Job 20:19

19 Because he oppressed and forsook the poor; because he has violently taken away houses which he did not build,

Job 20:19 Meaning and Commentary

Job 20:19

Because he hath oppressed [and] hath forsaken the poor
Having oppressed, crushed, and broken the poor to pieces, he leaves them so without pity and compassion for them, and without giving them any relief; he first by oppression makes them poor, or however poorer still, and then leaves them in such circumstances; for this does not suppose that he once was a favourer of them, and afforded them assistance in their necessities, and afterwards forsook them; but rather, as Ben Gersom gives the sense, he does not leave the poor until he has oppressed and crushed them, and then he does; Mr. Broughton's reading of the words agrees with the former sense, "he oppresseth and leaveth poor":

[because] he hath violently taken away an house which he built not;
an house which did not belong to him, he had no property in or right unto, which, as he had not bought, he had not built; and therefore could lay no rightful claim unto it, and yet this he took in a violent manner from the right owner of it, see ( Micah 2:2 ) ; or "and", or "but shall not build it" F1, or "buildeth it not"; he took it away with an intention to pull it down, and build a stately palace in the room of it; but either his substance was taken from him, or he taken away by death before he could finish it, and so either through neglect, or want of opportunity, or of money, did not what he thought to have done.


FOOTNOTES:

F1 (whnby alw) "et non aedificabit eam", Pagninus, Montanus; "et non aedificat eam", Cocceius, Schultens; "non autem", Beza; "sed non", Schmidt, Michaelis.

Job 20:19 In-Context

17 He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter.
18 He shall restore the work that was not his; according to the substance that he took; neither shall he devour, nor rejoice.
19 Because he oppressed and forsook the poor; because he has violently taken away houses which he did not build,
20 therefore, he shall not feel quietness in his belly; he shall not escape with that which he desired.
21 Nothing is left that he did not eat; therefore, his goods shall not last.
The Jubilee Bible (from the Scriptures of the Reformation), edited by Russell M. Stendal, Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2010