Job 20:16

20:16 He sucks the poison ¹  of serpents; ² 

the fangs ³  of a viper ⁴  kill him.

Deuteronomy 32:24

32:24 They will be starved by famine,

eaten by plague, and bitterly stung; ⁵ 

I will send the teeth of wild animals against them,

along with the poison of creatures that crawl in the dust.

Romans 3:13

3:13 “Their throats are open graves, ⁶ 

they deceive with their tongues,

the poison of asps is under their lips.” ⁷ 

[20:16]  ¹ tn The word is a homonym for the word for “head,” which has led to some confusion in the early versions.

[20:16]  ² sn To take the possessions of another person is hereby compared to sucking poison from a serpent – it will kill eventually.

[20:16]  ³ tn Heb “tongue.”

[20:16]  ⁴ 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.

[32:24]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew term קֶטֶב (qetev) is probably metaphorical here for the sting of a disease (HALOT 1091-92 s.v.).

[3:13]  ⁶ tn Grk “their throat is an opened grave.”

[3:13]  ⁷ sn A quotation from Pss 5:9; 140:3.