torch
lap.pid denotes a burning light, used for carried firebrands and for vivid comparisons involving fire or brightness.
The term most often appears in comparisons and visions marked by fire, brightness, or consuming force; it also denotes burning objects handled, placed, and set alight in narrative scenes.
Senses in use
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Fire-and-brightness imagery · dominant
Plural and singular forms occur in comparisons: in Daniel 10:6 the APB renders the eyes as “torches of fire,” while Ezekiel 1:13 compares the living creatures’ appearance with burning fire and “torches.” In Isaiah 62:1 salvation is rendered as “a burning torch,” and Zechariah 12:6 compares Judah’s chiefs with a firebrand among sheaves that consumes surrounding peoples.
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Carried or placed burning implements · common
In Judges 15:4 the plural form names objects Samson puts between paired foxes’ tails, and Judges 15:5 states that he sets fire to them before releasing the foxes into standing grain. In Judges 7:16 and Judges 7:20, plural forms are placed inside jars, then held after the jars are broken; Genesis 15:17 presents a singular construct form in the scene of a smoking oven and a burning light passing between pieces.
In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB commonly renders the visible fire-related comparison or object as “torch” or “torches,” including “torches of fire” in Daniel 10:6 and “burning torch” in Isaiah 62:1. In Exodus 20:18 it instead renders “flashes of lightning,” and in Job 41:11 and Nahum 2:5 the lemma’s specific contribution is not clear from the translation’s whole-verse wording.