English Standard Version
Psalms 18:28
28For it is you who light my lamp; the Lord my God lightens my darkness.
Psalms 18:28 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)For thou wilt light my candle: the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.
- New International Version (NIV)You, Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.
- New King James Version (NKJV)For You will light my lamp; The Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.
- New Living Translation (NLT)You light a lamp for me. The Lord, my God, lights up my darkness.
Context of Psalms 18:28
26with the purified you show yourself pure; and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous. 27For you save a humble people, but the haughty eyes you bring down. For it is you who light my lamp; the Lord my God lightens my darkness. 29For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall. 30This God—his way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.
Read all of Psalms 18Psalms 18:28 word by word
כִּֽי־אַ֭תָּה תָּאִ֣יר נֵרִ֑י יְהוָ֥ה אֱ֝לֹהַ֗י יַגִּ֥יהַּ חָשְׁכִּֽי׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Psalms 18:28
- Psalms 112:4Light dawns in the darkness for the upright; he is gracious, merciful, and righteous.
- Job 18:6The light is dark in his tent, and his lamp above him is put out.
- Job 29:3when his lamp shone upon my head, and by his light I walked through darkness,
- Psalms 132:17There I will make a horn to sprout for David; I have prepared a lamp for my anointed.
- 2 Samuel 22:29For you are my lamp, O Lord, and my God lightens my darkness.
- 1 Kings 11:36Yet to his son I will give one tribe, that David my servant may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city where I have chosen to put my name.
- Proverbs 20:27The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all his innermost parts.
- Isaiah 62:1For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not be quiet, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a burning torch.
- Isaiah 42:16And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them.
- Matthew 4:16the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned."
- Luke 1:79to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace."
- 1 Peter 2:9But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Commentaries on Psalms 18:28
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 28For thou wilt light my candle - Thou wilt restore me to prosperity, and give me a happy issue out of all my afflictions. By the lamp of David the Messiah may be meant: thou wilt not suffer my family to become extinct, nor the kingdom which thou hast promised me utterly to fail.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 28For thou wilt light my candle - Margin, lamp. The word lamp best expresses the idea. In the Scriptures light is an image of prosperity, success, happiness, holiness, as darkness is the image of the opposite. See the notes at Job 29:2-3; compare also Job 18:6; Job 21:17; Proverbs 20:27; Proverbs 24:20; Psalm 119:105; Psalm 132:17; Isaiah 62:1. The meaning here is, that the psalmist felt assured that God would give him prosperity, as if his lamp were kept…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 20-28Verses 20-28 Those that forsake the ways of the Lord, depart from their God. But though conscious to ourselves of many a false step, let there not be a wicked departure from our God. David kept his eye upon the rule of God's commands. Constant care to keep from that sin, whatever it be, which most easily besets us, proves that we are upright before God. Those who show mercy to others, even they need mercy. Those who are faithful to God, shall find him all…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 28light my lamp: The Lord renews the psalmist's life, helping him overcome the darkness of difficult times (see Psalms 112:4; 119:105).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2828. To give one light is to make prosperous (Job 18:5, 6; 21:17). thou--is emphatic, as if to say, I can fully confide in Thee for help.Read the comment
Topics related to Psalms 18:28
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Psalms 18
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- The Treasury of David
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
English Standard Version — © 2001 Crossway Bibles
Commentaries