See in Reader
1.4 KiB
(Jesus continues to teach the crowds.) Jesus did not intend for everyone in the crowd to understand this teaching. Therefore, it might be best to simply translate the images, rather than explaining them.
a lamp
This was a small bowl with a wick and olive oil for fuel. The important thing is that it gave light.
puts it in a dark closet
"hides it in a closet"
on a lamp stand
"on a table" or "they put it on a shelf"
Your eye is the lamp of the body
This has several figures of speech. They eye is a metonym for vision, which is a metaphor for understanding. The body is a synecdoche for a person's life. It can be translated as "Your eye is the lamp of your life" or "Your vision is the lamp of your life." (See: rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metonymy and rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metaphor and rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-synecdoche) Since Jesus was saying something that is true of everyone, it can be translated as "The eye is the lamp of a person's body."
When your eye is good
"When your vision is good" or "when you see well"
the whole body is filled with light
Light is a metaphor for truth. This metaphor means "your whole life is filled with the light of truth" or "his whole life is filled with truth."
When your eye is bad, your body is full of darkness.
Darkness is a metaphor for falsehood. This metaphor means "When your vision is bad, your whole life is full of falsehood."