From the wicked, their light is withheld. The high arm is broken.
Parallel translations
- KJV And from the wicked their light is withholden, and the high arm shall be 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 the arm of the wicked. As for the evil man, seek out his wickedness until you find none.
- Ps 37:17For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but Yahweh upholds the righteous.
- Job 18:5“Yes, the light of the wicked shall be put out, The spark of his fire shall not shine.
- Prov 4:19The way of the wicked is like darkness. They don’t know what they stumble over.
- Ezek 30:22Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and will break his arms, the strong arm, 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 at noonday as in the night.
- Exod 10:21–23Yahweh said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt.”
- Jer 13:16Give glory to Yahweh your God, before he causes darkness, and before your feet stumble on the dark mountains, and, while you look for light, he turns it into the shadow of death, and makes it gross darkness.
- Isa 8:21–22They will pass through it, very distressed and hungry; and it will happen that when they are hungry, they will worry, and curse by their king and by their God. They will turn their faces upward,
- 2 Kgs 6:18When they came down to him, Elisha prayed to Yahweh, and said, “Please strike this people with blindness.” He struck them with blindness according to Elishah’s word.
- Acts 13:10–11and said, “Full of all deceit and all cunning, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you 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.