18 He is giving back `what' he laboured for, And doth not consume `it'; As a bulwark `is' his exchange, and he exults not.
Wealth he hath swallowed, and doth vomit it. From his belly God driveth it out.
His sons do the poor oppress, And his hands give back his wealth.
draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you; cleanse hands, ye sinners! and purify hearts, ye two-souled! be exceeding afflicted, and mourn, and weep, let your laughter to mourning be turned, and the joy to heaviness;
`Blind guides! who are straining out the gnat, and the camel are swallowing.
Hear this, ye who are swallowing up the needy, To cause to cease the poor of the land,
`Rejoice not, O Israel, be not joyful like the peoples, For thou hast gone a-whoring from thy God, Thou hast loved a gift near all floors of corn.
Come hath the time, arrived hath the day, The buyer doth not rejoice, And the seller doth not become a mourner, For wrath `is' unto all its multitude.
That the singing of the wicked `is' short, And the joy of the profane for a moment,
Devoured us, crushed us, hath Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, He hath set us `as' an empty vessel, He hath swallowed us as a dragon, He hath filled his belly with my dainties, He hath driven us away.
But thine eyes and thy heart are not, Except on thy dishonest gain, And on shedding of innocent blood, And on oppression, and on doing of violence.
What -- to My beloved in My house, Her doing wickedness with many, And the holy flesh do pass over from thee? When thou dost evil, then thou exultest. `An olive, green, fair, of goodly fruit,' Hath Jehovah called thy name, At the noise of a great tumult He hath kindled fire against it, And broken have been its thin branches.
Mourned hath the new wine, languished the vine, Sighed have all the joyful of heart. Ceased hath the joy of tabrets, Ceased hath the noise of exulting ones, Ceased hath the joy of a harp. With a song they drink not wine, Bitter is strong drink to those drinking it. It was broken down -- a city of emptiness, Shut hath been every house from entrance. A cry over the wine `is' in out-places, Darkened hath been all joy, Removed hath been the joy of the land.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Job 20
Commentary on Job 20 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 20
One would have thought that such an excellent confession of faith as Job made, in the close of the foregoing chapter, would satisfy his friends, or at least mollify them; but they do not seem to have taken any notice of it, and therefore Zophar here takes his turn, enters the lists with Job, and attacks him with as much vehemence as before.
But the great mistake was, and (as bishop Patrick expresses it) all the flaw in his discourse (which was common to him with the rest), that he imagined God never varied from this method, and therefore Job was, without doubt, a very bad man, though it did not appear that he was, any other way than by his infelicity.
Job 20:1-9
Here,
Job 20:10-22
The instances here given of the miserable condition of the wicked man in this world are expressed with great fulness and fluency of language, and the same thing returned to again and repeated in other words. Let us therefore reduce the particulars to their proper heads, and observe,
Job 20:23-29
Zophar, having described the many embarrassments and vexations which commonly attend the wicked practices of oppressors and cruel men, here comes to show their utter ruin at last.