Job 15:31

31 There's a lesson here: Whoever invests in lies, gets lies for interest,

Job 15:31 Meaning and Commentary

Job 15:31

Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity
Every wicked man is deceived, either by Satan, who deceives the whole world, deceived our first parents, and deceives all their posterity, not only profane sinners, but many professors of religion also; or by their own hearts, which are deceitful and desperately wicked; or through the deceitfulness of sin, which promises profit, pleasure, and liberty, and issues in ruin, pain, and bondage; and through the deceitfulness of riches, which promise that satisfaction they do not give: and such as are deceived in this manner are prone to trust in vanity; in men, who in every state, high or low, are altogether vanity; and in creature enjoyments, in outward riches and wealth, which are all vanity and vexation of spirit; and in their own hearts, and the vanity of their minds, which to do is extreme folly; and in their righteousness and external privileges, which will be of no service to them, as to their acceptance with God, and eternal happiness; and therefore trust in whatsoever is vain and empty, and affords no solid satisfaction, real pleasure, and advantage, is here dehorted from; unless the words will be allowed to be justly rendered, as I think they may, "trust not in him that is deceived by vanity" F5; by any of the above vain things, since he must himself be a vain man, and therefore not to be confided in; to which sense the Targum inclines;

``he will not (or should not) believe in a son of man (or in a man), who errs through falsehood;''

the reason dissuading from it follows:

for vanity shall be his recompence;
all that a man gets by trusting in vanity, or by trusting in a man deceived, is nothing but emptiness and vanity; he gets nothing solid and substantial, that will be of any advantage to him here or hereafter; and yet this he will not easily believe; and so Beza reads the words, "he that is deceived by vanity will not believe that vanity shall be his recompence".


FOOTNOTES:

F5 (hetn awvb) "per vanitatem deceptus", Beza; so Tigurine version.

Job 15:31 In-Context

29 They'll never get ahead, never amount to a hill of beans.
30 And then death - don't think they'll escape that! They'll end up shriveled weeds, brought down by a puff of God's breath.
31 There's a lesson here: Whoever invests in lies, gets lies for interest,
32 Paid in full before the due date. Some investment!
33 They'll be like fruit frost-killed before it ripens, like buds sheared off before they bloom.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.