Job 20:10-20

10 Let inferiors destroy his children, and let his hands kindle the fire of sorrow.

11 His bones have been filled with his youth, and it shall lie down with him in the dust.

12 Though evil be sweet in his mouth, he will hide it under his tongue;

13 though he will not spare it, and will not leave it, but will keep it in the midst of his throat:

14 yet he shall not at all be able to help himself; the gall of an asp is in his belly.

15 wealth unjustly collected shall be vomited up; a messenger shall drag him out of his house.

16 And let him suck the poison of serpents, and let the serpent's tongue slay him.

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.

Job 20:10-20 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.