Job 15:32
in Job 15It will be paid in full before his time, and his branch will not flourish.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
It shall be accomplished before his time, And his branch shall not be green.
KJV
It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green.
⋯
This verse in Job 15
Commentary
10 notes on this verseVer. 32. Before his days are fulfilled he shall perish, and his hands shall wither. The days foreordained to each individual by the Divine Prescience can neither be increased nor lessened, except it happen that they be so foreknown as either to be longer if they be accompanied with the most perfect works, or shorter with the most wicked, just as Hezekiah obtained increase of days by the bestowing of tears, and as it is written concerning the wicked, Death meets the undisciplined.
This site's exposition
He will no longer be rich
on Job 15:29-35
The poem closes with loss, and "the flame will wither his shoots" turns the plant words Job used of hope in chapter 14 into judgment. The last lines, "fire will consume the tents of bribery", state as settled law a doctrine the book leaves unsettled at 42:7.
This site's exposition
his branch will not flourish
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the line as a life ended before its time, and the withered branch as the childless end of the wicked. Clarke agrees that no shoot will spring from his roots, a charge that fell hard on a father who had lost his children.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
He posits as a fourth bitter thing the shortness of his life. So he then says, "He will perish before his days are complete," since he will die before his time may be completed, "and his hands will dry up," for his sons and his …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
); that is, he shall survive his prosperity, and see himself stripped of it. Fifthly, He is in care, when he is in trouble, how to get out of it (not how to get good by it); but in this also he is crossed (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation
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
It shall be accomplished before his time, Either the recompence or reward of his trusting vanity, in vain persons or things, the punishment of such a trust, the sorrows and troubles following upon it; these shall come upon the wicked man "before his day" (f), as it may be rendered; before the day of his death, even before his old age; before the evil days come in a course of nature, and those years in which he has no pleasure: or his life, and the days of his life, "shall be filled up" (g); or be at an end before his time; not before the time fixed in the decree and purpose of God, Job 14:5; but before his own time, that he and his friends thought he might have lived, and as his healthful constitution promised; or before the then common term of human life; and so the phrase is expressive or an immature death: and his branch shall not be green; but dried up and wither away; his wealth and riches, his children and family, be utterly extinct; instead of being like a branch, green and flourishing, shall be like a dry stick, useless and unprofitable, only fit for burning; see Job 15:30. (f) בלא יומו "ante diem suam", Vatablus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. (g) תמלא "complebitur", Montanus; "implebitur", Schultens.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
It shall be accomplished before his time - I believe the Vulgate gives the true sense: Antequam dies ejus impleantur, peribit; “He shall perish before his time; before his days are completed.” 8. He shall be removed by a violent death, and not live out half his days. 9. And his branch shall not be green - there shall be no scion from his roots; all his posterity shall fail.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Literally, "it (the tree to which he is compared, Job 15:30, or else his life) shall not be filled up in its time"; that is, "he shall be ended before his time." shall not be green--image from a withered tree; the childless extinction of the wicked.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
It shall be accomplished before his time - Margin, “cut off.” The image here is that of a tree, which had been suggested in Job 15:30. Here it is followed up by various illustrations drawn from the flower, the fruit, etc., all of which are designed to denote the same thing - that a wicked man will not be permanently prosperous; he will not live and flourish as he would if he were righteous. He will be like a tree that is cut down before its proper time, or that casts its flowers and fruits and brings nothing to perfection. The phrase here literally is, “It shall not be filled up in its time;” that is, a wicked man will be cut off before he has filled up the measure of his days, like a tree that decays and falls before its proper time. A similar idea occurs in Psa 55:23. “Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days.” As a general fact this is all true, and the observation of the ancient Idumeans was correct. The temperate live longer than the intemperate; the chaste longer than the licentious; he that controls and governs his passions longer than he who gives the reins to them; and he who leads a life of honesty and virtue longer than he who lives for crime. Pure religion makes a man temperate, sober, chaste, calm, dispassionate, and equable in his temper; saves from broils, contentions, and strifes; subdues the angry passions, and thus tends to lengthen out life. His branch shall not be green - It shall be dried up and withered away - retaining the image of a tree.
The words behind it
6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בְּֽלֹא־ | belo'- | on not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| י֭וֹמוֹ | yomo | day his | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| תִּמָּלֵ֑א | timale' | it will be completed | H4390 → | 249 times |
| וְ֝כִפָּת֗וֹ | vekhipato | and palm branch his | H3712 → | |
| לֹ֣א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| רַעֲנָֽנָה׃ | raananah | it will grow luxuriant | H7488 → |
בְּֽלֹא־on not
belo'-H3808 →5168 times
י֭וֹמוֹday his
yomoH3117 →2304 times
תִּמָּלֵ֑אit will be completed
timale'H4390 →249 times
וְ֝כִפָּת֗וֹand palm branch his
vekhipatoH3712 →
לֹ֣אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
רַעֲנָֽנָה׃it will grow luxuriant
raananahH7488 →
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
Ecclesiastes 7:17Do not be excessively wicked, and do not be a fool. Why should you die before your time?
it leads to
- Proverbs 10:27
The fear of the LORD prolongs life, but the years of the wicked will be cut short.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Job 22:16
They were snatched away before their time, and their foundations were swept away by a flood.
- Psalms 55:23
But You, O God, will bring them down to the Pit of destruction; men of bloodshed and deceit will not live out half their days. But I will trust in You.
- Acts 12:23
Immediately, because Herod did not give glory to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.
- Acts 5:10
At that instant she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband.
- Proverbs 10:27
Through
Psalms 55:23But You, O God, will bring them down to the Pit of destruction; men of bloodshed and deceit will not live out half their days. But I will trust in You.
it leads to
- Psalms 5:6
You destroy those who tell lies; the LORD abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit.
- Psalms 5:6
Through
Hosea 9:16Ephraim is struck down; their root is withered; they cannot bear fruit. Even if they bear children, I will slay the darlings of their wombs.
it leads to
- Hosea 9:11–13
Ephraim’s glory will fly away like a bird, with no birth, no pregnancy, and no conception.
- Hosea 9:11–13
Through
Job 22:16They were snatched away before their time, and their foundations were swept away by a flood.
it leads to
- Genesis 7:17–24
For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and the waters rose and lifted the ark high above the earth.
- Genesis 7:17–24
About Job
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 Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.