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Selected Verse: Proverbs 20:27 - Strong Concordance

Verse	Translation	Text
Pr 20:27	Strong Concordance	The spirit [05397] of man [0120] is the candle [05216] of the LORD [03068], searching [02664] all the inward parts [02315] of the belly [0990].
	King James	The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly.

Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse

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A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
The spirit . . . Lord--Men's minds are God's gifts, and thus able to search one another (compare Pro 20:5; Pro 18:8, Pro 18:17; Co1 2:11).

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

The spirit . . . Lord--Men's minds are God's gifts, and thus able to search one another (compare Pro 20:5; Pro 18:8, Pro 18:17; Co1 2:11).

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
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.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]
With a proverb of a light that was extinguished, Pro 20:20 began the group; the proverb of God's light, which here follows, we take as the beginning of a new group. 27 A candle of Jahve is the soul of man, Searching through all the chambers of the heart. If the O.T. language has a separate word to denote the self-conscious personal human spirit in contradistinction to the spirit of a beast, this word, according to the usage of the language, as Reuchlin, in an appendix to Aben Ezra, remarks, is נשׁמה; it is so called as the principle of life breathed immediately by God into the body (vid., at Gen 2:7; Gen 7:22). Indeed, that which is here said of the human spirit would not be said of the spirit of a beast: it is "the mystery of self-consciousness which is here figuratively represented" (Elster). The proverb intentionally does not use the word נפשׁ, for this is not the power of self-consciousness in man, but the medium of bodily life; it is related secondarily to nshmh (רוח), while נשׁמת חיים (רוח) is used, נפשׁ חיים is an expression unheard of. Hitzig is in error when he understands by נשׁמה here the soul in contradistinction to the spirit, and in support of this appeals to an expression in the Cosmography of Kazwni: "the soul (Arab. âl-nefs) is like the lamp which moves about in the chambers of the house;" here also en-nefs is the self-conscious spirit, for the Arab. and post-bibl. Heb. terminology influenced by philosophy reverses the biblical usage, and calls the rational soul נפשׁ, and, on the contrary, the animal soul נשׁמה, רוח (Psychologie, p. 154). חפשׂ is the particip. of חפּשׂ, Zep 1:12, without distinguishing the Kal and Piel. Regarding חדרי־בטן, lxx ταμιεῖα κοιλίας, vid., at Pro 18:8 : בּטן denotes the inner part of the body (R. בט, to be deepened), and generally of the personality; cf. Arab. bâtn âlrwh, the interior of the spirit, and Pro 22:18, according to which Fleischer explains: "A candle of Jahve, i.e., a means bestowed on man by God Himself to search out the secrets deeply hid in the spirit of another." But the candle which God has kindled in man has as the nearest sphere of illumination, which goes forth from it, the condition of the man himself - the spirit comprehends all that belongs to the nature of man in the unity of self-consciousness, but yet more: it makes it the object of reflection; it penetrates, searching it through, and seeks to take it up into its knowledge, and recognises the problem proposed to it, to rule it by its power. The proverb is thus to be ethically understood: the spirit is that which penetrates that which is within, even into its many secret corners and folds, with its self-testing and self-knowing light - it is, after Mat 6:22, the inner light, the inner eye. Man becomes known to himself according to his moral as well as his natural condition in the light of the spirit; "for what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him?" says Paul, Co1 2:11. With reference to this Solomonic proverb, the seven-branched candlestick is an ancient symbol of the soul, e.g., on the Jewish sepulchral monuments of the Roman vi Portuensis. Our texts present the phrase נר יהוה; but the Talm. Pesachim 7b, 8a, the Pesikta in part 8, the Midrash Othijoth de-Rabbi Akiba, under the letter נ, Alphasi (יף''ר) in Pesachim, and others, read נר אלהים; and after this phrase the Targum translates, while the Syr. and the other old versions render by the word "Lord" (Venet. ὀντωτής), and thus had יהוה before them.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]

With a proverb of a light that was extinguished, Pro 20:20 began the group; the proverb of God's light, which here follows, we take as the beginning of a new group.

27 A candle of Jahve is the soul of man,

Searching through all the chambers of the heart.

If the O.T. language has a separate word to denote the self-conscious personal human spirit in contradistinction to the spirit of a beast, this word, according to the usage of the language, as Reuchlin, in an appendix to Aben Ezra, remarks, is נשׁמה; it is so called as the principle of life breathed immediately by God into the body (vid., at Gen 2:7; Gen 7:22). Indeed, that which is here said of the human spirit would not be said of the spirit of a beast: it is "the mystery of self-consciousness which is here figuratively represented" (Elster). The proverb intentionally does not use the word נפשׁ, for this is not the power of self-consciousness in man, but the medium of bodily life; it is related secondarily to nshmh (רוח), while נשׁמת חיים (רוח) is used, נפשׁ חיים is an expression unheard of. Hitzig is in error when he understands by נשׁמה here the soul in contradistinction to the spirit, and in support of this appeals to an expression in the Cosmography of Kazwni: "the soul (Arab. âl-nefs) is like the lamp which moves about in the chambers of the house;" here also en-nefs is the self-conscious spirit, for the Arab. and post-bibl. Heb. terminology influenced by philosophy reverses the biblical usage, and calls the rational soul נפשׁ, and, on the contrary, the animal soul נשׁמה, רוח (Psychologie, p. 154). חפשׂ is the particip. of חפּשׂ, Zep 1:12, without distinguishing the Kal and Piel. Regarding חדרי־בטן, lxx ταμιεῖα κοιλίας, vid., at Pro 18:8 : בּטן denotes the inner part of the body (R. בט, to be deepened), and generally of the personality; cf. Arab. bâtn âlrwh, the interior of the spirit, and Pro 22:18, according to which Fleischer explains: "A candle of Jahve, i.e., a means bestowed on man by God Himself to search out the secrets deeply hid in the spirit of another." But the candle which God has kindled in man has as the nearest sphere of illumination, which goes forth from it, the condition of the man himself - the spirit comprehends all that belongs to the nature of man in the unity of self-consciousness, but yet more: it makes it the object of reflection; it penetrates, searching it through, and seeks to take it up into its knowledge, and recognises the problem proposed to it, to rule it by its power. The proverb is thus to be ethically understood: the spirit is that which penetrates that which is within, even into its many secret corners and folds, with its self-testing and self-knowing light - it is, after Mat 6:22, the inner light, the inner eye. Man becomes known to himself according to his moral as well as his natural condition in the light of the spirit; "for what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him?" says Paul, Co1 2:11. With reference to this Solomonic proverb, the seven-branched candlestick is an ancient symbol of the soul, e.g., on the Jewish sepulchral monuments of the Roman vi Portuensis. Our texts present the phrase נר יהוה; but the Talm. Pesachim 7b, 8a, the Pesikta in part 8, the Midrash Othijoth de-Rabbi Akiba, under the letter נ, Alphasi (יף''ר) in Pesachim, and others, read נר אלהים; and after this phrase the Targum translates, while the Syr. and the other old versions render by the word "Lord" (Venet. ὀντωτής), and thus had יהוה before them.

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]
The spirit - The reasonable soul. The candle - Is a clear and glorious light set up in man for his information and direction. Of the Lord - So called because it comes from God in a more immediate manner than the body, Ecc 12:7, and because it is in God's stead, to observe and judge all our actions. Searching - Discerning not only his outward actions, which are visible to others, but his most inward thoughts and affections. The belly is here put for the heart, as it is frequently.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826
The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord - God has given to every man a mind, which he so enlightens by his own Spirit, that the man knows how to distinguish good from evil; and conscience, which springs from this, searches the inmost recesses of the soul.

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¹¹ For [1063] what [5101] man [444] knoweth [1492] the things [3588] of a man [444], save [1508] the spirit [4151] of man [444] which [3588] is in [1722] him [846]? even [2532] so [3779] the things [3588] of God [2316] knoweth [1492] no man [3762], but [1508] the Spirit [4151] of God [2316].

¹⁷ He that is first [07223] in his own cause [07379] seemeth just [06662]; but his neighbour [07453] cometh [0935] [0935] and searcheth [02713] him.

⁸ The words [01697] of a talebearer [05372] are as wounds [03859], and they go down [03381] into the innermost parts [02315] of the belly [0990].

⁵ Counsel [06098] in the heart [03820] of man [0376] is like deep [06013] water [04325]; but a man [0376] of understanding [08394] will draw it out [01802].

⁷ And the LORD [03068] God [0430] formed [03335] man [0120] of the dust [06083] of [04480] the ground [0127], and breathed [05301] into his nostrils [0639] the breath [05397] of life [02416]; and man [0120] became a living [02416] soul [05315].

²² The light [3088] of the body [4983] is [2076] the eye [3788]: if [1437] therefore [3767] thine [4675] eye [3788] be [5600] single [573], thy [4675] whole [3650] body [4983] shall be [2071] full of light [5460].

¹⁸ For it is a pleasant thing [05273] if thou keep [08104] them within [0990] thee; they shall withal [03162] be fitted [03559] in thy lips [08193].

⁸ The words [01697] of a talebearer [05372] are as wounds [03859], and they go down [03381] into the innermost parts [02315] of the belly [0990].

¹² And it shall come to pass at that time [06256], that I will search [02664] Jerusalem [03389] with candles [05216], and punish [06485] the men [0582] that are settled [07087] on their lees [08105]: that say [0559] in their heart [03824], The LORD [03068] will not do good [03190], neither will he do evil [07489].

²² All in whose nostrils [0639] was the breath [05397] [07307] of life [02416], of all that was in the dry [02724] land, died [04191].

²⁰ Whoso curseth [07043] his father [01] or his mother [0517], his lamp [05216] shall be put out [01846] in obscure [0380] [0380] darkness [02822].

⁷ Then shall the dust [06083] return [07725] to the earth [0776] as it was: and the spirit [07307] shall return [07725] unto God [0430] who gave [05414] it.