Job 29:3
in Job 29when His lamp shone above my head, and by His light I walked through the darkness,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
When his lamp shined upon my head, And by his light I walked through darkness;
KJV
When his candle shined upon my head, and when by his light I walked through darkness;
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This verse in Job 29
Commentary
11 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
When his candle shined upon my head - Margin, or, “lamp;” compare notes Job 18:6. It was remarked in the note on that place, that it was common to have lamps or lights always burning in a house or tent. When Job speaks of the lamps shining “on his head,” the allusion is probably to the custom of suspending a lamp from the ceiling - a custom which prevails among the wealthy Arabs. “Scott.” Virgil speaks of a similar thing in the palace of Dido: - Dependent lychni laquearibus aureis Incensi. Aeneid i.
This site's exposition
Job continued his discourse
on Job 29:1-3
The word behind “discourse” is the mashal, which Gill takes as a weighty discourse. His longing for “the months gone by” rests on one evidence, the days when “His lamp shone above my head”. Henry reads that lamp as the sense of God's favor, which made Job's darkest paths bright.
This site's exposition
His lamp shone above my head
Barnes pictures His lamp hanging above Job's head, as lamps hung from the ceiling in wealthy homes. Aquinas reads the lamp as God's providence. By that light Job walked through the darkness toward good he had never planned.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
If he actually searched for his former happiness, that was in order to show the providence of God; this is clear when he says, "In the days when God watched over me." Then he gives evidence of this godly watch. "When his lamp," he says, "shone over my head." This means, you will make the light of my lamp shine, because a lamp is really necessary, if the present darkness is deep, if the difficulties of my situation are serious, as well as the assaults of physical suffering, and the plots of the wicked and the fights and attacks of cruel demons. All this shows that "by his light I walked through darkness." You see that darkness invades everything and that "light shines through darkness." But, as natural darkness is useful to have rest, it is not useful because of its own nature but thanks to the wisdom of God, who has created everything.
The Medieval Church2 voices
As in the days when God preserved me; when His lamp shined upon my head, and when by His light I walked through darkness. For then, persecution forcing thereto, she sees multitudes of the frail fall from her, whom now as a mother she cherishes as her little ones within the bosom of peace, and keeps close within the quiet cradles of faith, seeing that being mixed with the strong they are nurtured by the very tranquillity of the faith.
In some things he had led me to good effects even beyond my own intention, and to express this he says, "when his lamp," his providence, "shone over my head," for he directed my mind toward many good things which my mind did not attain. …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
): God's candle shone upon his head, that is, God lifted up the light of his countenance upon him, gave him the assurances and sweet relishes of his love. The best of the communications of the divine favour to the saints in this world is but the candle-light, compared with what is reserved for them in the future state.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
When his candle shined upon my head,....
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
IF Job here refers to the temporal prosperity which he had lost, we cannot condemn him for his complaint, neither can we commend him. It is but the expression of a natural regret, which would be felt by any man who had experienced such great reverses. But there is everywhere in the expressions which he uses such a strain of spirituality, that we are inclined to believe that he had more reference to the condition of his heart than to the state of his property. His soul was depressed; he had lost the light of God’s countenance; his inward comforts were declining, his joy in the Lord was at a low ebb, this he regretted far more than anything besides. No doubt he deplored the departure of those prosperous days when, as he words it, his root was spread out by the waters, and the dew lay all night upon his branch; but, much more did he bemoan that the lamp of the Lord no more shone upon his head, and the secret of God was not upon his tabernacle. As his spiritual regrets are far more instructive to us than his natural ones, we will turn all our attention to them. We may, without violence, appropriate Job’s words to ourselves; for I fear that many of us can with great propriety take up our wailing and mourn for the days of our espousals, the happy days of our first love. I shall have to trouble you with many divisions this morning; but I shall be brief upon each one, and I hope that our thoughts may be led onward, and rendered practically serviceable to us, by the blessing of God’s Spirit. I. Let us begin by saying, that regrets such as those expressed in the text are and ought to be very BITTER.
IF Job here refers to the temporal prosperity which he had lost, we cannot condemn him for his complaint, neither can we commend him. It is but the expression of a natural regret, which would be felt by any man who had experienced such great reverses. But there is everywhere in the expressions which he uses such a strain of spirituality, that we are inclined to believe that he had more reference to the condition of his heart than to the state of his property.
When his candle shined upon my head - Alluding most probably to the custom of illuminating festival or assembly rooms by lamps pendant from the ceiling. These shone literally on the heads of the guests. By his light I walked through darkness - His light - prosperity and peace - continued to illuminate my way. If adversity came, I had always the light of God to direct me. Almost all the nations of the world have represented their great men as having a nimbus or Divine glory about their heads, which not only signified the honor they had, but was also an emblem of the inspiration of the Almighty.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בְּהִלּ֣וֹ | behilo | when made shine he | H1984 → | 165 times |
| נֵ֭רוֹ | nero | lamp his | H5216 → | 49 times |
| עֲלֵ֣י | ʾalei | over | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| רֹאשִׁ֑י | roshi | head my | H7218 → | 599 times |
| לְ֝אוֹרוֹ | leoro | to light his | H216 → | 121 times |
| אֵ֣לֶךְ | ʾelekh | I walked | H1980 → | 1546 times |
| חֹֽשֶׁךְ׃ | choshekh | darkness | H2822 → | 80 times |
בְּהִלּ֣וֹwhen made shine he
behiloH1984 →165 times
נֵ֭רוֹlamp his
neroH5216 →49 times
עֲלֵ֣יover
ʾaleiH5921 →5755 times
רֹאשִׁ֑יhead my
roshiH7218 →599 times
לְ֝אוֹרוֹto light his
leoroH216 →121 times
אֵ֣לֶךְI walked
ʾelekhH1980 →1546 times
חֹֽשֶׁךְ׃darkness
choshekhH2822 →80 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
John 8:12Once again, Jesus spoke to the people and said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.”
it leads to
- John 12:46
I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in Me should remain in darkness.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- John 9:5
While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- John 12:35
Then Jesus told them, “For a little while longer, the Light will be among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you. The one who walks in the…
- Matthew 5:14
You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.
- John 1:4–9
In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.
- John 12:46
Through
Ephesians 5:8For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light,
it leads to
- John 8:12
Once again, Jesus spoke to the people and said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 1 John 1:7
But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
- John 8:12
Through
John 12:46I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in Me should remain in darkness.
it leads to
- Psalms 36:9
For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light.
- Psalms 36:9
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Job
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1011: “Job's Regret and Our Own” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XIX; John Chrysostom, COMMENTARY ON JOB 29:2A-5; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.