Proverbs 20:27
The spirit of a man is the lamp of the LORD, searching out his inmost being.
BSB
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.
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.
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
The walk8
Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.
Through
Genesis 2:7Then 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.
leads to
The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
Reached by 2 independent paths from here.
before the dust returns to the ground from which it came and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being;” the last Adam a life-giving spirit.
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.
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 32:8But there is a spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding.
leads to
Who has put wisdom in the heart or given understanding to the mind?
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
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.
