18:5 “Yes, 1 the lamp 2 of the wicked is extinguished;
his flame of fire 3 does not shine.
18:6 The light in his tent grows dark;
his lamp above him is extinguished. 4
13:9 The light 5 of the righteous shines brightly, 6
but the lamp 7 of the wicked goes out. 8
1 tn Hebrew גַּם (gam, “also; moreover”), in view of what has just been said.
2 sn The lamp or the light can have a number of uses in the Bible. Here it is probably an implied metaphor for prosperity and happiness, for the good life itself.
3 tn The expression is literally “the flame of his fire,” but the pronominal suffix qualifies the entire bound construction. The two words together intensify the idea of the flame.
4 tn The LXX interprets a little more precisely: “his lamp shall be put out with him.”
7 sn The images of “light” and “darkness” are used frequently in scripture. Here “light” is an implied comparison: “light” represents life, joy, and prosperity; “darkness” signifies adversity and death. So the “light of the righteous” represents the prosperous life of the righteous.
8 tn The verb יִשְׂמָח (yismah) is normally translated “to make glad; to rejoice.” But with “light” as the subject, it has the connotation “to shine brightly” (see G. R. Driver, “Problems in the Hebrew Text of Proverbs,” Bib 32 [1951]: 180).
9 sn The lamp is an implied comparison as well, comparing the life of the wicked to a lamp that is going to be extinguished.
10 tc The LXX adds, “Deceitful souls go astray in sins, but the righteous are pitiful and merciful.”