What Does Job 20:5 Mean in the King James?
That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?
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 loudness of a triumph tells you nothing about how long it can hold.
THE MEANING
A triumph can be loud and visible while its span remains brief. When another person’s success appears to prove that wickedness has won, this verse separates the sound of victory from its staying power. The joy is a moment of experience, not a promise of permanence.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Visible success proves that wickedness has secured lasting joy.
THE ROOT
רִנְנַת
rinnat
GROWS FROM
רנן
ranan
To ring out, cry aloud, or sing and shout for joy.
The word translated “triumphing” is a sound-word: it carries the sense of a ringing cry or song, making the wicked person’s victory audible and public. The verse’s focus is not the volume of that cry but how briefly it lasts.
ALSO GROWS
rinnah: A ringing shout or song of joy.
רִנָּה
It shows that the triumph is expressed as an audible celebration.
yiranenu: They shout for joy.
יְרַנְּנוּ
Psalm 5:11 uses this form for a shout that continues “ever,” highlighting the contrast with Job’s momentary triumph.
THE PATTERN
A visible display of success can appear powerful while its hold is brief.
I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:THE THREAD
But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.Job names the triumph with רִנְנַת (rinnat), a cry or song of joy; Psalm 5:11 uses the same רנן (ranan) root for a shout that continues “ever.” The shared root reveals a contrast between a shout measured by a moment and one described as enduring.
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