Job 15:20-35

20 All his days the wicked man suffers torment, the ruthless man through all the years stored up for him.
21 Terrifying sounds fill his ears; when all seems well, marauders attack him.
22 He despairs of escaping the realm of darkness; he is marked for the sword.
23 He wanders about for food like a vulture; he knows the day of darkness is at hand.
24 Distress and anguish fill him with terror; troubles overwhelm him, like a king poised to attack,
25 because he shakes his fist at God and vaunts himself against the Almighty,
26 defiantly charging against him with a thick, strong shield.
27 “Though his face is covered with fat and his waist bulges with flesh,
28 he will inhabit ruined towns and houses where no one lives, houses crumbling to rubble.
29 He will no longer be rich and his wealth will not endure, nor will his possessions spread over the land.
30 He will not escape the darkness; a flame will wither his shoots, and the breath of God’s mouth will carry him away.
31 Let him not deceive himself by trusting what is worthless, for he will get nothing in return.
32 Before his time he will wither, and his branches will not flourish.
33 He will be like a vine stripped of its unripe grapes, like an olive tree shedding its blossoms.
34 For the company of the godless will be barren, and fire will consume the tents of those who love bribes.
35 They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb fashions deceit.”

Job 15:20-35 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JOB 15

Job's three friends having in their turns attacked him, and he having given answer respectively to them, Eliphaz, who began the attack, first enters the debate with him again, and proceeds upon the same plan as before, and endeavours to defend his former sentiments, falling upon Job with greater vehemence and severity; he charges him with vanity, imprudence, and unprofitableness in his talk, and acting a part unbecoming his character as a wise man; yea, with impiety and a neglect of religion, or at least as a discourager of it by his words and doctrines, of which his mouth and lips were witnesses against him, Job 15:1-6; he charges him with arrogance and a high conceit of himself, as if he was the first man that was made, nay, as if he was the eternal wisdom of God, and had been in his council; and, to check his vanity, retorts his own words upon him, or however the sense of them, Job 15:7-10; and also with slighting the consolations of God; upon which he warmly expostulates with him, Job 15:11-13; and in order to convince him of his self-righteousness, which he thought he was full of, he argues from the angels, the heavens, and the general case of man, Job 15:14-16; and then he declares from his own knowledge, and from the relation of wise and ancient men in former times, who made it their observation, that wicked men are afflicted all their days, attended with terror and despair, and liable to various calamities, Job 15:17-24; the reasons of which are their insolence to God, and hostilities committed against him, which they are encouraged in by their prosperous circumstances, Job 15:25-27; notwithstanding all, their estates, riches, and wealth, will come to nothing, Job 15:28-30; and the chapter is closed with an exhortation to such, not to feed themselves up with vain hopes, or trust in uncertain riches, since their destruction would be sure, sudden, and terrible, Job 15:31-35.

Cross References 39

  • 1. ver 24; Isaiah 8:22; Isaiah 50:11; Isaiah 66:24
  • 2. Job 24:1; Job 27:13-23; Isaiah 2:12; Jeremiah 46:10; Obadiah 1:15; Zephaniah 1:7
  • 3. ver 24; S 1 Samuel 3:11; Job 18:11; Job 20:25; Jeremiah 6:25; Jeremiah 20:3
  • 4. Job 22:10; Job 27:20; Isaiah 13:3; Jer 51:25,53,56; 1 Thessalonians 5:3
  • 5. ver 23; S Job 5:14; Job 24:17; Job 38:15; Psalms 91:5; Song of Songs 3:8
  • 6. Job 16:13; Job 18:19; Job 19:29; Job 20:24; Job 27:14; Job 33:18; Job 36:12; Proverbs 7:23; Isaiah 1:20; Jeremiah 44:27; Hosea 9:13; Amos 5:19
  • 7. Psalms 59:15; Psalms 109:10
  • 8. Proverbs 30:17; Ezekiel 39:17; Matthew 24:28; Luke 17:37
  • 9. S ver 22
  • 10. Job 18:12
  • 11. Isaiah 8:22; Isaiah 9:1
  • 12. S ver 20
  • 13. Job 18:14
  • 14. Psalms 44:16; Isaiah 10:32; Isaiah 37:23
  • 15. S Job 11:8; Job 35:12; Job 36:9; Job 40:8; Psalms 2:2-3; Psalms 73:9; Psalms 75:5; Proverbs 21:30; Isaiah 3:16; Isaiah 45:9
  • 16. Jeremiah 44:16
  • 17. S Judges 3:17; Psalms 17:10
  • 18. Isaiah 5:9
  • 19. S Job 3:14
  • 20. S Job 3:15; S Job 7:8; Job 27:16-17
  • 21. Isaiah 5:8
  • 22. S Job 5:14
  • 23. ver 34; Job 16:7; Job 20:26; Job 22:20; Job 31:12
  • 24. ver 32; Job 8:19; Job 18:16; Job 29:19; Hosea 9:1-16; Malachi 4:1
  • 25. S Exodus 15:10; Job 4:9
  • 26. Isaiah 40:23-24
  • 27. Job 31:5; Proverbs 1:16; Proverbs 6:18; Isaiah 44:20; Isaiah 59:7; Micah 2:11; S Mark 13:5; James 1:16
  • 28. Isaiah 30:12; Isaiah 47:10; Isaiah 59:4; Jeremiah 7:4,8; S Matthew 6:19
  • 29. Job 20:7; Job 22:13; Job 27:9; Job 35:13; Proverbs 15:29; Isaiah 1:15; Jeremiah 11:11; Micah 3:4
  • 30. Ecclesiastes 7:17
  • 31. Job 22:16; Job 36:14; Psalms 55:23; Psalms 109:8; Proverbs 10:27
  • 32. S ver 30; Job 18:16
  • 33. Habakkuk 3:17
  • 34. S Job 4:20
  • 35. S Job 8:13
  • 36. S ver 30; Hebrews 10:27
  • 37. S Exodus 23:8; S 1 Samuel 8:3; Job 8:22
  • 38. S Job 5:7
  • 39. S Job 4:8; S Isaiah 29:20; Galatians 6:7; James 1:15; Psalms 7:14; Isaiah 59:4; Hosea 10:13
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