What Does Job 18:6 Mean in the King James?
The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and his candle shall be put out with him.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The darkness reaches from the person’s dwelling to the lamp that shines with them, leaving no light in the scene.
THE MEANING
You feel the severity of the image: light in the dwelling becomes dark, and the lamp above the person is extinguished. The verse pictures darkness reaching both the space around someone and the light that remains with them.
THE ROOT
אוֹר
ʾor
GROWS FROM
א־ו־ר
To shine or be luminous.
The verse begins with אוֹר, light or illumination, and says it becomes dark in the dwelling. That movement makes the darkness a change in what was lit, before the person’s own lamp is extinguished.
ALSO GROWS
maʾor: Luminary, light-bearer.
מָאוֹר
This related form names a bearer of light, making the verse’s turn from illumination to darkness especially stark.
heʾir: Shone or gave light.
הֵאִיר
This verb from the same root describes light actively shining, the state that the opening word in Job says has ended.
חָשַׁךְ
ḥāshakh
GROWS FROM
ח־ש־ך
To become dark or obscure.
“be dark” in this verse is ḥāshakh. The verb and the Hebrew word for darkness share the same root: the light itself becomes dark. The line then moves from that change in the dwelling to a separate image, the person’s lamp being extinguished.
ALSO GROWS
ḥoshekh: Darkness.
חֹשֶׁךְ
This noun names the condition expressed by the verb in the verse: the dwelling’s light has become darkness.
ḥashekhah: Darkness or deep darkness.
חֲשֵׁכָה
This related noun shows the same root naming darkness as a surrounding condition, echoing the darkened space of the tent.
THE PATTERN
Scripture uses a person’s lamp or inner light to make the state of their life visible: it may shine, go dark, or be extinguished.
When his candle shined upon my head, and when by his light I walked through darkness;The light of the righteous rejoiceth: but the lamp of the wicked shall be put out.But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!THE THREAD
For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.Job’s lamp is extinguished, while this verse says the speaker’s candle is lit and their darkness is illuminated. Its verb for “light” comes from the same root, אוֹר (ʾor), that names the light at the start of Job 18:6.
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