And from the wicked their light is withholden, and the high arm shall be broken.
Parallel translations
- WEB From the wicked, their light is withheld. The high arm is broken.
- BSB Light is withheld from the wicked, and their upraised arm is broken.
- NKJV From the wicked their light is withheld, And the upraised arm is broken.
- NASB “Their light is withheld from the wicked, And the uplifted arm is broken.
- NLT The light disturbs the wicked and stops the arm that is raised in violence.
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
The light the wicked rely on, the darkness, is withheld, and their raised arm of violence is broken. God's order frustrates evildoers.
Overview
For the wicked, night is their working 'light,' and its removal by dawn cripples their power. The 'high arm,' a symbol of proud violence, is shattered. The verse continues the theme that God's governance of creation upholds justice and curbs evil.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Ps 10:15Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man: seek out his wickedness till thou find none.
- Ps 37:17For the arms of the wicked shall be broken: but the LORD upholdeth the righteous.
- Job 18:5Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine.
- Prov 4:19The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.
- Ezek 30:22Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and will break his arms, the strong, and that which was broken; and I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand.
- Job 18:18He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world.
- Job 5:14They meet with darkness in the day time, and grope in the noonday as in the night.
- Exod 10:21–23And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt.
- Jer 13:16Give glory to the LORD your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness.
- Isa 8:21–22And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry: and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward.
- 2 Kgs 6:18And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto the LORD, and said, Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness. And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.
- Acts 13:10–11And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 38:15 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.