Psalms 18:28

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

My God ³  illuminates the darkness around me. ⁴ 

Psalms 18:1

Psalm 18 ⁵ 

For the music director; by the Lord’s servant David, who sang ⁶  to the Lord the words of this song when ⁷  the Lord rescued him from the power ⁸  of all his enemies, including Saul. ⁹ 

18:1 He said: ¹⁰ 

“I love ¹¹  you, Lord, my source of strength! ¹² 

Psalms 14:1

Psalm 14 ¹³ 

For the music director; by David.

14:1 Fools say to themselves, ¹⁴  “There is no God.” ¹⁵ 

They sin and commit evil deeds; ¹⁶ 

none of them does what is right. ¹⁷ 

Psalms 14:1

Psalm 14 ¹⁸ 

For the music director; by David.

14:1 Fools say to themselves, ¹⁹  “There is no God.” ²⁰ 

They sin and commit evil deeds; ²¹ 

none of them does what is right. ²² 

Ezra 9:8

9:8 “But now briefly ²³  we have received mercy from the Lord our God, in that he has left us a remnant and has given us a secure position ²⁴  in his holy place. Thus our God has enlightened our eyes ²⁵  and has given us a little relief in our time of servitude.

Luke 2:32

2:32 a light, ²⁶ 

for revelation to the Gentiles,

and for glory ²⁷  to your people Israel.”

Revelation 21:23

21:23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God lights it up, and its lamp is the Lamb.

[18:28]  ¹ tn Or “for.” The translation assumes that כִּי (ki)is asseverative here.

[18:28]  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.

[18:28]  ³ tn 2 Sam 22:29 repeats the name “Lord.”

[18:28]  ⁴ tn Heb “my darkness.”

[18:1]  ⁵ sn Psalm 18. In this long song of thanks, the psalmist (a Davidic king, traditionally understood as David himself) affirms that God is his faithful protector. He recalls in highly poetic fashion how God intervened in awesome power and delivered him from death. The psalmist’s experience demonstrates that God vindicates those who are blameless and remain loyal to him. True to his promises, God gives the king victory on the battlefield and enables him to subdue nations. A parallel version of the psalm appears in 2 Sam 22:1-51.

[18:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “spoke.”

[18:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “in the day,” or “at the time.”

[18:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “hand.”

[18:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “and from the hand of Saul.”

[18:1]  ¹⁰ tn A number of translations (e.g., NASB, NIV, NRSV) assign the words “he said” to the superscription, in which case the entire psalm is in first person. Other translations (e.g., NAB) include the introductory “he said” at the beginning of v. 1.

[18:1]  ¹¹ tn The verb רָחַם (rakham) elsewhere appears in the Piel (or Pual) verbal stem with the basic meaning, “have compassion.” The verb occurs only here in the basic (Qal) stem. The basic stem of the verbal root also occurs in Aramaic with the meaning “love” (see DNWSI 2:1068-69; Jastrow 1467 s.v. רָחַם; G. Schmuttermayr, “rhm: eine lexikalische Studie,” Bib 51 [1970]: 515-21). Since this introductory statement does not appear in the parallel version in 2 Sam 22:1-51, it is possible that it is a later addition to the psalm, made when the poem was revised for use in worship.

[18:1]  ¹² tn Heb “my strength.” “Strength” is metonymic here, referring to the Lord as the one who bestows strength to the psalmist; thus the translation “my source of strength.”

[14:1]  ¹³ sn Psalm 14. The psalmist observes that the human race is morally corrupt. Evildoers oppress God’s people, but the psalmist is confident of God’s protection and anticipates a day when God will vindicate Israel.

[14:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “a fool says in his heart.” The singular is used here in a collective or representative sense; the typical fool is envisioned.

[14:1]  ¹⁵ sn “There is no God.” The statement is probably not a philosophical assertion that God does not exist, but rather a confident affirmation that God is unconcerned about how men live morally and ethically (see Ps 10:4, 11).

[14:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “they act corruptly, they make a deed evil.” The verbs describe the typical behavior of the wicked. The subject of the plural verbs is “sons of man” (v. 2). The entire human race is characterized by sinful behavior. This practical atheism – living as if there is no God who will hold them accountable for their actions – makes them fools, for one of the earmarks of folly is to fail to anticipate the long range consequences of one’s behavior.

[14:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “there is none that does good.”

[14:1]  ¹⁸ sn Psalm 14. The psalmist observes that the human race is morally corrupt. Evildoers oppress God’s people, but the psalmist is confident of God’s protection and anticipates a day when God will vindicate Israel.

[14:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “a fool says in his heart.” The singular is used here in a collective or representative sense; the typical fool is envisioned.

[14:1]  ²⁰ sn “There is no God.” The statement is probably not a philosophical assertion that God does not exist, but rather a confident affirmation that God is unconcerned about how men live morally and ethically (see Ps 10:4, 11).

[14:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “they act corruptly, they make a deed evil.” The verbs describe the typical behavior of the wicked. The subject of the plural verbs is “sons of man” (v. 2). The entire human race is characterized by sinful behavior. This practical atheism – living as if there is no God who will hold them accountable for their actions – makes them fools, for one of the earmarks of folly is to fail to anticipate the long range consequences of one’s behavior.

[14:1]  ²² tn Heb “there is none that does good.”

[9:8]  ²³ tn Heb “according to a little moment.”

[9:8]  ²⁴ tn Heb “a peg” or “tent peg.” The imagery behind this word is drawn from the experience of nomads who put down pegs as they pitched their tents and made camp after times of travel.

[9:8]  ²⁵ tn Heb “to cause our eyes to shine.” The expression is a figure of speech for “to revive.” See DCH 1:160 s.v. אור Hi.7.

[2:32]  ²⁶ tn The syntax of this verse is disputed. Most read “light” and “glory” in parallelism, so Jesus is a light for revelation to the Gentiles and is glory to the people for Israel. Others see “light” (1:78-79) as a summary, while “revelation” and “glory” are parallel, so Jesus is light for all, but is revelation for the Gentiles and glory for Israel. Both readings make good sense and either could be correct, but Luke 1:78-79 and Acts 26:22-23 slightly favor this second option.

[2:32]  ²⁷ sn In other words, Jesus is a special cause for praise and honor (“glory”) for the nation.