Job 15:20
in Job 15A wicked man writhes in pain all his days; only a few years are reserved for the ruthless.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, Even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor.
KJV
The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor.
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This verse in Job 15
Commentary
11 notes on this verseThe wicked man travaileth with pain - This is a most forcible truth: a life of sin is a life of misery; and he that Will sin Must suffer. One of the Targums gives it a strange turn: - “All the days of the ungodly Esau, he was expected to repent, but he did not repent; and the number of years was hidden from the sturdy Ishmael.” The sense of the original, מתחולל mithcholel, is he torments himself: he is a true heautontimoreumenos, or self-tormentor; and he alone is author of his own sufferings, and of his own ruin.
This site's exposition
A wicked man writhes in pain all his days
on Job 15:20-24
Eliphaz opens the book's first full poem on the wicked man, the doctrine the friends have assumed now set in verse. Henry reads it as settled theology of exact retribution, repeated in chapters 18 and 20 and rejected at 42:7, and Job's innocent suffering never appears.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"All the life of the ungodly," he says, "is spent in anguish," and when they experience peace, their conscience will know this anguish. "The years granted to the oppressors," who are unjust, "are numbered," he says, because the tyrants are ephemeral.
The Medieval Church2 voices
Ver. 20. The wicked man feels proud all his days. LITERAL AND MORAL INTERPRETATION The Elect also are apt to feel pride in some of their thoughts and actions. But because they are Elect persons, they cannot feel pride all their days, because before they end their lives, they turn their hearts from self-exaltation to the fearing of humility. But 'the wicked man feels pride all his days,' in that he so brings his life to an end, that he never departs from self-exalting.
After he has gotten the attention of his listener, he then tries to answer the arguments which Job had used in debate. He understood Job to have said two things in these arguments. First, Job was living in anguish and fear, as though God pursued …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Oppressor - To the wicked man: he names this one sort of them, because he supposed Job to be guilty of this sin, in opposition of what Job had affirmed of the safety of such persons, chap. xii, 6, and because such are apt to promise themselves a longer and happier life than other men.
11 Are the consolations of God small with thee? is there any secret thing with thee? 12 Why doth thine heart carry thee away? and what do thy eyes wink at, 13 That thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest such words go out of thy mouth? 14 What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Secondly, He is vexed at the uncertainty of the continuance of his wealth and power: The number of years is hidden to the oppressor. He knows, whatever he pretends, that they will not last always, and has reason to fear that they will not last long and this he frets at. Thirdly, He is under a certain fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation ( Heb. x.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
travaileth--rather, "trembleth of himself," though there is no real danger [UMBREIT]. and the number of his years, &c.--This gives the reason why the wicked man trembles continually; namely, because he knows not the moment when his life must end.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Travaileth with pain - That is, his sorrows are like the pains of parturition. Eliphaz means to say that he is a constant sufferer. All his days - It seems difficult to see how they could have ever formed this universal maxim. It is certainly not literally true now; nor was it ever. But in order to convey the doctrine that the wicked would be punished in as pointed and striking a manner as possible, it was made to assume this universal form - meaning that the life of the wicked would be miserable. There is some reason to think that this and what follows to the close of the chapter, is an ancient fragment which Eliphaz rehearses as containing the sentiments of a purer age of the world. And the number of years is hidden to the oppressor - Wemyss renders this, “and a reckoning of years is laid up for the violent.” So, also, Dr. Good. The Vulgate renders it, “and the number of the years of his tyranny is uncertain.” Rosenmuller, Cocceius, Drusius, and some others suppose that there should be understood here and repeated the clause occurring in the first hemistich, and that it means, “and in the number of years which are laid up for the violent man, he is tortured with pain.” Luther renders it, “and to a tyrant is the number of his years concealed.” It is difficult to tell what the passage means. To me, the most probable interpretation is one which I have not met with in any of the books which I have consulted, and which may be thus expressed,” the wicked man will be tormented all his days.” To one who is an oppressor or tyrant, the number of his years is hidden. He has no security of life. He cannot calculate with any certainty on its continuance. The end is hid. A righteous man may make some calculation, and can see the probable end of his days. He may expect to see an honored old age. […]
The words behind it
9 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| יְמֵ֣י | yemei | [the] days of | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| רָ֭שָׁע | rasho' | a wicked [person] | H7563 → | 263 times |
| ה֣וּא | hu' | he | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| מִתְחוֹלֵ֑ל | mitcholel | [is] writhing in pain | H2342 → | 58 times |
| וּמִסְפַּ֥ר | umispar | and [the] number of | H4557 → | 134 times |
| שָׁ֝נִ֗ים | shanim | years | H8141 → | 877 times |
| נִצְפְּנ֥וּ | nitzpenu | [which] they have been stored up | H6845 → | 32 times |
| לֶעָרִֽיץ׃ | learitz | for <the> ruthless [person] | H6184 → | 20 times |
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
יְמֵ֣י[the] days of
yemeiH3117 →2304 times
רָ֭שָׁעa wicked [person]
rasho'H7563 →263 times
ה֣וּאhe
hu'H1931 →1879 times
מִתְחוֹלֵ֑ל[is] writhing in pain
mitcholelH2342 →58 times
וּמִסְפַּ֥רand [the] number of
umisparH4557 →134 times
שָׁ֝נִ֗יםyears
shanimH8141 →877 times
נִצְפְּנ֥וּ[which] they have been stored up
nitzpenuH6845 →32 times
לֶעָרִֽיץ׃for <the> ruthless [person]
learitzH6184 →20 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Job 24:1“Why does the Almighty not reserve times for judgment? Why may those who know Him never see His days?
it leads to
- Acts 1:7
Jesus replied, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority.
- Ecclesiastes 3:17
I said in my heart, “God will judge the righteous and the wicked, since there is a time for every activity and every deed.”
- Ecclesiastes 8:6–7
For there is a right time and procedure to every purpose, though a man’s misery weighs heavily upon him.
- 2 Peter 3:7–8
And by that same word, the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
- Psalms 73:16–19
When I tried to understand all this, it was troublesome in my sight
- Acts 1:7
Through
Job 27:13This is the wicked man’s portion from God—the heritage the ruthless receive from the Almighty.
it leads to
- Job 20:19–29
For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor; he has seized houses he did not build.
- Isaiah 3:11
Woe to the wicked; disaster is upon them! For they will be repaid with what their hands have done.
- Job 15:20–35
A wicked man writhes in pain all his days; only a few years are reserved for the ruthless.
- Job 20:19–29
About Job
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XII; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, COMMENTARY ON JOB 15:17-23B; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.