They will be cut down in the prime of life; their branches will never again be green.
Parallel translations
- WEB It shall be accomplished before his time. His branch shall not be green.
- KJV It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green.
- BSB It will be paid in full before his time, and his branch will not flourish.
- NKJV It will be accomplished before his time, And his branch will not be green.
- NASB “It will be accomplished before his time, And his palm branch will not be green.
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's end comes prematurely, his branch never flourishing green. His life is cut short before its time.
Overview
Eliphaz declares the godless will be paid off before his days are full, like a tree whose branch withers rather than thriving. The image of a barren branch signals a life that fails to bear lasting fruit. Scripture contrasts this with the blessed man who is like a tree that prospers (Psalm 1:3), a fruitfulness ultimately found in union with Christ the true vine (John 15:5).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Eccl 7:17Don’t be too wicked, neither be foolish. Why should you die before your time?
- Ps 55:23But you, God, will bring them down into the pit of destruction. Bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days, but I will trust in you.
- Hos 9:16Ephraim is struck. Their root has dried up. They will bear no fruit. Even though they give birth, yet I will kill the beloved ones of their womb.”
- Job 22:16who were snatched away before their time, whose foundation was poured out as a stream,
- Hos 14:5–7I will be like the dew to Israel. He will blossom like the lily, and send down his roots like Lebanon.
- Ezek 17:8–10It was planted in a good soil by many waters, that it might produce branches, and that it might bear fruit, that it might be a good vine.”’
- Ps 52:5–8God will likewise destroy you forever. He will take you up, and pluck you out of your tent, and root you out of the land of the living. Selah.
- Isa 27:11When its boughs are withered, they will be broken off. The women will come and set them on fire, for they are a people of no understanding. Therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them, and he who formed them will show them no favor.
- Job 14:7–9“For there is hope for a tree, If it is cut down, that it will sprout again, that the tender branch of it will not cease.
- Job 8:16–19He is green before the sun. His shoots go out along his garden.
- Job 18:16–17His roots shall be dried up beneath. Above shall his branch be cut off.
- John 15:6If a man doesn’t remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch, and is withered; and they gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
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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 15:32 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.