when his lamp shone on my head, and by his light I walked through darkness,
Parallel translations
- KJV When his candle shined upon my head, and when by his light I walked through darkness;
- BSB when His lamp shone above my head, and by His light I walked through the darkness,
- NKJV When His lamp shone upon my head, And when by His light I walked through darkness;
- NASB When His lamp shone over my head, And by His light I walked through darkness;
- NLT when he lit up the way before me and I walked safely through the darkness.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Job recalls how God's lamp shone on him so that he walked safely even through darkness.
Overview
The image of God's lamp upon his head pictures divine favor, guidance, and protection in former days. Even in dark times, God's light enabled Job to walk securely. This anticipates the truth that God is the light who guides His people (Psalm 119:105), fully revealed in Christ, the light of the world (John 8:12).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Ps 18:28For you will light my lamp, Yahweh. My God will light up my darkness.
- John 8:12Again, 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 the light of life.”
- John 12:46I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in the darkness.
- Eph 5:8For you were once darkness, but are now light in the Lord. Walk as children of light,
- Job 18:6The light shall be dark in his tent. His lamp above him shall be put out.
- Job 11:17Life shall be clearer than the noonday. Though there is darkness, it shall be as the morning.
- Job 22:28You shall also decree a thing, and it shall be established to you. Light shall shine on your ways.
- Ps 84:11For Yahweh God is a sun and a shield. Yahweh will give grace and glory. He withholds no good thing from those who walk blamelessly.
- Prov 24:20for there will be no reward to the evil man; and the lamp of the wicked shall be snuffed out.
- Ps 27:1By David. Yahweh is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? Yahweh is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid?
- Ps 23:4Even 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 comfort me.
- Eph 5:14Therefore he says, “Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
- Prov 13:9The light of the righteous shines brightly, but the lamp of the wicked is snuffed out.
- Isa 2:4He will judge between the nations, and will decide concerning many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
- Prov 20:20Whoever curses his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in blackness of darkness.
- Ps 4:6Many say, “Who will show us any good?” Yahweh, let the light of your face shine on us.
- Job 21:17“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?
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Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 29:3 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.