Job 4:8

8 I have seen people plow fields of evil and plant wickedness like seed; now they harvest wickedness and evil.

Job 4:8 Meaning and Commentary

Job 4:8

Even as I have seen
Here he goes about to prove, by his own experience, the destruction of wicked men; and would intimate, that Job was such an one, because of the ruin he was fallen into:

they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same;
figurative expressions, denoting that such who devise iniquity in their hearts, form and plan schemes of it in their minds, signified by "plowing iniquity", and who were studious and diligent to put into practice what they devised; who took a great deal of pains to commit sin, and were constant at it, expressed by "sowing wickedness": these sooner or later eat the fruit of their doings, are punished in proportion to their crimes, even in this life, as well as hereafter, see ( Hosea 8:7 ) ( 10:13 ) ( Galatians 6:7 Galatians 6:8 ) ; though a Jewish commentator F2 observes, that the thought of sin is designed by the first phrase; the endeavour to bring it into action by the second; and the finishing of the work, or the actual commission of the evil, by the third; the punishment thereof being what is expressed in ( Job 4:9 ) ; the Targum applies this to the generation of the flood.


FOOTNOTES:

F2 R. Simeon Bar Tzemach.

Job 4:8 In-Context

6 You worshiped God, and your life was blameless; and so you should have confidence and hope.
7 Think back now. Name a single case where someone righteous met with disaster.
8 I have seen people plow fields of evil and plant wickedness like seed; now they harvest wickedness and evil.
9 Like a storm, God destroys them in his anger.
10 The wicked roar and growl like lions, but God silences them and breaks their teeth.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.