Job 20:8
in Job 20He will fly away like a dream, never to be found; he will be chased away like a vision in the night.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: Yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.
KJV
He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.
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This verse in Job 20
Commentary
7 notes on this verseHe shall fly away as a dream - Instead of rising again from corruption, as thou hast asserted, (Job 19:26), with a new body, his flesh shall rot in the earth, and his spirit be dissipated like a vapor; and, like a vision of the night, nothing shall remain but the bare impression that such a creature had once existed, but shall appear no more for ever.
This site's exposition
fly away like a dream
on Job 20:8-11
The wicked man's end is pictured as a dream that leaves no trace: "he will be chased away like a vision in the night". His sons "will seek the favor of the poor", for "his own hands must return his wealth", restoring what he took from them.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
To show his dejection is irreparable he then says "Like a dream flying away he will not be found," for as a bird flying away easily disappears from the eyes of men, so also dreams easily disappear from human knowledge. As little or no trace …
Ver. 8. He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night. 7. What else is the life of the hypocrite but the vision of a phantom, which exhibits that in semblance which it does not possess in truth? Whence too it is justly likened to 'a dream,' in that all praise and glory is, as it were, gone from him whilst it is being held.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found,....
It will be total; he shall go away like a dream, or vision of the night, which was a mere phantasm, and, whatever in it pleased the fancy, it is quite gone, and nothing of it remains but what serves us to laugh at the folly of.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
He shall fly away as a dream - As a dream wholly disappears or vanishes. This comparison of man with a dream is not uncommon, and is most impressive. See Psa 73:20; see the notes at Isa 29:7-8. As a vision of the night - As when one in a dream seems to see objects which vanish when he awakes. The parallelism requires us to understand this of what appears in a dream, and not of a spectre. In our dreams we “seem” to see objects, and when we awake they vanish.
The words behind it
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כַּחֲל֣וֹם | kachalom | like a dream | H2472 → | 65 times |
| יָ֭עוּף | yauf | he will fly away | H5774 → | 26 times |
| וְלֹ֣א | velo' | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יִמְצָא֑וּהוּ | yimtzauhu | people will find him | H4672 → | 455 times |
| וְ֝יֻדַּ֗ד | veyudad | and he may be chased away | H5074 → | 28 times |
| כְּחֶזְי֥וֹן | kechezyon | like a vision of | H2384 → | 9 times |
| לָֽיְלָה׃ | layelah | [the] night | H3915 → | 233 times |
כַּחֲל֣וֹםlike a dream
kachalomH2472 →65 times
יָ֭עוּףhe will fly away
yaufH5774 →26 times
וְלֹ֣אand not
velo'H3808 →5168 times
יִמְצָא֑וּהוּpeople will find him
yimtzauhuH4672 →455 times
וְ֝יֻדַּ֗דand he may be chased away
veyudadH5074 →28 times
כְּחֶזְי֥וֹןlike a vision of
kechezyonH2384 →9 times
לָֽיְלָה׃[the] night
layelahH3915 →233 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
Psalms 90:5You whisk them away in their sleep; they are like the new grass of the morning—
it leads to
- Isaiah 40:6
A voice says, “Cry out!” And I asked, “What should I cry out?” “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field.
- 1 Peter 1:24
For, “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall,
- Psalms 103:15–16
As for man, his days are like grass— he blooms like a flower of the field;
- Psalms 73:20
Like one waking from a dream, so You, O Lord, awaken and despise their form.
- Job 22:16
They were snatched away before their time, and their foundations were swept away by a flood.
- Isaiah 40:6
Through
Psalms 18:10He mounted a cherub and flew; He soared on the wings of the wind.
it leads to
- Psalms 104:3
laying the beams of His chambers in the waters above, making the clouds His chariot, walking on the wings of the wind.
- Psalms 104:3
Through
Psalms 73:20Like one waking from a dream, so You, O Lord, awaken and despise their form.
it leads to
- Psalms 78:65
Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a mighty warrior overcome by wine.
- Psalms 78:65
Through
Job 18:18He is driven from light into darkness and is chased from the inhabited world.
it leads to
- Job 10:22
to a land of utter darkness, of deep shadow and disorder, where even the light is like darkness.”
- Job 10:22
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 XV; 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.
