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.”
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.
- BSB 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.”
- 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.”
- 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 man is Yahweh’s lamp, searching all his innermost parts.
- Prov 4:18–19But the path of the righteous is like the dawning light, that shines more and more until the perfect day.
- Prov 6:23For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light. Reproofs of instruction are the way of life,
- 2 Cor 4:6seeing it is God who said, “Light will shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
- Prov 1:5that the wise man may hear, and increase in learning; that the man of understanding may attain to sound counsel:
- 2 Tim 3:15–17From infancy, you have known the holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith, which is 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 forever. Amen.
- Ps 119:97–105How I love your law! It is my meditation all day.
- Prov 2:1–11My son, if you will receive my words, and store up my commandments within you;
- Heb 5:14But solid food is for those who are full grown, who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil.
- Col 3:16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord.
- Jas 1:25But he who looks into the perfect law of freedom, and continues, not being a hearer who forgets, but a doer of the work, this man will be blessed in what he does.
- Matt 13:52He said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been made a disciple in the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a householder, who brings out of his treasure new and old things.”
- Isa 8:20Turn to the law and to the testimony! If they don’t speak according to this word, surely there is no morning for them.
- Hos 6:3Let us acknowledge Yahweh. Let us press on to know Yahweh. As surely as the sun rises, Yahweh will appear. He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain that waters the earth.”
- Isa 42:16I will bring the blind by a way that they don’t know. I will lead them in paths that they don’t know. I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight. I will do these things, and I will not forsake them.
- Mark 4:24–25He said to them, “Take heed what you hear. With whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you, and more will be given to you who hear.
- Eph 4:14that we may no longer be children, tossed back and forth and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error;
- Matt 13:11–12He answered them, “To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them.
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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.