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Proverbs 20:27

in Proverbs 20

The spirit of a man is the lamp of the LORD, searching out his inmost being.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

The spirit of man is the lamp of Jehovah, Searching all his innermost parts.

KJV

The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly.

This verse in Proverbs 20

Commentary

6 notes on this verse
The spirit of man - The “breath” of Gen 2:7, the higher life, above that which he has in common with lower animals, coming to him direct from God. Such a life, with all its powers of insight, consciousness, reflection, is as a lamp which God has lighted, throwing its rays into the darkest recesses of the heart. A still higher truth is proclaimed in the Prologue of John’s Gospel. The candle, or lamp of Yahweh, derives its light from “the Light that lighteth every man,” even the Eternal Word.

This site's exposition

A man’s steps are from the LORD

on Proverbs 20:24-27

Since "A man’s steps are from the LORD," no one can understand his own way. Human planning is held inside a sovereignty it cannot fully read. "The spirit of a man is the lamp of the LORD, searching out his inmost being."

This site's exposition

the lamp of the LORD

Albert Barnes reads the spirit as the breath of Genesis 2:7, the higher life that comes to a man from God. It shines like a lamp the LORD has lit, searching the darkest parts of the heart. Barnes compares the Light of John 1.

The record, by era

The Medieval Church1 voice

A commentator

Bede

Commentary on Proverbs · Written before 735.

proposed

The lamp of the Lord is the spirit of man, etc. The illumination of the divine breath, when it has come into the mind of man, illuminating it to itself, shows it was bearing perverse thoughts before the coming of the Holy Spirit, and it …

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord - God has given to every man a mind, which he so enlightens by his own Spirit, that the man knows how to distinguish good from evil; and conscience, which springs from this, searches the inmost recesses of the soul.

The words behind it

8 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • נֵ֣ר[the] lamp of

    nerH5216 →49 times

  • יְ֭הוָהYahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • נִשְׁמַ֣ת[is the] breath of

    nishmatH5397 →

  • אָדָ֑םa human

    ʾadamH120 →551 times

  • חֹ֝פֵ֗שׂ[it is] searching

    chofesH2664 →23 times

  • כָּל־all

    kol-H3605 →5413 times

  • חַדְרֵי־[the] chambers of

    chadrei-H2315 →38 times

  • בָֽטֶן׃[the] belly

    vatenH990 →72 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each 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

    Genesis 2:7

    Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.

    it leads to

    • Job 33:4

      The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Ecclesiastes 12:7

      before the dust returns to the ground from which it came and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

    • 1 Corinthians 15:45

      So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being;” the last Adam a life-giving spirit.

    • Isaiah 64:8

      But now, O LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand.

    • Acts 17:25

      Nor is He served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He Himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.

  • Through

    Job 32:8

    But there is a spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding.

    it leads to

    • Job 38:36

      Who has put wisdom in the heart or given understanding to the mind?

    • 2 Timothy 3:16

      All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

    • James 1:5

      Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

Where this verse is studied

About Proverbs

The Judgment of Solomon, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Judgment of Solomon, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.