Job 20:4

4 Surely you know that from ancient times, when we humans were first placed on earth,

Job 20:4 Meaning and Commentary

Job 20:4

Knowest thou [not] this of old
Or "from eternity" F7, from the beginning of time, ever since the world was; as if he should say, if you are the knowing man you pretend to be, you must know this I am about to observe; and if you do not know it, you must be an ignorant man, since it is an ancient truth, confirmed by all experience from the creation; not that Job could know it so early, he was not the first man that was born, nor was he made before the hills, but was of yesterday, and comparatively knew nothing; but the sense is, that this about to be delivered was an old established maxim, of which there had been numerous instances,

since man,
or "Adam",

was placed upon earth;
referring to the putting of Adam in Eden to dress the garden, and keep it; and every man, ever since, is placed on earth by the ordination, and according to the will of God, where and for purposes he pleases: the instances Zophar might have in view are perhaps the expulsion of our first parents out of paradise, the vagabond state of Cain, the destruction of the old world by a flood, and of Sodom and Gomorrah by fire from heaven; which show that God, sooner or later, gives manifest tokens of his displeasure at sin and sinners, by his punishment of them for it. What he means is as follows.


FOOTNOTES:

F7 (de ynm) "ab aeterno", Junius & Tremellius, Drusius, Codurcus, Schmidt, Michaelis.

Job 20:4 In-Context

2 Now I'm impatient to answer.
3 What you have said is an insult, but I know how to reply to you.
4 Surely you know that from ancient times, when we humans were first placed on earth,
5 no wicked people have been happy for long.
6 They may grow great, towering to the sky, so great that their heads reach the clouds,
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.