Job 20

Zophar gives his second speech, a long and vivid picture of the wicked man’s brief triumph and certain ruin. He is sure that ill-gotten wealth turns to poison and that God always brings the proud down. Much of this is true as a general principle, but Zophar wrongly uses it to suggest that Job’s suffering proves Job is a hidden sinner.

Job 20:1-3

Zophar answers Job in a heated mood. Job’s words have stung him, and he feels shamed. He is driven more by agitation than by calm thought. His speech comes out of wounded pride, which is a warning about how easily advice turns into accusation.

BSA: anxious thoughts (“troubling, divided mind”): Zophar’s mind is torn and restless, so he speaks in haste rather than with peace. rebuke (“reproof, correction”): He hears Job’s words as a correction aimed at himself, which is why he feels insulted.

Job 20:4-5

Zophar appeals to the oldest human experience: since Adam, the triumph of wicked people has not lasted. There is real truth here, since many Psalms say the same. His mistake will be to treat it as a rule with no exceptions.

BSA: momentary (“for a moment, instant, blink of an eye”): The joy of the godless is pictured as gone almost before it is noticed.

See also: Psalm 37:35-36.

Job 20:6-9

However high the proud man climbs, even to the clouds, he will vanish. He will be as unwelcome and forgotten as waste, and as unreal as a dream. People who once saw him will search for him and not find him.

BSA: dream (“a nighttime apparition”): His greatness was as insubstantial as a ghost of the night, gone when morning comes.

Hebrew: כְּגֶלֶל (kegelel, H1561) — “like dung.” The Hebrew uses a blunt, earthy word. The man who thought himself touching the sky ends as something thrown away.

See also: Psalm 37:10.

Job 20:10-11

The wicked man’s children will pay for his greed, humbly begging favor from the very poor he robbed. His own hands will give back his wealth. Even his youthful strength will not save him, for it will lie down with him in the grave.

BSA: sons (“children, descendants, or offspring”): The consequences reach beyond the man himself to his family.

Job 20:12-14

Zophar compares sin to a sweet morsel the man keeps under his tongue and will not give up. But once swallowed it turns to snake venom inside him. What tastes good at first becomes deadly.

BSA: sours (“is turned, becomes bitter”): The food changes its nature in the stomach, just as sin’s pleasure changes into bitterness. venom (“gall, bitter poison”): The word suggests a bitterness that harms the body from within.

See also: Proverbs 20:17.

Job 20:15-16

The wealth the man gulped down will be vomited up, and God Himself will force it out. He feeds on poison, and the viper’s bite kills him. His gains do not stay with him.

BSA: force (“cast, drive”): God actively drives the stolen riches out of him; it is not simply an accident.

Job 20:17-18

Rivers of honey and cream stand for the rich and easy life. The wicked man will never enjoy them. He will hand back his profits before he can taste them, and his trading brings him no joy.

BSA: enjoy (“see, experience, or delight in”): He will not even get to look on this abundance with pleasure, let alone possess it.

Job 20:19-20

Here Zophar names the charge: the man crushed the poor, abandoned them, and seized houses he never built. His appetite had no rest, so his treasure cannot save him. Zophar is hinting that Job fits this description, which is unfair.

BSA: oppressed (“crushed, broken”): The poor were not merely neglected but broken down by his violence. appetite (“did not know ease”): His greed never allowed him any peace or sense of enough.

See also: Job 22:5-9.

Job 20:21-22

Nothing is left over for him, so his good fortune cannot last. Just when he has the most, he is squeezed into distress. Misery strikes him at the height of his plenty.

BSA: distressed (“straitened, in a tight spot”): His abundance shrinks into a cramped corner where he can find no room or relief.

Job 20:23-25

While he is eating, God sends His fury like rain. He runs from an iron weapon, but a bronze arrow finds him, passing through his body. The picture is of a judgment that cannot be outrun, and the terror of it overwhelms him.

BSA: fury (“burning anger, fierce wrath”): God’s anger is pictured as a heat that burns against the wrongdoer. Terrors (“fears, dread”): A deep dread settles over the man as he faces his end.

Job 20:26

Darkness waits for everything he has stored up. A fire no one lit consumes him and whatever is left in his tent. It is a picture of judgment that comes from God, not from human hands.

BSA: unfanned (“not blown, unkindled”): This fire needs no human help; it is a fire of God’s own kindling.

Job 20:27-28

Heaven and earth, which are the witnesses of everything, will testify against him. His hidden wrong will be made known. His house’s goods will wash away like water on the day of God’s wrath.

BSA: expose (“reveal, uncover”): What he thought was concealed will be laid open for all to see.

See also: Deuteronomy 31:28.

Job 20:29

Zophar closes by calling this the portion God gives the wicked. His summary is partly true, because God does judge evil. But the book of Job shows that suffering is not always a sign of guilt, so Zophar misapplies it to Job.

BSA: portion (“inheritance, share”): Judgment is described as an inheritance, something settled and handed down to the wicked. appointed (“ordained, decreed”): The outcome is fixed by God and is not left to chance.

See also: Job 27:13.