The Meaning of Job 20:8 Explained

Job 20:8

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.

YLT: As a dream he fleeth, and they find him not, And he is driven away as a vision of the night,

Darby: He flieth away as a dream, and is not found; and is chased away as a vision of the night.

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 Reverse Interlinear

He shall fly away  as a dream,  and shall not be found:  yea, he shall be chased away  as a vision  of the night. 

What does Job 20:8 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 20:8 mean?

Like a dream He will fly away and not be found and Yes he will be chased away like a vision of the night
כַּחֲל֣וֹם יָ֭עוּף וְלֹ֣א יִמְצָא֑וּהוּ וְ֝יֻדַּ֗ד כְּחֶזְי֥וֹן לָֽיְלָה

כַּחֲל֣וֹם  Like  a  dream 
Parse: Preposition-k, Article, Noun, masculine singular
Root: חֲלֹום  
Sense: dream.
יָ֭עוּף  He  will  fly  away 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: עוּף 
Sense: to fly, fly about, fly away.
וְלֹ֣א  and  not 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Adverb, Negative particle
Root: הֲלֹא 
Sense: not, no.
יִמְצָא֑וּהוּ  be  found 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person masculine plural, third person masculine singular
Root: מָצָא  
Sense: to find, attain to.
וְ֝יֻדַּ֗ד  and  Yes  he  will  be  chased  away 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Hofal, Conjunctive imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: נָדַד  
Sense: to retreat, flee, depart, move, wander abroad, stray, flutter.
כְּחֶזְי֥וֹן  like  a  vision 
Parse: Preposition-k, Noun, masculine singular construct
Root: חִזָּיׄון  
Sense: vision.
לָֽיְלָה  of  the  night 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: לַיִל 
Sense: night.