20:11 His bones 1 were full of his youthful vigor, 2
but that vigor will lie down with him in the dust.
20:12 “If 3 evil is sweet in his mouth
and he hides it under his tongue, 4
20:13 if he retains it for himself
and does not let it go,
and holds it fast in his mouth, 5
20:14 his food is turned sour 6 in his stomach; 7
it becomes the venom of serpents 8 within him.
20:15 The wealth that he consumed 9 he vomits up,
God will make him throw it out 10 of his stomach.
20:16 He sucks the poison 11 of serpents; 12
the fangs 13 of a viper 14 kill him.
1 tn “Bones” is often used metonymically for the whole person, the bones being the framework, meaning everything inside, as well as the body itself.
2 sn This line means that he dies prematurely – at the height of his youthful vigor.
3 tn The conjunction אִם (’im) introduces clauses that are conditional or concessive. With the imperfect verb in the protasis it indicates what is possible in the present or future. See GKC 496 §159.q).
4 sn The wicked person holds on to evil as long as he can, savoring the taste or the pleasure of it.
5 tn Heb “in the middle of his palate.”
6 tn The perfect verb in the apodosis might express the suddenness of the change (see S. R. Driver, Tenses in Hebrew, 204), or it might be a constative perfect looking at the action as a whole without reference to inception, progress, or completion (see IBHS 480-81 §30.1d). The Niphal perfect simply means “is turned” or “turns”; “sour is supplied in the translation to clarify what is meant.
7 tn The word is “in his loins” or “within him.” Some translate more specifically “bowels.”
8 sn Some commentators suggest that the ancients believed that serpents secreted poison in the gall bladder, or that the poison came from the gall bladder of serpents. In any case, there is poison (from the root “bitter”) in the system of the wicked person; it may simply be saying it is that type of poison.
9 tn Heb “swallowed.”
10 tn The choice of words is excellent. The verb יָרַשׁ (yarash) means either “to inherit” or “to disinherit; to dispossess.” The context makes the figure clear that God is administering the emetic to make the wicked throw up the wealth (thus, “God will make him throw it out…”); but since wealth is the subject there is a disinheritance meant here.
11 tn The word is a homonym for the word for “head,” which has led to some confusion in the early versions.
12 sn To take the possessions of another person is hereby compared to sucking poison from a serpent – it will kill eventually.
13 tn Heb “tongue.”
14 tn Some have thought this verse is a gloss on v. 14 and should be deleted. But the word for “viper” (אֶפְעֶה, ’ef’eh) is a rare word, occurring only here and in Isa 30:6 and 59:5. It is unlikely that a rarer word would be used in a gloss. But the point is similar to v. 14 – the wealth that was greedily sucked in by the wicked proves to be their undoing. Either this is totally irrelevant to Job’s case, a general discussion, or the man is raising questions about how Job got his wealth.