nir · lamp

What it means

nir (נִיר) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “lamp”.

A vessel with oil and a wick; also light.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. A lamp; or the children who carry on the family.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Lamp: the vessel with oil and wick that gives light. Under this Strong number go the two forms, נֵר and נִיר. Figuratively it is the life that stays lit, and the line of descendants that does not go out.

• The lamps of the lampstand Exodus 25:37Exodus 27:20Numbers 8:2
• “The lamp of Elohim had not yet gone out” 1 Samuel 3:3
• “A lamp to my feet {is} your word” Psalms 119:105Proverbs 6:232 Samuel 22:29
• The lamp of the wicked goes out Job 18:6Proverbs 24:20
• A lamp for David: his descendants 1 Kings 11:361 Kings 15:42 Samuel 21:17

Historical and cultural background

The lamps of the lampstand were to burn continually with pure olive oil (Exodus 27:20; Leviticus 24:2). David’s men tell him: “you shall not … quench the lamp of Israel” (2 Samuel 21:17).

How we translate it

Always “lamp” (22 times) or “lamps” (26). In 1 Kings 11:36 a note explains the image: a descendant who goes on reigning, so that the house of David is not extinguished (also 1 Kings 15:4; 2 Kings 8:19).

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• lamps ×26
• lamp ×22

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Exodus×11
• Leviticus×2
• Numbers×4
• 1 Samuel×1
• 2 Samuel×2
• 1 Kings×3
• 2 Kings×1
• 1 Chronicles×3
• 2 Chronicles×5
• Job×3
• Psalms×3
• Proverbs×6
• Jeremiah×1
• Zephaniah×1
• Zechariah×2

• Exodus 25:37

  You shall make its lamps, seven, and set up its lamps so that it gives light on the space in front of it.

• Exodus 27:20

  And you shall command the sons of Israel that they bring you pure olive oil, beaten, for the light, to make burn a lamp continually.

• Exodus 30:7

  Aaron shall offer up in smoke on it fragrant incense; every morning, when he tends the lamps, he shall offer it up in smoke,

• Exodus 30:8

  and when Aaron lights the lamps at twilight, he shall offer it up in smoke, a continual incense before YHWH throughout your generations.

• Exodus 35:14

  and the lampstand for the light and its utensils and its lamps, and the oil for the light;

• Exodus 37:23

  And he made its seven lamps and its snuffers and its trays of pure gold.

• Exodus 39:37

  the pure lampstand, its lamps, the lamps set in order, and all its utensils, and the oil for the light;

• Exodus 40:4

  And you shall bring in the table and set in order what belongs on it; and you shall bring in the lampstand and set up its lamps.

• Exodus 40:25

  and he set up the lamps before YHWH, as YHWH had commanded Moses.

• Leviticus 24:2

  “Command the sons of Israel to bring you pure oil of olives, beaten, for the light, to make a lamp burn continually.

• Leviticus 24:4

  On the pure lampstand he shall arrange the lamps before YHWH continually.

• Numbers 4:9

  And they shall take a cloth of blue and cover the lampstand for the light, and its lamps, and its snuffers, and its trays, and all its vessels for oil with which they minister to it.

• Numbers 8:2

  “Speak to Aaron and say to him, ‘When you light the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light toward the front of the lampstand.’”

• Numbers 8:3

  And Aaron did so: he lit its lamps toward the front of the lampstand, as YHWH had commanded Moses.

• 1 Samuel 3:3

  and the lamp of Elohim had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of YHWH, where the ark of Elohim was,

• 2 Samuel 21:17

  But Abishai son of Zeruiah helped him, and he struck the Philistine and put him to death. Then David’s men swore to him, saying, “You shall not go out with us to battle again, so that you do not quench the lamp of Israel.”

• 2 Samuel 22:29

  For you are my lamp, YHWH, and YHWH lights up my darkness.

• 1 Kings 7:49

  and the lampstands, five on the right and five on the left, before the inner sanctuary, of fine gold; and the flowers, and the lamps, and the snuffers, of gold;

• 1 Kings 11:36

  And to his son I will give one tribe, so that there may be a lamp for David my servant all the days before me in Jerusalem, the city that I have chosen for myself to put my name there.

• 1 Kings 15:4

  But for the sake of David YHWH his Elohim gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, raising up his son after him and establishing Jerusalem;

• 2 Kings 8:19

  But YHWH was not willing to destroy Judah, for the sake of David his servant, as he had said to him that he would give him a lamp for his sons all the days.

• 1 Chronicles 28:15

  and the weight for the lampstands of gold and their lamps of gold, by the weight of each lampstand and its lamps; and for the lampstands of silver, by weight, for each lampstand and its lamps, according to the service of each lampstand;

• 2 Chronicles 4:20

  the lampstands and their lamps, to burn according to the rule before the inner sanctuary, of fine gold;

• 2 Chronicles 4:21

  the flowers, the lamps, and the snuffers, of gold— it was perfect gold;

• 2 Chronicles 13:11

  They offer up in smoke to YHWH burnt offerings every morning and every evening, and fragrant incense; they set the row of bread on the pure table, and the lampstand of gold with its lamps to burn every evening; for we keep the charge of YHWH our Elohim, but you have abandoned him.

• 2 Chronicles 21:7

  But YHWH was not willing to destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that he had made with David, and as he had said that he would give him a lamp, and to his sons, all the days.

• 2 Chronicles 29:7

  They also shut the doors of the portico and put out the lamps, and incense they did not burn, and burnt offering they did not offer in the Holy Place to the Elohim of Israel.

• Job 18:6

  The light grows dark in his tent, and his lamp above him is extinguished.

• Job 21:17

  How often is the lamp of the wicked extinguished, and does their calamity come upon them, and does he distribute pains in his anger?

• Job 29:3

  when he made shine his lamp over my head, and by his light I walked through darkness;

• Psalms 18:28

  For you light my lamp, YHWH; my Elohim lights up my darkness.

• Psalms 119:105

  A lamp to my feet is your word, and a light to my pathway.

• Psalms 132:17

  There I will make sprout a horn for David; I have prepared a lamp for my anointed one.

• Proverbs 6:23

  For the commandment is a lamp, and the instruction a light, and the reproofs of correction are the way of life,

• Proverbs 13:9

  The light of the righteous rejoices, but the lamp of the wicked goes out.

• Proverbs 20:20

  Whoever curses his father and his mother, his lamp will go out in the blackness of darkness.

• Proverbs 20:27

  The lamp of YHWH is the breath of a man, searching all the inner rooms of the belly.

• Proverbs 24:20

  for there will be no future for the evil man; the lamp of the wicked will go out.

• Proverbs 31:18

  She tastes that her gain is good; her lamp does not go out at night.

• Jeremiah 25:10

  And I will make perish from them the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp.

And 8 more times.