Psalms 18:28

Indeed, ¹  you are my lamp, Lord. ²  My God ³  illuminates the darkness around me. ⁴ 

2Sa 22:29; 1Ki 11:36; Job 18:6; Job 29:3; Ps 112:4; Ps 132:17; Pr 20:27; Isa 42:16; Isa 62:1; Mt 4:16; Lu 1:79; 1Pe 2:9

¹ tn Or “for.” The translation assumes that כִּי (ki)is asseverative here.

² tn Ps 18:28 reads literally, “you light my lamp, Lord.” 2 Sam 22:29 has, “you are my lamp, Lord.” The Ps 18 reading may preserve two variants, נֵרִי (neriy, “my lamp”) and אוֹרִי (’oriy, “my light”), cf. Ps 27:1. The verb תָּאִיר (ta’ir, “you light”) in Ps 18:28 would, in this case, be a corruption of the latter. See F. M. Cross and D. N. Freedman, Studies in Ancient Yahwistic Poetry (SBLDS), 150, n. 64. The metaphor, which likens the Lord to a lamp or light, pictures him as the psalmist’s source of life. For other examples of “lamp” used in this way, see Job 18:6; 21:17; Prov 13:9; 20:20; 24:20. For other examples of “light” as a symbol for life, see Job 3:20; 33:30; Ps 56:13.

³ tn 2 Sam 22:29 repeats the name “Lord.”

⁴ tn Heb “my darkness.”