The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor.
Parallel translations
- WEB the wicked man writhes in pain all his days, even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor.
- BSB A wicked man writhes in pain all his days; only a few years are reserved for the ruthless.
- NKJV The wicked man writhes with pain all his days, And the number of years is hidden from the oppressor.
- NASB “The wicked person writhes in pain all his days, And the years reserved for the ruthless are numbered.
- NLT “The wicked writhe in pain throughout their lives. Years of trouble are stored up for the ruthless.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Eliphaz declares that the wicked man suffers inner torment all his days, with a fixed span of trouble laid up for the oppressor. He frames wickedness as a life of self-inflicted anguish.
Overview
Here begins Eliphaz's vivid portrait of the doom of the wicked, meant to imply Job belongs in that category. He pictures the godless as never truly at peace, haunted by dread throughout his appointed years. While Scripture affirms that sin brings ruin, Eliphaz wrongly assumes all present suffering proves present guilt, a mistake the book as a whole corrects.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Job 27:13This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage of oppressors, which they shall receive of the Almighty.
- Jas 5:1–6Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
- Job 24:1Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days?
- Luke 12:19–21And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
- Rom 8:22For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
- Ps 90:12So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
- Ps 90:3–4Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.
- Eccl 9:3This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 15:20 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.