If I laughed on them, they believed it not; and the light of my countenance they cast not down.
When I relaxed from my wonted gravity (a virtue much esteemed in the East), and smiled on them, they could hardly credit it; and yet, notwithstanding my condescension, they did not cast aside reverence in consequence of my cheerfulness of countenance. But the parallelism is better in Umbriet's translation: 'I smiled kindly on those who trusted not' - i:e., in times of danger I cheered those in despondency. 'And they could not cast down (by their despondency) my serenity of counteance' (flowing from trust in God). (Proverbs 16:15; Psalms 104:15.) The opposite phrase (Genesis 4:5-6, "countenance fallen").