Giobbe 20:12-22

12 Il male è dolce alla sua bocca, se lo nasconde sotto la lingua,
13 lo risparmia, non lo lascia andar giù, lo trattiene sotto al suo palato:
14 ma il cibo gli si trasforma nelle viscere, e gli diventa in corpo veleno d’aspide.
15 Ha trangugiato ricchezze e le vomiterà; Iddio stesso gliele ricaccerà dal ventre.
16 Ha succhiato veleno d’aspide, la lingua della vipera l’ucciderà.
17 Non godrà più la vista d’acque perenni, né di rivi fluenti di miele e di latte.
18 Renderà il frutto delle sue fatiche, senza poterlo ingoiare. Pari alla sua ricchezza sarà la restituzione che ne dovrà fare, e così non godrà dei suoi beni.
19 Perché ha oppresso e abbandonato il povero, s’è impadronito di case che non avea costruite;
20 perché la sua ingordigia non conobbe requie, egli non salverà nulla di ciò che ha tanto bramato.
21 La sua voracità non risparmiava nulla, perciò il suo benessere non durerà.
22 Nel colmo dell’abbondanza, si troverà in penuria; la mano di chiunque ebbe a soffrir tormenti si leverà contro lui.

Giobbe 20:12-22 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.

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