Job 21:20

20 "Let his ¹own eyes see his decay, And let him ²drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

Job 21:20 Meaning and Commentary

Job 21:20

His eyes shall see his destruction
Or "should see his destruction" ^F2; calamities coming upon himself and upon his children; or otherwise it will not affect him: but when a man has a personal experience of affliction as punishments of his sin, or with his own eyes sees his children in distressed circumstances on his account, this must sensibly affect him, and be a sore punishment to him; as it was to Zedekiah to have his children slain before his eyes, ( Jeremiah 52:10 ) ;

and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty;
or "he should drink"

FOOTNOTES:

F3 of it now, according to the principles of Job's friends, even he in person, and not his posterity only; the wrath of God is on account of sin, and dreadful to bear: if the wrath of a temporal king is as the roaring of a lion, what must be the wrath of the Almighty God, the King of kings, and Lord of lords? this is frequently in Scripture compared to a cup, and is called a cup of trembling, of wrath and fury: and of which all the wicked of the earth shall drink sooner or later, ( Psalms 75:8 ) ; but this they should do now, according to the notions of Job's friends, whereas they do not; waters of a full cup, though not in wrath indeed, are wrung out to the people of God, and, as they apprehend, in wrath, when the wicked drink wine in bowls, and the cup of their prosperity overflows.

F2 (wyrk wnye wary) "videret ejus oculi exitium suum", Beza, Cocceius.
F3 (htvy) "biberet", Beza, Cocceius.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Job 21:20 In-Context

18 "Are they as straw before the wind, And like chaff which the storm carries away?

19 "You say, 'God stores away a man's iniquity for his sons.' Let God repay him so that he may know it.

20 "Let his own eyes see his decay, And let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

21 "For what does he care for his household after him, When the number of his months is cut off?

22 "Can anyone teach God knowledge, In that He judges those on high?

Cross References 2

1. Numbers 14:28-32; Jeremiah 31:30; Ezekiel 18:4
2. Psalms 60:3; Isaiah 51:17; Jeremiah 25:15; Revelation 14:10

Footnotes 1

[a]. Heb "Shaddai"