Table of Contents
Job 20
Job 20
1 Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,
2 Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for this I make haste.
3 I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer.
4 Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth,
5 That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?
6 Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds;
7 Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where is he?
8 He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.
9 The eye also which saw him shall see him no more; neither shall his place any more behold him.
10 His children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods.
11 His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust.
12 Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue;
13 Though he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth:
14 Yet his meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him.
15 He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly.
16 He shall suck the poison of asps: the viper's tongue shall slay him.
17 He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter.
18 That which he laboured for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down: according to his substance shall the restitution be, and he shall not rejoice therein.
19 Because he hath oppressed and hath forsaken the poor; because he hath violently taken away an house which he builded not;
20 Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, he shall not save of that which he desired.
21 There shall none of his meat be left; therefore shall no man look for his goods.
22 In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: every hand of the wicked shall come upon him.
23 When he is about to fill his belly, God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, and shall rain it upon him while he is eating.
24 He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of steel shall strike him through.
25 It is drawn, and cometh out of the body; yea, the glittering sword cometh out of his gall: terrors are upon him.
26 All darkness shall be hid in his secret places: a fire not blown shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle.
27 The heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up against him.
28 The increase of his house shall depart, and his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath.
29 This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God.
Notes
Cross Reference
Concordance
Commentary
Rashi
Verse 2
<html><b>Zophar’s answer</b><br><b>my thoughts will cause me to answer</b> My thoughts will answer me with an answer in my mouth, and because I keep my peace and remain silent, and I put my silence within me, my thoughts will give me an answer to reply. <b>The chastisement of my disgrace</b> I hear from you the chastisement of my disgrace, that you disgrace me. Therefore, a word of spirit shall answer me out of my understanding, to reply to you. <b>my silence</b> Heb. חושי, my silence, like (Ecc. 3:7), “a time to be silent (לחשות).”</html>
Verse 4
<html><b>Do…this</b> Heb. הזאת. This is a wonder. Do you know the manner in which this has been conducted throughout all generations since time immemorial?</html>
Verse 5
<html><b>that the triumph of the wicked</b> throughout all its duration, has come but recently, and will not last for any length of time. <b>and the joy of the flatterers is but a moment</b> in a short time, it will end.</html>
Verse 7
<html><b>his dung</b> Heb. כְּגֶלְלוֹ, dung of excrement.</html>
Verse 8
<html><b>and they will not find him</b> i.e., his friends.</html>
Verse 9
<html><b>that glimpsed him</b> That saw him.</html>
Verse 10
<html><b>His sons will placate the poor</b> This reply was stated in reference to the people of Sodom, who were robbers and were cruel to the poor. <b>and his hands will return</b> He will return the plunder of his hands. <b>his plunder</b> The power of his force.</html>
Verse 11
<html><b>His bones are full of his youth</b> The strength of his youth. <b>and it will lie on the dust with him</b> Because he will die suddenly with his strength.</html>
Verse 12
<html><b>be sweet</b> So is the custom of a wicked man: if evil is sweet in his mouth and he does not see now the moment for it to take effect. <b>though he hide it under his tongue</b> until the time comes when it will prosper.</html>
Verse 14
<html><b>His food…within him</b> on the day of his misfortune will turn into the venom of cobras.</html>
Verse 15
<html><b>wealth</b> Heb. חיל, money.</html>
Verse 16
<html><b>carpet viper</b> Heb. אֶפְעֶה, a fiery serpent.</html>
Verse 17
<html><b>the rivulets, the flowing rivers of</b> the Garden of Eden, which are as sweet as honey and cream.</html>
Verse 18
<html><b>He will return that which he labored for</b> The loot that he stole. <b>when his gain becomes vast wealth</b> When his gain becomes vast wealth, then he will lose it. <b>he will not rejoice</b> Heb. יעלס, with it. Similarly, יַעֲלֹז, and so יַעַלֹץ ; the three of them are interchangeable.</html>
Verse 19
<html><b>When he oppressed, he abandoned the poor</b> After he oppressed the poor, he abandoned the poor and was banished from the world and went his way, and they return and collect their stolen items from him. [The expression] כִּי רָצַץ [means] when he oppressed, like (Exod. 18:16), “Whenever (כי) they have a concern, they come to me,” which means when they have.</html>
Verse 20
<html><b>For he did not know</b> [He] never [knew] his stomach to be at rest. His stomach always says to him, “Rob and bring [food] to fill me up.” Therefore… <b>with his beauty</b> With the flesh of his coveted beauty. <b>he will not save anything</b> because it will continuously diminish. Similar to this is (Ps. 39: 11): “You make his beauty melt away like a moth.”</html>
Verse 21
<html><b>Nothing remains of his food</b> He left nothing over from his food to share with the poor. <b>therefore his goods shall not prosper</b> Heb. יחיל, shall not prosper, as in (Ps. 10:5), “His ways prosper (יחילו) .” He speaks of the people of Sodom, who were stingy with travelers, for so did Ezekiel testify (16:49) concerning Sodom: “proud with plenty of food etc. and yet, she did not strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.” And our Sages explained (Sanh. 92a) אין שריד לאכלוֹ to mean that he did not allow Torah scholars to sit at his table, like (Joel 3:5): “and among the survivors whom the Lord calls.”</html>
Verse 22
<html><b>When his desire has been filled sufficiently</b> when the desire of his heart has been filled sufficiently, then… <b>he will be in straits</b> Trouble will come upon him. סִפְקוֹ is an expression of sufficiency, as is translated into Aramaic (Gen. 24:22): “When the camels finished (ספיקו) drinking”; (Num. 11:22): “so that it may be enough for them (היספקון).” <b>the hand of every laborer will come upon him</b> The hand of the poor shall overwhelm him and come upon him.</html>
Verse 23
<html><b>It shall come to pass that to fill his belly, He shall send upon him His burning wrath</b> The sending of His burning wrath will be [enough] to fill his belly. This is not an expression of a curse but an expression of prophecy and of the future. <b>and rain upon them</b> The Holy One, blessed be He. <b>with His battle</b> With the fury of His battle, coals, fire, and brimstone, as the matter is stated (Gen. 19: 24): “And the Lord rained upon Sodom etc.”</html>
Verse 24
<html><b>shall pierce him</b> Heb. תַּחְלְפֵהוּ The arrows that the bow will shoot will pierce his body, going through from one side to the other. Another version: תַּחְלְפֵהוּ is like תַּחְליִפֵהוּ (sic), a copper bow shall confront him.</html>
Verse 25
<html><b>drew</b> The one who drew the weapon upon him. <b>and it emerged</b> [i.e.,] the weapon.<b>and its glittering blade</b> Splendeur, or splendor (?) in French, like (Ezek. 21: 15), “in order that it glitter (ברק) .” Fourbir in Old French, to polish. <b>from its bitterness</b> [From the bitterness] of the weapon it shall come forth, and from there shall be terrors and fear upon the wicked.</html>
Verse 26
<html><b>for what awaits him</b> For the hidden things that lie in store for him. <b>fire that was not blown</b> The fire of Gehinnom. <b>harm shall befall the survivor in his tent</b> Harm will come upon the survivor who will remain in his tent. The entire portion deals with the people of Sodom. “Harm shall befall the survivor in his tent” means that even Lot who escaped from them—harm befell his tent, i.e., his wife, who became a pillar of salt. I found this in the midrash of Rabbi Tanchuma (Buber, Vayera 8).</html>
Verse 27
<html><b>shall rise up</b> [This is] an expression of an enemy who rises up against him.</html>
Verse 28
<html><b>shall go into exile</b> Heb. יגל, an expression of exile. <b>shall flow</b> Heb. נגרות. His treasures shall be given to plunder and despoiling, like (Micah 1:4), “like water that flows (המגרים) to the earth” [sic].</html>
Verse 29
<html><b>appointed him by God</b> Heb. אִמְרוֹ. What was said about him from before the Omnipresent. The word אִמְרוֹ is in the masculine gender, from the form of (Ps. 5:2), “Give ear to my words (אַמָרַי).” אִמְרָתוֹ appears (ibid. 147:15) in the feminine gender, from the form of (ibid. 12:7) “pure words (אַמָרוֹת).”</html>