Job 21:20

20 Let their own eyes see their own destruction and themselves drink the wrath of Shaddai.

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"

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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.

Job 21:20 In-Context

18 to make them like straw in the wind, like chaff carried off by a storm?

19 God lays up for their children [the punishment for their] iniquity. He should lay it on [the wicked] themselves, so that they can feel it!

20 Let their own eyes see their own destruction and themselves drink the wrath of Shaddai.

21 What joy can they have in their family after them, given that their months are numbered?

22 "Can anyone teach God knowledge? After all, he judges those who are on high.