Job 20:19

19 For he has broken down the houses of many mighty men: and he has plundered an habitation, though he built not.

Job 20:19 Meaning and Commentary

Job 20:19

Because he hath oppressed [and] hath forsaken the poor
Having oppressed, crushed, and broken the poor to pieces, he leaves them so without pity and compassion for them, and without giving them any relief; he first by oppression makes them poor, or however poorer still, and then leaves them in such circumstances; for this does not suppose that he once was a favourer of them, and afforded them assistance in their necessities, and afterwards forsook them; but rather, as Ben Gersom gives the sense, he does not leave the poor until he has oppressed and crushed them, and then he does; Mr. Broughton's reading of the words agrees with the former sense, "he oppresseth and leaveth poor":

[because] he hath violently taken away an house which he built not;
an house which did not belong to him, he had no property in or right unto, which, as he had not bought, he had not built; and therefore could lay no rightful claim unto it, and yet this he took in a violent manner from the right owner of it, see ( Micah 2:2 ) ; or "and", or "but shall not build it" F1, or "buildeth it not"; he took it away with an intention to pull it down, and build a stately palace in the room of it; but either his substance was taken from him, or he taken away by death before he could finish it, and so either through neglect, or want of opportunity, or of money, did not what he thought to have done.


FOOTNOTES:

F1 (whnby alw) "et non aedificabit eam", Pagninus, Montanus; "et non aedificat eam", Cocceius, Schultens; "non autem", Beza; "sed non", Schmidt, Michaelis.

Job 20:19 In-Context

17 Let him not see the milk of the pastures, nor the supplies of honey and butter.
18 He has laboured unprofitably and in vain, wealth of which he shall not taste: as a lean thing, unfit for food, which he cannot swallow.
19 For he has broken down the houses of many mighty men: and he has plundered an habitation, though he built not.
20 There is no security to his possessions; he shall not be saved by his desire.
21 There is nothing remaining of his provisions; therefore his goods shall not flourish.

The Brenton translation of the Septuagint is in the public domain.