Job 18:6

18:6 The light in his tent grows dark;

his lamp above him is extinguished. ¹ 

Job 21:17

How Often Do the Wicked Suffer?

21:17 “How often ²  is the lamp of the wicked extinguished?

How often does their ³  misfortune come upon them?

How often does God apportion pain ⁴  to them ⁵  in his anger?

Psalms 18:28

18:28 Indeed, ⁶  you are my lamp, Lord. ⁷ 

My God ⁸  illuminates the darkness around me. ⁹ 

Proverbs 13:9

13:9 The light ¹⁰  of the righteous shines brightly, ¹¹ 

but the lamp ¹²  of the wicked goes out. ¹³ 

Proverbs 20:20

20:20 The one who curses ¹⁴  his father and his mother,

his lamp ¹⁵  will be extinguished in the blackest ¹⁶  darkness.

Proverbs 24:20

24:20 for the evil person has no future, ¹⁷ 

and the lamp of the wicked will be extinguished. ¹⁸ 

[18:6]  ¹ tn The LXX interprets a little more precisely: “his lamp shall be put out with him.”

[21:17]  ² tn The interrogative “How often” occurs only with the first colon; it is supplied for smoother reading in the next two.

[21:17]  ³ tn The pronominal suffix is objective; it re-enforces the object of the preposition, “upon them.” The verb in the clause is בּוֹא (bo’) followed by עַל (’al), “come upon [or against],” may be interpreted as meaning attack or strike.

[21:17]  ⁴ tn חֲבָלִים (khavalim) can mean “ropes” or “cords,” but that would not go with the verb “apportion” in this line. The meaning of “pangs (as in “birth-pangs”) seems to fit best here. The wider meaning would be “physical agony.”

[21:17]  ⁵ tn The phrase “to them” is understood and thus is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[18:28]  ⁶ tn Or “for.” The translation assumes that כִּי (ki)is asseverative here.

[18:28]  ⁷ 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.

[18:28]  ⁸ tn 2 Sam 22:29 repeats the name “Lord.”

[18:28]  ⁹ tn Heb “my darkness.”

[13:9]  ¹⁰ 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.

[13:9]  ¹¹ 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).

[13:9]  ¹² sn The lamp is an implied comparison as well, comparing the life of the wicked to a lamp that is going to be extinguished.

[13:9]  ¹³ tc The LXX adds, “Deceitful souls go astray in sins, but the righteous are pitiful and merciful.”

[20:20]  ¹⁴ tn The form is the Piel participle of קָלַל (qalal), which means “to be light”; in the Piel stem it means “to take lightly; to treat as worthless; to treat contemptuously; to curse.” Under the Mosaic law such treatment of parents brought a death penalty (Exod 21:17; Lev 20:9; Deut 27:16).

[20:20]  ¹⁵ tn “His lamp” is a figure known as hypocatastasis (an implied comparison) meaning “his life.” Cf. NLT “the lamp of your life”; TEV “your life will end like a lamp.”

[20:20]  ¹⁶ tc The Kethib, followed by the LXX, Syriac, and Latin, has בְּאִישׁוֹן (bÿ’ishon), “in the pupil of the eye darkness,” the dark spot of the eye. But the Qere has בֶּאֱשׁוּן (be’eshun), probably to be rendered “pitch” or “blackest,” although the form occurs nowhere else. The meaning with either reading is approximately the same – deep darkness, which adds vividly to the figure of the lamp being snuffed out. This individual’s destruction will be total and final.

[24:20]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “there is no end [i.e., future] for the evil.”

[24:20]  ¹⁸ sn The saying warns against envying the wicked; v. 19 provides the instruction, and v. 20 the motivation. The motivation is that there is no future hope for them – nothing to envy, or as C. H. Toy explains, there will be no good outcome for their lives (Proverbs [ICC], 449). They will die suddenly, as the implied comparison with the lamp being snuffed out signifies.