Job 20:18

18 He shall suffer pains for all things which he hath done, nevertheless he shall not be wasted by those pains, but ever endure; and after the multitude of his findings, so shall he suffer (and he shall suffer for the multitude of his deeds).

Job 20:18 Meaning and Commentary

Job 20:18

That which he laboured for shall he restore
This explains what was before figuratively expressed by vomiting, ( Job 20:15 ) ; and is to be interpreted either of that which another laboured for; so the Targum paraphrases it,

``another's labour;''

and Mr. Broughton renders it, "he shall restore what man's pain get": and then the sense is, that that which another got by his labour, coming by some means or another into the hand of this rapacious, covetous, wicked man, he shall be obliged to restore to him again; or the hire of the labourer being detained in his hands, he shall be forced to give it to him, as the Egyptians, by lending the Israelites their jewels of gold and silver, restored to them the wages due to them for all their labour among them for many years; or else this is to be understood of what the wicked man himself had laboured for, who with much toil and labour, as well as trick and artifice, had got the wealth of others into his hands; but should be obliged to make restoration of it again, and along with that also what he had laboured for, and had got even in an honest and lawful way, the marathon of unrighteousness corrupting and marring his whole substance:

and shall not swallow [it] down;
or "not have time to devour it", as Mr. Broughton; he shall be obliged so soon to restore it, that it shall be as if he had never had it; he shall have no enjoyment of it, at least no comfort, pleasure, and satisfaction in it:

according to [his] substance [shall] the restitution [be];
the law of Moses required, in some cases, fourfold, in others fivefold, and sometimes sevenfold was exacted; and if a man had not sufficient to pay, all his substance was to go towards payment, and by this means what he lawfully got went along with that which was obtained in an illicit way, as before, see ( Exodus 22:1 ) ( Proverbs 6:31 ) ;

and he shall not rejoice [therein];
not in the restitution he is forced to make, it being greatly against his will; nor in his ill-gotten substance, at least but for a little while, as in ( Job 20:5 ) ; he shall neither enjoy it nor have delight and pleasure in it, nor glory of it, as men are apt to do; Mr. Broughton reads this in connection with the preceding clause thus,

``and never rejoice in the wealth for which he must make recompense.''

Job 20:18 In-Context

16 He shall suck the gall of snakes; and the tongue of an adder shall slay him.

17 See he not the streams of the flood of the strand, of honey, and of butter. (He shall not see the streams of oil, or of cream, nor the rivers of honey and butter.)

18 He shall suffer pains for all things which he hath done, nevertheless he shall not be wasted by those pains, but ever endure; and after the multitude of his findings, so shall he suffer (and he shall suffer for the multitude of his deeds).

19 For he brake, and made naked the house of the poor man; he ravished it, and builded it not. (For he broke into, and emptied out, the house of the poor; and he stole, what he did not build.)

20 And his womb was not yet [ful]filled; and when he hath that, that he coveted, he may not hold it in possession. (And his belly, or his appetite, was not yet satisfied; and even when he hath, what he desired, he cannot hold onto it.)