the triumph of the wicked has been brief and the joy of the godless momentary?
Parallel translations
- WEB that the triumphing of the wicked is short, the joy of the godless but for a moment?
- KJV That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?
- NKJV That the triumphing of the wicked is short, And the joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment?
- NASB That the rejoicing of the wicked is short, And the joy of the godless momentary?
- NLT the triumph of the wicked has been short lived and the joy of the godless has been only temporary?
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
Zophar's thesis: the triumph of the wicked is brief and the joy of the godless lasts only a moment. He insists evil's success is fleeting.
Overview
Zophar states his central claim that whatever success the wicked enjoy is short-lived and their happiness momentary. There is real biblical truth here, for Scripture affirms the fleeting nature of ungodly prosperity (Psalm 73:18-20). Yet Zophar wields it as a weapon against Job, wrongly assuming Job's suffering marks him as one of these doomed wicked.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Ps 37:35–36I have seen a wicked, ruthless man flourishing like a well-rooted native tree,
- Job 18:5–6Indeed, the lamp of the wicked is extinguished; the flame of his fire does not glow.
- Job 8:12–13While the shoots are still uncut, they dry up quicker than grass.
- Matt 13:20–21The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and at once receives it with joy.
- Job 5:3I have seen a fool taking root, but suddenly his house was cursed.
- Acts 12:22–23And they began to shout, “This is the voice of a god, not a man!”
- Job 27:8For what is the hope of the godless when he is cut off, when God takes away his life?
- Ps 73:18–20Surely You set them on slick ground; You cast them down into ruin.
- Matt 7:21Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
- Exod 15:9–10The enemy declared, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake. I will divide the spoils; I will gorge myself on them. I will draw my sword; my hand will destroy them.’
- Esth 5:11–12Haman recounted to them his glorious wealth, his many sons, and all the ways the king had honored and promoted him over the other officials and servants.
- Gal 6:4Each one should test his own work. Then he will have reason to boast in himself alone, and not in someone else.
- Jas 4:16As it is, you boast in your proud intentions. All such boasting is evil.
- Job 15:29–34He will no longer be rich; his wealth will not endure. His possessions will not overspread the land.
- Judg 16:21–30Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, where he was bound with bronze shackles and forced to grind grain in the prison.
- Esth 7:10So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the fury of the king subsided.
- Job 8:19Surely this is the joy of his way; yet others will spring from the dust.
- Job 27:13–23This is the wicked man’s portion from God—the heritage the ruthless receive from the Almighty.
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 20:5 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
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