Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G MessageBut how often does the lamp of the wicked actually go out? How often does disaster really overtake them? How often does God deal out punishment in His anger?
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.GHow often is the lamp of the wicked snuffed out? How often does their ruin fall upon them? How often does He apportion suffering in His anger?
KJV
King James VersionHow oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and how oft cometh their destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger.
BSB
Berean Standard BibleHow often is the lamp of the wicked put out? Does disaster come upon them? Does God, in His anger, apportion destruction?
Footnotes
כַּמָּה (*kammah*, "how often?") is the rhetorical blade of the entire speech. Job is not denying that the wicked ever face judgement—he is demanding his friends reckon with the *frequency*, or rather the rarity, of it. נֵר רְשָׁעִים (*ner resha'im*, "lamp of the wicked") echoes Proverbs 13:9 and 24:20, where the lamp going out is the wicked man's certain fate. Job is not refuting Scripture but deconstructing how his friends have weaponised it as if judgement were automatic and immediate. FOG mirrors the three parallel rhetorical questions of the Hebrew; FOG Message reinforces the challenge with "actually" and "really."
