Job 20:5

Verse 5 of 29. The 20th of 42 chapters in Job, in Poetry and Wisdom.

1Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,

2Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for this I make haste.

3I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer.

4Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth,

5That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?

6Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds;

7Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where is he?

8He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.

9The eye also which saw him shall see him no more; neither shall his place any more behold him.

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Job 20:5 in the World English Bible

that the triumphing of the wicked is short, the joy of the godless but for a moment?
Read Job 20:5 in the WEB

Matthew Henry on Job 20:5

How it is laid down (v. 5): The triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment. Observe, (1.) He asserts the misery, not only of those who are openly wicked and profane, but of hypocrites, who secretly practice wickedness under a show and profession of religion, because such a wicked man he looked upon Job to be; and it is true that a form of godliness, if it be made use of…

Read Matthew Henry on Job 20:1–9: Second Address of Zophar; Destruction of the Wicked. (b. c. 1520.)

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King James Version. Public domain. Set as prose throughout, including the poetry, because the text is published to us without its lines.