Job 20:14-24

14 Yet his food in his stomach turns sour; It becomes cobra venom within him.
15 He swallows down riches And vomits them up again; God casts them out of his belly.
16 He will suck the poison of cobras; The viper's tongue will slay him.
17 He will not see the streams, The rivers flowing with honey and cream.
18 He will restore that for which he labored, And will not swallow it down; From the proceeds of business He will get no enjoyment.
19 For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor, He has violently seized a house which he did not build.
20 "Because he knows no quietness in his heart, He will not save anything he desires.
21 Nothing is left for him to eat; Therefore his well-being will not last.
22 In his self-sufficiency he will be in distress; Every hand of misery will come against him.
23 When he is about to fill his stomach, God will cast on him the fury of His wrath, And will rain it on him while he is eating.
24 He will flee from the iron weapon; A bronze bow will pierce him through.

Job 20:14-24 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JOB 20

Zophar and his friends, not satisfied with Job's confession of faith, he in his turn replies, and in his preface gives his reasons why he made any answer at all, and was so quick in it, Job 20:1-3; and appeals to Job for the truth of an old established maxim, that the prosperity of wicked men and hypocrites is very short lived, Job 20:4,5; and the short enjoyment of their happiness is described by several elegant figures and similes, Job 20:6-9; such a wicked man being obliged, in his lifetime, to restore his ill gotten goods, and at death to lie down with the sins of his youth, Job 20:10,11; his sin in getting riches, the disquietude of his mind in retaining them, and his being forced to make restitution, are very beautifully expressed by the simile of a sweet morsel kept in the mouth, and turned to the gall of asps in the bowels, and then vomited up, Job 20:12-16; the disappointment he shall have, the indigent and strait circumstances he shall be brought into, and the restitution he shall be obliged to make for the oppression of the poor, and the uneasiness he shall feel in his own breast, are set forth in a very strong light, Job 20:17-22; and it is suggested, that not only the hand of wicked men should be upon him, but the wrath of God also, which should seize on him suddenly and secretly, and would be inevitable, he not being able to make his escape from it, and which would issue in the utter destruction of him and his in this world, and that to come, Job 20:23-28. And the chapter is, concluded with this observation, that such as before described is the appointed portion and heritage of a wicked man from God, Job 20:29.

Footnotes 1

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.