The Meaning of Job 20:27 Explained

Job 20:27

KJV: The heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up against him.

YLT: Reveal do the heavens his iniquity, And earth is raising itself against him.

Darby: The heavens shall reveal his iniquity, and the earth shall rise up against him.

ASV: The heavens shall reveal his iniquity, And the earth shall rise up against him.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

The heaven  shall reveal  his iniquity;  and the earth  shall rise up  against him. 

What does Job 20:27 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 20:27 mean?

Will reveal the heavens his iniquity and the earth will rise up against him
יְגַלּ֣וּ שָׁמַ֣יִם עֲוֺנ֑וֹ וְ֝אֶ֗רֶץ מִתְקוֹמָ֘מָ֥ה לֽוֹ

יְגַלּ֣וּ  Will  reveal 
Parse: Verb, Piel, Imperfect, third person masculine plural
Root: גָּלָה  
Sense: to uncover, remove.
שָׁמַ֣יִם  the  heavens 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural
Root: שָׁמַיִם  
Sense: heaven, heavens, sky.
עֲוֺנ֑וֹ  his  iniquity 
Parse: Noun, common singular construct, third person masculine singular
Root: עָוֹן  
Sense: perversity, depravity, iniquity, guilt or punishment of iniquity.
וְ֝אֶ֗רֶץ  and  the  earth 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Noun, feminine singular
Root: אֶרֶץ  
Sense: land, earth.
מִתְקוֹמָ֘מָ֥ה  will  rise  up 
Parse: Verb, Hitpael, Participle, feminine singular
Root: קוּם 
Sense: to rise, arise, stand, rise up, stand up.
לֽוֹ  against  him 
Parse: Preposition, third person masculine singular