Job 4:8

8 According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity, And sow trouble, Reap the same.

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 Isn't your piety your confidence, The integrity of your ways your hope?
7 "Remember, now, whoever perished, being innocent? Or where were the upright cut off?
8 According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity, And sow trouble, Reap the same.
9 By the breath of God they perish, By the blast of his anger are they consumed.
10 The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, The teeth of the young lions, are broken.
The Hebrew Names Version is in the public domain.