Job 15:33

33 They will be like a vine whose grapes are harvested too early, like an olive tree that loses its blossoms before the fruit can form.

Job 15:33 Meaning and Commentary

Job 15:33

He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine
Either the wicked man himself shall shake off or lose his substance; or God shall shake off from him all that was dear and valuable to him; or he shall be shaken by one providence or another, just as a vine is shaken by a violent wind and tempest, and its unripe grapes are battered off by an hailstorm, or plucked off by the hand, or drop off through rottenness; so it is signified by this metaphor, that a wicked man should be stripped of his wealth and riches in a sudden manner; or his children should be snatched from him in their youth, before they were well grown up to maturity, and so like the unripe grape; perhaps respect is had to Job's case, both with regard to his substance and his family:

and shall cast off his flower, as the olive:
which tree, when shaken in a violent manner, drops its flower, and so brings forth no fruit; it is observed by naturalists ^F8, that these two trees, the vine and the olive, flourish much about the same time, and suffer much by storms and tempests, which destroy their fruits, and especially when rain falls in the time of their flowering; the some thing is intended in this clause as in the former.

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FOOTNOTES:

F8 Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 16. c. 25. l. 17. c. 2. 24.

Job 15:33 In-Context

31 Let them no longer fool themselves by trusting in empty riches, for emptiness will be their only reward.

32 They will be cut down in the prime of life; their branches will never again be green.

33 They will be like a vine whose grapes are harvested too early, like an olive tree that loses its blossoms before the fruit can form.

34 For the godless are barren. Their homes, enriched through bribery, will burn.

35 They conceive trouble and give birth to evil. Their womb produces deceit.”