Psalms 18:28

18:28 Indeed, ¹  you are my lamp, Lord. ² 

My God ³  illuminates the darkness around me. ⁴ 

Job 29:3

29:3 when ⁵  he caused ⁶  his lamp ⁷ 

to shine upon my head,

and by his light

I walked ⁸  through darkness; ⁹ 

¹ tn Or “for.” The translation assumes that כִּי (ki)is asseverative here.

² tn Ps 18:28 reads literally, “you light my lamp, Lord.” 2 Sam 22:29 has, “you are my lamp, Lord.” The Ps 18 reading may preserve two variants, נֵרִי (neriy, “my lamp”) and אוֹרִי (’oriy, “my light”), cf. Ps 27:1. The verb תָּאִיר (ta’ir, “you light”) in Ps 18:28 would, in this case, be a corruption of the latter. See F. M. Cross and D. N. Freedman, Studies in Ancient Yahwistic Poetry (SBLDS), 150, n. 64. The metaphor, which likens the Lord to a lamp or light, pictures him as the psalmist’s source of life. For other examples of “lamp” used in this way, see Job 18:6; 21:17; Prov 13:9; 20:20; 24:20. For other examples of “light” as a symbol for life, see Job 3:20; 33:30; Ps 56:13.

³ tn 2 Sam 22:29 repeats the name “Lord.”

⁴ tn Heb “my darkness.”

⁵ tn This clause is in apposition to the preceding (see GKC 426 §131.o). It offers a clarification.

⁶ tn The form בְּהִלּוֹ (bÿhillo) is unusual; it should be parsed as a Hiphil infinitive construct with the elision of the ה (he). The proper spelling would have been with a ַ (patakh) under the preposition, reflecting הַהִלּוֹ (hahillo). If it were Qal, it would just mean “when his light shone.”

⁷ sn Lamp and light are symbols of God’s blessings of life and all the prosperous and good things it includes.

⁸ tn Here too the imperfect verb is customary – it describes action that was continuous, but in a past time.

⁹ tn The accusative (“darkness”) is here an adverbial accusative of place, namely, “in the darkness,” or because he was successfully led by God’s light, “through the darkness” (see GKC 374 §118.h).