[18:5] 1 tn Hebrew גַּם (gam, “also; moreover”), in view of what has just been said.
[18:5] 2 sn The lamp or the light can have a number of uses in the Bible. Here it is probably an implied metaphor for prosperity and happiness, for the good life itself.
[18:5] 3 tn The expression is literally “the flame of his fire,” but the pronominal suffix qualifies the entire bound construction. The two words together intensify the idea of the flame.
[18:6] 4 tn The LXX interprets a little more precisely: “his lamp shall be put out with him.”
[18:6] sn This thesis of Bildad will be questioned by Job in 21:17 – how often is the lamp of the wicked snuffed out?
[13:9] 5 sn The images of “light” and “darkness” are used frequently in scripture. Here “light” is an implied comparison: “light” represents life, joy, and prosperity; “darkness” signifies adversity and death. So the “light of the righteous” represents the prosperous life of the righteous.
[13:9] 6 tn The verb יִשְׂמָח (yismah) is normally translated “to make glad; to rejoice.” But with “light” as the subject, it has the connotation “to shine brightly” (see G. R. Driver, “Problems in the Hebrew Text of Proverbs,” Bib 32 [1951]: 180).
[13:9] 7 sn The lamp is an implied comparison as well, comparing the life of the wicked to a lamp that is going to be extinguished.
[13:9] 8 tc The LXX adds, “Deceitful souls go astray in sins, but the righteous are pitiful and merciful.”
[13:9] tn The verb דָּעַךְ (da’akh) means “to go out [in reference to a fire or lamp]; to be extinguished.” The idea is that of being made extinct, snuffed out (cf. NIV, NLT). The imagery may have been drawn from the sanctuary where the flame was to be kept burning perpetually. Not so with the wicked.
