1Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said: 2Therefore my uncertain thoughts make me answer, because of the anxiety within me. 3I have heard the admonition against my reproaches, but the spirit of my understanding causes me to answer. 4Do you not know this from of old, ever since man was placed upon earth, 5that the rejoicing of the wicked is near its end, and the mirth of the hypocrite is but for a moment? 6Though his haughtiness mounts up to the heavens, and his head reaches to the clouds, 7yet he shall perish forever like his own dung; those who see him shall say, where is he? 8He shall fly away like a dream, and not be found; yea, he shall be chased away like a vision of the night. 9The eye that has seen him shall see him no more, nor will his place regard him anymore. 10His children shall seek the favor of the poor, and his hands shall return his wealth. 11His bones are full of his youthful vigor, but it shall lie down with him in the dust. 12Though evil is sweet in his mouth, and he hides it under his tongue, 13though he spares it and does not forsake it, but still keeps it in his mouth, 14yet his food in his stomach has churned up; it is serpent's venom within him. 15He swallows down riches and vomits them up again; the Mighty God casts them out of his belly. 16He shall suck the poison of serpents; the viper's tongue shall slay him. 17He shall not see the streams, the rivers of honey and curds. 18He shall give back that for which he labored, and shall not swallow it down; He shall have no enjoyment from the exchanges of his wealth. 19For he has crushed and forsaken the poor, he has seized a house which he did not build. 20Surely he has known no ease in his belly; he shall not save anything he desires. 21No food is left for him; there is no travail after his well-being. 22In the fullness of his scorn he shall be in distress; every hand of trouble shall come against him. 23When he is about to fill his stomach, God will cast upon him the fury of His wrath, and shall rain it upon him while he is eating. 24If he flees from the iron weapon, a bronze bow shall pierce him through. 25It has been drawn, and comes out the back; yea, the glittering point comes out of his gall. Terrors come upon him; 26total darkness is his hidden treasure. An unfanned fire shall devour him; and any survivors in his tent shall tremble. 27The heavens shall lay bare his iniquity, and the earth shall rise up against him. 28The fruit of his house shall be removed, being poured out in the day of His wrath. 29This is the portion from God for a wicked man, the heritage promised to him by the Mighty God.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 2 REPLY OF ZOPHAR. (Job 20:1-29)
Therefore--Rather, the more excited I feel by Job's speech, the more for that very reason shall my reply be supplied by my calm consideration. Literally, "Notwithstanding; my calm thoughts (as in
Job 4:13) shall furnish my answer, because of the excitement (haste) within me" [UMBREIT].
3 check of my reproach--that is, the castigation intended as a reproach (literally, "shame") to me.
spirit of . . . understanding--my rational spirit; answering to "calm thoughts" (
Job 20:2). In spite of thy reproach urging me to "hastiness." I will answer in calm reason.
5 the hypocrite--literally, "the ungodly" (
Ps 37:35-
Ps 37:36).
6 (
Isa 14:13;
Obad 1:3-
Obad 1:4).
7 dung--in contrast to the haughtiness of the sinner (
Job 20:6); this strong term expresses disgust and the lowest degradation (
Ps 83:10;
1Kgs 14:10).
8 (
Ps 73:20).
9 Rather "the eye followeth him, but can discern him no more." A sharp-looking is meant (
Job 28:7;
Job 7:10).
10 seek to please--"Atone to the poor" (by restoring the property of which they had been robbed by the father) [DE WETTE]. Better than English Version, "The children" are reduced to the humiliating condition of "seeking the favor of those very poor," whom the father had oppressed. But UMBREIT translates as Margin.
his hands--rather, "their (the children's) hands."
their goods--the goods of the poor. Righteous retribution! (
Exod 20:5).
11 (
Ps 25:7), so Vulgate. GESENIUS has "full of youth"; namely, in the fulness of his youthful strength he shall be laid in the dust. But "bones" plainly alludes to Job's disease, probably to Job's own words (
Job 19:20). UMBREIT translates, "full of his secret sins," as in
Ps 90:8; his secret guilt in his time of seeming righteousness, like secret poison, at last lays him in the dust. The English Version is best. Zophar alludes to Job's own words (
Job 17:16).
with him--His sin had so pervaded his nature that it accompanies him to the grave: for eternity the sinner cannot get rid of it (
Rev 22:11).
12 be--"taste sweet." Sin's fascination is like poison sweet to the taste, but at last deadly to the vital organs (
Pro 20:17;
Job 9:17-
Job 9:18).
hide . . . tongue--seek to prolong the enjoyment by keeping the sweet morsel long in the mouth (so
Job 20:13).
14 turned--Hebrew denotes a total change into a disagreeable contrary (
Jer 2:21; compare
Rev 10:9-
Rev 10:10).
gall--in which the poison of the asp was thought to lie. It rather is contained in a sack in the mouth. Scripture uses popular language, where no moral truth is thereby endangered.
15 He is forced to disgorge his ill-gotten wealth.
16 shall suck--It shall turn out that he has sucked the poison, &c.
17 floods--literally, "stream of floods," plentiful streams flowing with milk, &c. (
Job 29:6;
Exod 3:17). Honey and butter are more fluid in the East than with us and are poured out from jars. These "rivers" or water brooks are in the sultry East emblems of prosperity.
18 Image from food which is taken away from one before he can swallow it.
restitution--(So
Pro 6:31). The parallelism favors the English Version rather than the translation of GESENIUS, "As a possession to be restored in which he rejoices not."
he shall not rejoice--His enjoyment of his ill-gotten gains shall then be at an end (
Job 20:5).
19 oppressed--whereas he ought to have espoused their cause (
2Chr 16:10).
forsaken--left helpless.
house--thus leaving the poor without shelter (
Isa 5:8;
Mic 2:2).
20 UMBREIT translates, "His inward parts know no rest" from desires.
his belly--that is, peace inwardly.
not save--literally, "not escape with that which," &c., alluding to Job's having been stripped of his all.
21 look for--rather, "because his goods," that is, prosperity shall have no endurance.
22 shall be--rather, "he is (feeleth) straitened." The next clause explains in what respect.
wicked--Rather, "the whole hand of the miserable (whom he had oppressed) cometh upon him"; namely, the sense of his having oppressed the poor, now in turn comes with all its power (hand) on him. This caused his "straitened" feeling even in prosperity.
23 Rather, "God shall cast (may God send) [UMBREIT] upon him the fury of His wrath to fill his belly!"
while . . . eating--rather, "shall rain it upon him for his food!" Fiery rain, that is, lightning (
Ps 11:6; alluding to Job's misfortune,
Job 1:16). The force of the image is felt by picturing to one's self the opposite nature of a refreshing rain in the desert (
Exod 16:4;
Ps 68:9).
24 steel--rather, "brass." While the wicked flees from one danger, he falls into a greater one from an opposite quarter [UMBREIT].
25 It is drawn--Rather, "He (God) draweth (the sword,
Josh 5:13) and (no sooner has He done so, than) it cometh out of (that is, passes right through) the (sinner's) body" (
Deut 32:41-
Deut 32:42;
Ezek 21:9-
Ezek 21:10). The glittering sword is a happy image for lightning.
gall--that is, his life (
Job 16:13). "Inflicts a deadly wound."
terrors--Zophar repeats Bildad's words (
Job 17:11;
Ps 88:16;
Ps 55:4).
26 All darkness--that is, every calamity that befalls the wicked shall be hid (in store for him) in His (God's) secret places, or treasures (
Jude 1:13;
Deut 32:34).
not blown--not kindled by man's hands, but by God's (
Isa 30:33; the Septuagint in the Alexandrian Manuscript reads "unquenchable fire,"
Matt 3:12). Tact is shown by the friends in not expressly mentioning, but alluding under color of general cases, to Job's calamities; here (
Job 1:16) UMBREIT explains it, wickedness, is a "self-igniting fire"; in it lie the principles of destruction.
ill . . . tabernacle--Every trace of the sinner must be obliterated (
Job 18:15).
27 All creation is at enmity with him, and proclaims his guilt, which he would fain conceal.
28 increase--prosperity. Ill got--ill gone.
flow away--like waters that run dry in summer; using Job's own metaphor against himself (
Job 6:15-
Job 6:17;
2Sam 14:14;
Mic 1:4).
his wrath--God's.
29 appointed--not as a matter of chance, but by the divine "decree" (Margin) and settled principle.