Job 20:4-14

4 "Do you know this from ¹of old, From the establishment of man on earth,

5 That the ²triumphing of the wicked is short, And ³the joy of the godless momentary *?

6 "Though his loftiness ⁴reaches the heavens, And his head touches the clouds,

7 He ⁵perishes forever like his refuse; Those who have seen him ⁶will say, 'Where is he?'

8 "He flies away like a ⁷dream, and they cannot find him; Even like a vision of the night he is ⁸chased away.

9 "The ⁹eye which saw him sees him no longer, And ¹⁰his place no longer beholds him.

10 "His ¹¹sons favor the poor, And his hands ¹²give back his wealth.

11 "His ¹³bones are full of his youthful vigor, But it lies down with him in the dust.

12 "Though ¹⁴evil is sweet in his mouth And he hides it under his tongue,

13 Though he desires it and will not let it go, But holds it ¹⁵in his mouth,

14 Yet his food in his stomach is changed To the venom of cobras within him.

Job 20:4-14 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JOB 20

Zophar and his friends, not satisfied with Job's confession of faith, he in his turn replies, and in his preface gives his reasons why he made any answer at all, and was so quick in it, Job 20:1-3; and appeals to Job for the truth of an old established maxim, that the prosperity of wicked men and hypocrites is very short lived, Job 20:4,5; and the short enjoyment of their happiness is described by several elegant figures and similes, Job 20:6-9; such a wicked man being obliged, in his lifetime, to restore his ill gotten goods, and at death to lie down with the sins of his youth, Job 20:10,11; his sin in getting riches, the disquietude of his mind in retaining them, and his being forced to make restitution, are very beautifully expressed by the simile of a sweet morsel kept in the mouth, and turned to the gall of asps in the bowels, and then vomited up, Job 20:12-16; the disappointment he shall have, the indigent and strait circumstances he shall be brought into, and the restitution he shall be obliged to make for the oppression of the poor, and the uneasiness he shall feel in his own breast, are set forth in a very strong light, Job 20:17-22; and it is suggested, that not only the hand of wicked men should be upon him, but the wrath of God also, which should seize on him suddenly and secretly, and would be inevitable, he not being able to make his escape from it, and which would issue in the utter destruction of him and his in this world, and that to come, Job 20:23-28. And the chapter is, concluded with this observation, that such as before described is the appointed portion and heritage of a wicked man from God, Job 20:29.

Cross References

• 1. Job 8:8
• 2. Job 8:12, 13; Psalms 37:35, 36
• 3. Job 8:13
• 4. Isaiah 14:13, 14; Obad 3, 4
• 5. Job 4:20; Job 14:20
• 6. Job 7:10; Job 8:18
• 7. Psalms 73:20; Psalms 90:5
• 8. Job 18:18; Job 27:21-23
• 9. Job 7:8; Job 8:18
• 10. Job 7:10
• 11. Job 5:4; Job 27:14
• 12. Job 20:18; Job 27:16, 17
• 13. Job 21:23, 24
• 14. Job 15:16
• 15. Num 11:18-20, 33; Job 20:23

Footnotes

• [a] Lit "goes up to"
• [b] Or "seek the favor of"
• [c] Lit "on"
• [d] Lit "has compassion on"
• [e] Lit "palate"
• [f] Lit "gall"