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Text -- Job 20:1-29 (NET)
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Strongs On/Off
Context
Zophar’s Second Speech
20:1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered :
20:2 “This is why my troubled thoughts bring me back – because of my feelings within me.
20:3 When I hear a reproof that dishonors me, then my understanding prompts me to answer .
20:4 “Surely you know that it has been from old, ever since humankind was placed on the earth ,
20:5 that the elation of the wicked is brief , the joy of the godless lasts but a moment .
20:6 Even though his stature reaches to the heavens and his head touches the clouds ,
20:7 he will perish forever , like his own excrement ; those who used to see him will say , ‘Where is he?’
20:8 Like a dream he flies away , never again to be found , and like a vision of the night he is put to flight .
20:9 People who had seen him will not see him again , and the place where he was will recognize him no longer .
20:10 His sons must recompense the poor ; his own hands must return his wealth .
20:11 His bones were full of his youthful vigor , but that vigor will lie down with him in the dust .
20:12 “If evil is sweet in his mouth and he hides it under his tongue ,
20:13 if he retains it for himself and does not let it go , and holds it fast in his mouth ,
20:14 his food is turned sour in his stomach ; it becomes the venom of serpents within him.
20:15 The wealth that he consumed he vomits up , God will make him throw it out of his stomach .
20:16 He sucks the poison of serpents ; the fangs of a viper kill him.
20:17 He will not look on the streams , the rivers , which are the torrents of honey and butter .
20:18 He gives back the ill-gotten gain without assimilating it; he will not enjoy the wealth from his commerce .
20:19 For he has oppressed the poor and abandoned them; he has seized a house which he did not build .
20:20 For he knows no satisfaction in his appetite ; he does not let anything he desires escape .
20:21 “Nothing is left for him to devour ; that is why his prosperity does not last .
20:22 In the fullness of his sufficiency , distress overtakes him. the full force of misery will come upon him.
20:23 “While he is filling his belly , God sends his burning anger against him, and rains down his blows upon him.
20:24 If he flees from an iron weapon , then an arrow from a bronze bow pierces him.
20:25 When he pulls it out and it comes out of his back , the gleaming point out of his liver , terrors come over him.
20:26 Total darkness waits to receive his treasures ; a fire which has not been kindled will consume him and devour what is left in his tent .
20:27 The heavens reveal his iniquity ; the earth rises up against him.
20:28 A flood will carry off his house , rushing waters on the day of God’s wrath .
20:29 Such is the lot God allots the wicked , and the heritage of his appointment from God .”
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Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics
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expand allCommentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes
NET Notes -> Job 20:1; Job 20:2; Job 20:2; Job 20:2; Job 20:3; Job 20:3; Job 20:3; Job 20:3; Job 20:4; Job 20:4; Job 20:5; Job 20:5; Job 20:5; Job 20:6; Job 20:7; Job 20:8; Job 20:9; Job 20:10; Job 20:10; Job 20:11; Job 20:11; Job 20:12; Job 20:12; Job 20:13; Job 20:14; Job 20:14; Job 20:14; Job 20:15; Job 20:15; Job 20:16; Job 20:16; Job 20:16; Job 20:16; Job 20:17; Job 20:17; Job 20:17; Job 20:18; Job 20:18; Job 20:18; Job 20:19; Job 20:19; Job 20:20; Job 20:20; Job 20:20; Job 20:21; Job 20:21; Job 20:22; Job 20:22; Job 20:22; Job 20:23; Job 20:23; Job 20:23; Job 20:23; Job 20:24; Job 20:25; Job 20:25; Job 20:26; Job 20:26; Job 20:29
NET Notes: Job 20:1 Zophar breaks in with an impassioned argument about the brevity and prosperity of the life of the wicked. But every statement that he makes is complet...
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NET Notes: Job 20:2 The word is normally taken from the root “to hasten,” and rendered “because of my haste within me.” But K&D 11:374 propose...
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NET Notes: Job 20:3 To take this verb as a simple Qal and read it “answers me,” does not provide a clear idea. The form can just as easily be taken as a Hiphi...
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NET Notes: Job 20:4 Heb “from the putting of man on earth.” The infinitive is the object of the preposition, which is here temporal. If “man” is t...
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NET Notes: Job 20:5 The phrase is “until a moment,” meaning it is short-lived. But see J. Barr, “Hebrew ’ad, especially at Job 1:18 and Neh 7:3,...
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NET Notes: Job 20:7 There have been attempts to change the word here to “like a whirlwind,” or something similar. But many argue that there is no reason to re...
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NET Notes: Job 20:8 Heb “and they do not find him.” The verb has no expressed subject, and so here is equivalent to a passive. The clause itself is taken adve...
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NET Notes: Job 20:9 Heb “the eye that had seen him.” Here a part of the person (the eye, the instrument of vision) is put by metonymy for the entire person.
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NET Notes: Job 20:10 Some commentators are surprised to see “his hands” here, thinking the passage talks about his death. Budde changed it to “his childr...
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NET Notes: Job 20:11 This line means that he dies prematurely – at the height of his youthful vigor.
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NET Notes: Job 20:12 The wicked person holds on to evil as long as he can, savoring the taste or the pleasure of it.
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NET Notes: Job 20:14 Some commentators suggest that the ancients believed that serpents secreted poison in the gall bladder, or that the poison came from the gall bladder ...
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NET Notes: Job 20:15 The choice of words is excellent. The verb יָרַשׁ (yarash) means either “to inherit” or “to disi...
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NET Notes: Job 20:16 Some have thought this verse is a gloss on v. 14 and should be deleted. But the word for “viper” (אֶפְע...
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NET Notes: Job 20:17 This word is often translated “curds.” It is curdled milk, possibly a type of butter.
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NET Notes: Job 20:18 The expression is “according to the wealth of his exchange.” This means he cannot enjoy whatever he gained in his business deals. Some mss...
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NET Notes: Job 20:19 The last clause says, “and he did not build it.” This can be understood in an adverbial sense, supplying the relative pronoun to the trans...
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NET Notes: Job 20:20 The verb is difficult to translate in this line. It basically means “to cause to escape; to rescue.” Some translate this verb as “it...
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NET Notes: Job 20:21 The point throughout is that insatiable greed and ruthless plundering to satisfy it will be recompensed with utter and complete loss.
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NET Notes: Job 20:22 Heb “every hand of trouble comes to him.” The pointing of עָמֵל (’amel) indicates it would refer to on...
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NET Notes: Job 20:23 Heb “rain down upon him, on his flesh.” Dhorme changes עָלֵימוֹ (’alemo, “upon...
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NET Notes: Job 20:24 Heb “a bronze bow pierces him.” The words “an arrow from” are implied and are supplied in the translation; cf. “pulls it...
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NET Notes: Job 20:26 Heb “not blown upon,” i.e., not kindled by man. But G. R. Driver reads “unquenched” (“Hebrew notes on the ‘Wisdom ...
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