Job 18:6

Job 18:6 The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and his candle shall be put out with him.

Ver. 6. The light shall be dark in his tabernacle] The glory of his family shall be obscured; he and his shall come to utter and unexpected ruin, as Haman’s did.

And his candle shall be put out with him] He and his prosperity shall die together; he shall go out in a snuff, and leave nothing behind him but a detestable name. Sicut felis fugiens pedit, sic ille moriens hunc crepitum cecinit, saith Melancthon concerning Eckius’ last piece, De coniugio sacerdotum. Or, his candle shall be put out above him, so the Vulgate interpreter; the lamps which glittered overhead, during the pride and pomp of his feasts, shall give no more light; or if they give any, it shall be but to shine upon his tomb.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

candle--the lamp which in the East is usually fastened to the ceiling. Oil abounds in those regions, and the lamp was kept burning all night, as now in Egypt, where the poorest would rather dispense with food than the night lamp (Psa 18:28). To put out the lamp was an image of utter desolation.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 6. The light shall be dark in his tabernacle] His property shall be destroyed, his house pillaged, and himself and his family come to an untimely end.

His candle shall be put out] He shall have no posterity.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

6. his candle shall be put out with him] The meaning is either: his lamp shall be put out over him, the idea being that it was hung in his dwelling above him or shone upon him, cf. ch. Job_29:3, “when God’s lamp shined upon my head”; or, his lamp shall be put out to him, the prep. being the same reflexive, untranslateable word referred to on ch. Job_14:22.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The steps of his strength shall be straitened,.... As a man in health can take large and strong steps, and travel in the greatness of his strength; so in prosperity he can and does take large steps in obtaining fame and reputation among men, in amassing substance to himself, and towards settling his family in the world; he is like one in a large place, and walks at liberty, goes in and out at pleasure, and none can control him; he walks in pride, and with an high and lifted up head, and with contempt of others, and his will is his law, and he does as he pleases; but in adversity, as his strength is weakened in the way, he cannot take the strides he did, his way is hedged up with thorns, he is pressed on every side, and surrounded with troubles, so that, let him turn himself which way he will, he can find no way to escape:

and his own counsel shall cast him down; as Ahithophel's and Haman's did, which issued in their ruin, Sa2 17:23; what wicked men sometimes plot and devise, with a view to their own good, and the injury of others, proves the destruction of themselves; when they have contrived to raise themselves upon the ruins of others, it has been the means of casting them down from the state and condition they were in, instead of raising to an higher, even down to desolation, and into the most miserable circumstances.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

And his candle - Margin, lamp. The reference is to a lamp that was suspended from the ceiling. The Arabians are fond of this image. Thus, they say, “Bad fortune has extinguished my lamp.” Of a man whose hopes are remarkably blasted, they say, “He is like a lamp which is immediately extinguished if you let it sink in the oil.” See Schultens. The putting out of a lamp is to the Orientals an image of utter desolation. It is the universal custom to have a light burning in their houses at night. “The houses of Egypt, in modern times, are never without lights; they burn lamps all the night long, and in every occupied apartment. So requisite to the comfort of a family is this custom reckoned, and so imperious is the power which it exercises, that the poorest people. would rather retrench part of their food than neglect it.” Paxton. It is not improbable that this custom prevailed in former times in Arabia, as it does now in Egypt; and this consideration will give increased beauty and force to this passage.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Light; prosperity, (Menochius) offspring, &c. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

In his tabernacle. i.e. in his family. Instead of his former splendour, both he and his shall fall into extremity of misery.

His candle shall be put out with him, i.e. his glory shall die with him, and not descend to his posterity, as he hoped and designed. Or,

his candle, which was with him, or shone upon him, shall be put out.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

6. His candle — The lamp above him shall be put out. The lamp suspended in the tent was kept burning all night. The poorest would rather dispense with part of their food than with a night lamp. The custom still prevails in Aleppo and Egypt. Schultens cites a common saying of the Arab, — “Misfortune has put out my lamp.” Hitzig does violence to the passage when he renders עליוwith him, on the supposition that the torch (lamp) is one that the wicked carries with himself in his wanderings by night. The following verses, he says, would then describe the disastrous consequences of its extinction.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The light shall be dark in his tabernacle. This is not, as Rosenmuller asserts, a mere repetition of the thought contained in the preceding verse with a change of terms, and a variation of metaphor. It is a denunciation of woe to the whole house of the ungodly man, not to himself only. As Schultens says, "Lumen ob-tenebratum in tentorio est fortuna domus extincta." And his candle shall be put out with him; rather, as in the Revised Version, his!amp above him shall be put out; i.e. the lamp which swings above him in his tent, or in his chamber, shall be extinguished. Darkness shall fall upon the whole house of the wicked man.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.