What Does Job 15:29 Mean in the King James?
He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The Hebrew makes prosperity a question of footing and reach: wealth that cannot stand cannot extend itself across the earth.
THE MEANING
Material wealth can fail to take hold, the resources a person has may not endure, and the reach they hope to extend may stop short. The verse speaks now with a stark limit: possessions cannot guarantee lasting standing or reach across the earth.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that riches, once gathered, guarantee permanence or an enduring place on the earth.
THE ROOT
יָקוּם
yāqûm
GROWS FROM
קום
q-w-m
Rise, stand, become established.
English continue can sound like duration alone, but this verb says stand. The same root names being raised up and a place to stand, so the verse pictures wealth losing its footing as well as failing to last.
ALSO GROWS
qûm: Rise; stand.
קוּם
This is the root verb beneath continue: the substance does not stand.
hēqîm: Raise up; establish.
הֵקִים
The root can describe something being made to stand, underscoring the stability this wealth lacks.
māqōm: Place; standing-place.
מָקוֹם
The same root connects standing with having a place, echoing the loss of secure footing.
חֵילוֹ
ḥêlô
GROWS FROM
חיל
ḥ-y-l
Strength, force, capacity; by extension, resources or wealth.
Substance here is chayil, a word whose range includes strength, valor, and wealth. It presents material means as a person’s available force or capacity, not merely as a pile of possessions.
ALSO GROWS
ḥêl: Wealth; resources.
חֵיל
This is the sense of the word in the verse: the resources that fail to endure.
ʾēshet ḥayil: Woman of valor; capable woman.
אֵשֶׁת־חַיִל
The same root describes strength and capability, revealing the forceful sense carried inside substance.
יִטֶּה
yitteh
GROWS FROM
נטה
n-ṭ-h
Stretch, extend, incline, bend.
The verb translated prolong carries the image of extension or spreading. Beside wealth that cannot stand, it describes reach that cannot stretch across the earth.
ALSO GROWS
nāṭāh: Stretch out; extend; spread.
נָטָה
This is the direct image behind the verse’s language of prolonging or extending.
maṭṭeh: Staff; tribe.
מַטֶּה
This noun grows from the same root’s image of extension, offering another branch of the word’s reach.
THE PATTERN
Material wealth cannot guarantee that its owner’s standing or reach will endure.
For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him.But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;THE THREAD
A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children’s children: and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just.The word translated substance in Job and wealth in Proverbs comes from the same root, חיל (ḥ-y-l), meaning strength, capacity, or resources. Job says this force will not endure; Proverbs shows wealth changing hands, so possession does not guarantee permanence.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us