Job 20:13

¹²Though evil is sweet in his mouth and he conceals it under his tongue, ¹³though he cannot bear to let it go and keeps it in his mouth, ¹⁴yet in his stomach his food sours into the venom of cobras within him.

Summary

This verse from the book of Job describes the wicked as having a short-lived enjoyment of their sins, likened to the fleeting taste of honey in their mouths. Despite the temporary pleasure they may experience, their actions will ultimately lead to bitterness and destruction. It serves as a warning against the deceptive nature of sin, highlighting that the consequences of evil deeds will catch up with the wrongdoers in due time. The verse underscores the importance of choosing righteousness over temporary gratification, as the path of sin ultimately leads to ruin.

Commentary

John Gill

John Gill Bible Commentary

Though he spare it,.... Not that he feeds sparingly on it, for he eats of it freely and plentifully, with great eagerness and greediness; it designs the gratefulness of it to him; he does not spit it out as loathsome, having tasted of it, but retains it as sweet and pleasant; he spares it as Saul did Agag, and as a man spares his only son; sin being a child, a brat of a wicked man, and therefore it is dear unto him: and forsake it not: as he never will, until he is fully convinced of the evil of it, and it becomes exceeding sinful to him, and so loathsome and disagreeable; and he is restrained from it by the grace of God, and enabled by it to desert it, for such an one only finds mercy, Pro 28:13; but keep it still within his mouth; like an epicure, that will not suffer his food quickly to go down his throat into his stomach, that he may have the greater pleasure in tasting, palating, and relishing it; as Philoxenus, who wished his throat as long as a crane's, that he might be the longer in tasting the sweetness of what he ate and drank; so the wicked man keeps sin within his mouth, not by restraining his mouth from speaking evil, rather by a non-confession of it, but chiefly by continuing and persisting in it, that he might have all the pleasure and satisfaction he has promised himself in it.