A dreadful sound is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.
Parallel translations
- WEB A sound of terrors is in his ears. In prosperity the destroyer shall come on him.
- BSB Sounds of terror fill his ears; in his prosperity the destroyer attacks him.
- NKJV Dreadful sounds are in his ears; In prosperity the destroyer comes upon him.
- NASB “Sounds of terror are in his ears; While he is at peace the destroyer comes upon him.
- NLT The sound of terror rings in their ears, and even on good days they fear the attack of the destroyer.
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
The wicked man hears terrors and lives in fear even in prosperity, expecting a destroyer to strike. His outward success cannot quiet his inward dread.
Overview
Eliphaz describes the guilty conscience that supposedly torments the wicked, allowing no security even when things go well. This captures a real spiritual truth: those at war with God lack true peace (Isaiah 57:21). Yet as a blanket explanation of Job's plight it falls short, since Job's terror flows not from hidden sin but from God's mysterious dealings with a faithful servant.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Job 18:11Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall drive him to his feet.
- 1 Th 5:3For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
- Lev 26:36And upon them that are left alive of you I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as fleeing from a sword; and they shall fall when none pursueth.
- 1 Cor 10:10Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.
- Rev 9:11And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.
- Prov 1:26–27I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
- Ps 92:7When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed for ever:
- Job 20:5–7That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?
- Job 20:22–25In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: every hand of the wicked shall come upon him.
- Job 27:20Terrors take hold on him as waters, a tempest stealeth him away in the night.
- Job 1:13–19And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house:
- Gen 3:9–10And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
- Ps 73:18–20Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction.
- 1 Sam 25:36–38And Abigail came to Nabal; and, behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunken: wherefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light.
- 2 Kgs 7:6For the LORD had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host: and they said one to another, Lo, the king of Israel hath hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us.
- Acts 12:21–23And upon a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made an oration unto them.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 15:21 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.