What Does Job 18:5 Mean in the King James?
Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine.
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 describes the light as going out, the verse names no hand that snuffs it.
THE MEANING
The verse pictures the wicked person’s visible vitality going dark: even the smallest spark no longer shines. Its movement from light to spark carries the image down to the last trace of fire.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that a life’s apparent brightness guarantees its endurance; even its spark can disappear.
THE ROOT
יִדְעָךְ
yidʿakh
GROWS FROM
דעך
To go out, fade, or be extinguished.
“put out” in this verse is yidʿakh. The verb describes the light itself going out; it does not name an outside agent. The same root appears with lamps and fires, holding these images in one motion: dwindling to darkness.
ALSO GROWS
put out: Go out, be extinguished.
The same verb appears in a question about the wicked person’s candle, placing this image’s certainty under examination.
quenched: Be extinguished, die down.
The root also describes a fire of thorns going out, echoing this verse’s image of a flame losing its visible force.
THE PATTERN
Scripture uses lamp imagery to disclose a life’s condition: light can fade, rise in darkness, or shine outward through visible action.
The light of the righteous rejoiceth: but the lamp of the wicked shall be put out.Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness: he is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.THE THREAD
How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and how oft cometh their destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger.Job 21:17 repeats the same דעך verb, now as a question about how often the wicked person’s candle actually goes out. The shared root turns this image into a claim under examination, not an unquestioned rule.
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