So if your whole body is full of light, with no part of it in darkness, you will be radiant, as though a lamp were shining on you.”
Parallel translations
- WEB If therefore your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly full of light, as when the lamp with its bright shining gives you light.”
- KJV If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.
- NKJV If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, the whole body will be full of light, as when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light.”
- NASB Therefore if your whole body is full of light, without any dark part, it will be wholly illuminated, as when the lamp illuminates you with its light.”
- NLT If you are filled with light, with no dark corners, then your whole life will be radiant, as though a floodlight were filling you with light.”
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
A body wholly full of light, with no dark part, is radiant like a shining lamp. A heart fully open to Christ is filled with his light.
Overview
When the inner eye is sound throughout, the whole person is illuminated. Such complete light reflects a life wholly receptive to God's truth. The image holds out the blessing of those who welcome Christ without reservation.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 19
- Prov 20:27The spirit of a man is the lamp of the LORD, searching out his inmost being.
- Prov 4:18–19The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining brighter and brighter until midday.
- Prov 6:23For this commandment is a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way to life,
- 2 Cor 4:6For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
- Prov 1:5let the wise listen and gain instruction, and the discerning acquire wise counsel
- 2 Tim 3:15–17From infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
- 2 Pet 3:18But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
- Ps 119:97–105Oh, how I love Your law! All day long it is my meditation.
- Prov 2:1–11My son, if you accept my words and hide my commandments within you,
- Heb 5:14But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained their senses to distinguish good from evil.
- Col 3:16Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.
- Jas 1:25But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom, and continues to do so—not being a forgetful hearer, but an effective doer—he will be blessed in what he does.
- Matt 13:52Then He told them, “For this reason, every scribe who has been discipled in the kingdom of heaven is like a homeowner who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”
- Isa 8:20To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn.
- Hos 6:3So let us know—let us press on to know the LORD. As surely as the sun rises, He will appear; He will come to us like the rain, like the spring showers that water the earth.
- Isa 42:16I will lead the blind by a way they did not know; I will guide them on unfamiliar paths. I will turn darkness into light before them and rough places into level ground. These things I will do for them, and I will not forsake them.
- Mark 4:24–25He went on to say, “Pay attention to what you hear. With the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and even more will be added to you.
- Eph 4:14Then we will no longer be infants, tossed about by the waves and carried around by every wind of teaching and by the clever cunning of men in their deceitful scheming.
- Matt 13:11–12He replied, “The knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.
How Luke 11:36 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 Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.