Lamp under a bushel


The parable of the lamp under a bushel is one of the parables of Jesus. It appears in Matthew –, Mark and Luke. In Matthew, the parable is a continuation of the discourse on salt and light.

Passage

Related passages

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus says:
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says:
In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus says:

Interpretation

The key idea of the parable is that "Light is to be revealed, not concealed." The light here has been interpreted as referring to Jesus, or to His message, or to the believer's response to that message.
Jesus quotes a pessimistic proverb on how the rich get richer and the poor keep losing even the little they have. He later denounces the saying in the next parable in Mark, which alludes to Joel in assuring that God's judgment on the ruling powers will come and holds out revolutionary hope to those resigned to thinking that nothing will ever change.

Proverb

The parable is the source of the English proverb "to hide one's light under a bushel", the use of the word "bushel", an obsolete word for bowl, appearing in William Tyndale's translation of the New Testament: "Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it lighteth all them which are in the house."