The Meaning of Job 20:29 Explained

Job 20:29

KJV: This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God.

YLT: This is the portion of a wicked man from God. And an inheritance appointed him by God.

Darby: This is the portion of the wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed to him by God.

ASV: This is the portion of a wicked man from God, And the heritage appointed unto him by God.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

This [is] the portion  of a wicked  man  from God,  and the heritage  appointed  unto him by God. 

What does Job 20:29 Mean?

Context Summary

Job 20:1-29 - "the Triumphing Of The Wicked"
Zophar is the man who least of all understood Job. The rebuke which Job had just administered, Job 19:28-29, has vexed him, so that he speaks with impatience.
The theme of Zophar's speech is the brevity of the prosperity of the wicked. He claims that this is an acknowledged principle, Job 20:4; then proceeds to show it by many striking metaphors.
Hypocrite, Job 20:5, is "godless" in the r.v.; and in describing the prosperity and speedy destruction of such, Job 20:5-11, he manifestly applies his words to Job. He refuses to pay any heed to Job's protestations of innocence. His theology was: God is righteous; he blesses and prospers the good, and destroys the wicked. Job was being destroyed; therefore Job was wicked. Thus often do we in our ignorance misunderstand God and cruelly misjudge man.
Zophar descends to more particulars. He describes the pleasure which the ungodly has in sin, Job 20:12-13; how his sin becomes his punishment, Job 20:14-22; and how terrible destruction at last visits him, Job 20:23-28, as his portion from God, Job 20:29. Though in all this Zophar was wrong in applying it to Job's case, and equally wrong in supposing that this life is the place of judgment for the wicked, yet it is important to remember that he was right in seeing a very real connection between sin and punishment. However sweet sin may be to the taste, it is sure to become bitter as the gall of asps ere long. The "pleasures of sin" are but for a season. [source]

Chapter Summary: Job 20

1  Zophar shows the state and portion of the wicked

What do the individual words in Job 20:29 mean?

This [is] the portion for a man wicked from God and the heritage appointed to him by God -
זֶ֤ה ׀ חֵֽלֶק־ אָדָ֣ם רָ֭שָׁע מֵאֱלֹהִ֑ים וְנַחֲלַ֖ת אִמְר֣וֹ מֵאֵֽל פ

זֶ֤ה ׀  This  [is] 
Parse: Pronoun, masculine singular
Root: זֶה  
Sense: this, this one, here, which, this … that, the one … the other, another, such.
חֵֽלֶק־  the  portion  for 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: חֵלֶק 
Sense: portion, share, part, territory.
אָדָ֣ם  a  man 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: אָדָם 
Sense: man, mankind.
רָ֭שָׁע  wicked 
Parse: Adjective, masculine singular
Root: רָשָׁע  
Sense: wicked, criminal.
מֵאֱלֹהִ֑ים  from  God 
Parse: Preposition-m, Noun, masculine plural
Root: אֱלֹהִים  
Sense: (plural).
וְנַחֲלַ֖ת  and  the  heritage 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Noun, feminine singular construct
Root: נַחֲלָה  
Sense: possession, property, inheritance, heritage.
אִמְר֣וֹ  appointed  to  him 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct, third person masculine singular
Root: אֵמֶר 
Sense: utterance, speech, word, saying, promise, command.
מֵאֵֽל  by  God 
Parse: Preposition-m, Noun, masculine singular
Root: אֵל 
Sense: god, god-like one, mighty one.
פ  - 
Parse: Punctuation