and they produced much more cream than he and his family needed. AT: "when my cows provided an abundance of cream" (See: Hyperbole and Generalization)
and the rock poured out for me streams of oil
"and the rock poured out streams of oil for me." Job uses this exaggeration to express that he had many olive vines and great amounts of olive oil. The rock is where his servants pressed the oil out of the olives. AT: "when my servants pressed out a great amount of olive oil" or "when oil flowed like streams from the pressing rock" (See: Hyperbole and Generalization and Metaphor)
translationWords
tent
Almighty
children
oil
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.