Job 15:29 (KJV)

What does Job 15:29 mean?

Job 15:29 describes the fate Eliphaz expects for a wicked person. He claims that such a person’s wealth and possessions will not last, and that the prosperity built up on earth will come to an end.

Eliphaz is speaking to Job during an argument about Job’s suffering. His picture of lost prosperity is part of a warning about the wicked, but Job has already challenged the idea that his suffering proves he has done wrong.

The Hebrew behind Job 15:29

• “substance” — חַיִל (ḥayil): This word can mean wealth or possessions. Here it points to the resources that give a person standing and security.
• “continue” — קוּם (qum): This word can carry the sense of standing or remaining in place. It pictures the person’s possessions as unable to hold their ground.
• “prolong” — נָטָה (natah): This word often means to stretch out or extend. In the KJV’s wording, Eliphaz pictures prosperity extending across the earth.

Why Job 15:29 matters

• Eliphaz presents the loss of wealth as part of a larger picture of judgment on the wicked. In verse 20, he begins by saying that “the wicked man travaileth with pain all his days.”
• The speaker matters when reading the claim. These are Eliphaz’s words in a dispute with Job, not a conclusion that Job himself has accepted; Job calls his friends “miserable comforters” in 16:2.
• The KJV’s phrase “the perfection thereof” points back to the person’s prosperity. The verse pictures that prosperity as something impressive on earth, yet unable to endure.