Job 20:11

Job 20:11 His bones are full [of the sin] of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust.

Ver. 11. His bones are full of the sin of his youth] Foul practices have so grown up together with some sinful people, that they may say of them as the strumpet Quartilla did of her virginity, that she could not remember that ever she had been a maid, Iunonem meam iratam habeam si unquam me meminerim Virginem (Petron.). "This hath been thy manner from thy youth, that thou obeyedst not my voice," Jer 22:21. Then thou hadst no mind to it, but now thou hast less, thy heart being hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, Heb 3:17. Now in the froth of these youthful vanities unrepented of breedeth that worm of an evil conscience that never dieth. In the best, they procure much ruth {grief}, though not utter ruin. The sweet ways of my youth (saith a man afterwards eminent for holiness) did breed such worms in my soul as that my heavenly Father will have me yet a little while continue my bitter wormseed, because they cannot otherwise be killed. Thus he. Holy David prayeth hard, Psa 25:7, "Remember not against me the sins of my youth." Austin was much in the same suit. That age of man’s life is very subject to, and usually very full of, sin, yea, reproachful evils, Jer 31:19, fleshly lusts that war against the soul, 1Pe 2:11, and like so many noisome diseases, soak into the bones, and suck out the marrow, to the consumption and destruction of the whole man.

Which shall lie down with him in the dust] That is, saith Vatablus, God will so forsake him, that he shall never repent, but shall die in his sins, which is worse than to die in prison or to die in a ditch; for they that die in sin shall rise in sin, and stand before Christ in sin; and how shall they be able to stand before him?

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Job_20:11

His bones are full Of the sin of his youth.

The sins of youth

I. The state or condition of a wicked man. His bones are full of the sin of his youth.

1. The sin. Youthful pranks. By youthful sins we may understand either kinds of sin, or the time of sin. Corrupt nature, though it cleave to all conditions of life, does not put forth itself alike in all. There are lusts that youth is more especially subject unto. Such as vanity both of spirit and conversation. Flexibility to evil. Easily wrought upon, and drawn away and enticed to that which is evil. Unteachableness. Wax to temptation and flint to admonition. Impetuousness; intemperance; uncleanness.

2. The punishment of sin. His bones are full of them. The Spirit of God would hereby signify to us the sad and miserable condition of an obdurate and impenitent sinner that has lived for a long time in a course of sin. The word bones may be taken either in a corporal or in a spiritual sense. There are many in old age who feel the sins of their youth in their body, their bones. There are diseases which attend on vicious courses, and hasten bodily destruction. Some kinds of sin God punishes even in this present life. But by bones we may understand the spirit, and more particularly the conscience. There is the remembrance of sin in the soul. Sin will stick in the conscience for a long while after the commission of it. God charges the guilt of the sins of youth upon mens souls when the things themselves are past and gone. He rubs up their memories and brings their sins to remembrance. He convinces the judgment as to the nature of the sins themselves. He afflicts them also for them. This is all as true of secret as of open sins. The reasons why God proceeds against sins of youth are these:

(1) Because He will maintain His own right and interest in the world.

(2) Because sins of youth are commonly acted with greater violence and vehemency of spirit.

3. The sins of youth are a foundation of more sin. Various improvements of the subject. To those who are young, that from hence they would be so much the more careful and watchful of themselves. We should all study to consecrate and devote our best time to God and to His service. Those who have the care of youth should have a more watchful eye upon them. The aged may well pray with the Psalmist, Remember not the sins of my youth. Take up a general lamentation of the great exorbitancies and irregularities of youth, especially in these days. Notice the extent or amplification of the condition in these words, Which shall lie down with him in the dust. This denotes the continuance of a wicked mans sin. It begins with him betimes, for it is the sin of his youth, and it lasts with him a long while; for it follows him even into another world. Two ways in which sin is said to lie down in the dust. First, in regard to the stain of it, and then with regard to the guilt of it. There are two things in Christ which are great arguments for closing with Him. There is holiness answerable to pollution, and there is pardon answerable to guilt. (T. Horton, D.D.)

Youth the root of age

It should be borne in mind that in old age it is too late to mend, that then you must inhabit what you have built. Old age has the foundation of its joy or its sorrow laid in youth. You are building at twenty. Are you building for seventy? Nay, every stone laid in the foundation takes hold of every stone in the wall up to the very eaves of the building; and every deed, right or wrong, that transpires in youth, reaches forward, and has a relation to all the after-part of mans life. (H.W. Beecher.)

Sins and their punishments

There are seven sorts of special sins.

1. Such as appertain to and most commonly show themselves in this or that age of mans life.

2. There are sins more proper to some countries and places.

3. To the season or times wherein we live.

4. There are special sins of mens special callings, dealings, and tradings in the world

5. Of their conditions, whether poor or rich, great or small.

6. There are special sins following the constitution of the body, whether sanguine, choleric, phlegmatic, or melancholy.

7. There are special sins hanging about our relations. The bones of some are full of the sins of their relations and constitutions; the bones of others are full of the sins of their conditions and callings; the bones of not a few are full of the sins of the place, time or age wherein they live. The bones of many are full of that special age of their lives, their youth. The sins of their youth age are visible in their old age, and the sins of their first age prove the sorrows of their last. Till sin be repented of and pardoned, the punishment of it remains. The punishment of sin reacheth as far as sin reacheth. All the sins of youth remain in and upon the oldest of impenitent persons. It is the greatest misery to persevere in sin. (Joseph Caryl.)

The sin of youth

We commonly say, it is not the last blow of the axe that fells the oak; perhaps the last may be a weaker blow than any of the former, but the other blows made way for the felling of it, and at length a little blow comes and completes it. So our former sins may be the things that make way for our ruin, and then at length some lesser sins may accomplish it. (J. Burroughs.)

The enduring effects of early transgression

The season of youth should be passed religiously, if old age is to be honourable, and if death is to be conquered. The sins of our younger days pursue us through life, and even lie down with us in the dust.

1. How difficult and almost impossible it is, in reference to the present scene of being, to make up by after diligence for time lost in youth. It is appointed by God that one stage of life should be strictly preparatory to another. It is also appointed that neglect of the several duties of any one stage shall leave consequences not to be repaired by any attention, however intense, to those of a following. If there have been neglected boyhood, so that the minds powers have not been disciplined, nor its chambers stored with information, the consequences will propagate themselves to the extreme line of life. Just because there has been negligence in youth, the man must be wanting to the end of his days in acquirements of whose worth he is perpetually reminded, and which, comparatively speaking, are not to be gained except at one period of his life. The same truth is exemplified in reference to bodily health. The man who has injured his constitution by the excesses of youth, cannot repair the mischief by after acts of self-denial. The seeds of disease which have been sown whilst passions were fresh and ungoverned, are not to be eradicated by the severest moral regimen which may afterwards be prescribed and followed. The possession of the iniquities of youth which we wish most to exhibit is that which affects men when stirred with anxiety for the soul, and desirous to seek and obtain the pardon of sin. Take the case of a man who spends the best years of his life in the neglect of God, and the things of another world. It is not necessary that we suppose him one of the openly profligate. If awakened to a sense of sin, such a man is very likely to defer resolute action till death overtakes him. On the most favourable supposition the mind finds it most difficult to forsake sin and change his conduct. The carelessness of today inevitably adds to the carelessness of tomorrow. Beginning with attachment to this world, men bind themselves with a cord to which every hour will weave a new thread. And however genuine and effectual the repentance and faith of a late period of life, it is unavoidable that the remembrance of misspent years will embitter those which are consecrated to God. By lengthening the period of irreligion, and therefore diminishing that of obedience to God, we almost place ourselves amongst the last of the competitors for the kingdom of heaven. If we devote but a fraction of our days to the striving for the reward promised to Christs servants, there is an almost certainty that only the lowest of those rewards will come within our reach. The iniquities of youth will hang like lead on the wings of his soul, restraining its ascendings, and forbidding its reaching those loftier points in immortality which might have been attained by a longer striving. (Henry Melvill, B.D.)

The sin of youth in the bones of age

Expositors differ in their exposition of a text in which so material a word as the sin is supplied by our translators. His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust--the italicised words not occurring in the original. The Vulgate version is in favour of ours, His bones are full of the sins of his youth; while the Septuagint has it, His bones are full of his youth; in accordance with which rendering, Gesenius and others take the passage to mean, full of vigour, so that the man is cut off in his physical prime. Dr. Goods reading is, His secret sins shall follow his bones, yea, they shall press upon him in the dust. Others take the literal Hebrew, His bones are full of secret things, to refer to the hidden, long-cherished faults of his life--the corrupt habits secretly indulged, which would adhere to him, leaving a withering influence on his whole system in advancing years. His secret lusts would work his certain ruin, the effect being that which, as a popular commentator says, is so often seen, when vices corrupt the very physical frame, and where the results are seen far on in future life. In this sense be the text accepted here. Graphic, after the manner of the man, is Dr. Souths picture of the old age that comes to wail upon what he calls a great and worshipful sinner, who for many years together has had the reputation of eating well and doing ill. It comes (as it ought to do to a person of such quality) attended with a long train and retinue of rheums, coughs, catarrhs, and dropsies, together with many painful girds and achings, which are at least called the gout. How does such a one go about, or is carried rather, with his body bending inward, his head shaking, and his eyes always watering (instead of weeping) for the sins of his ill-spent youth: In a word, old age seizes upon such a person like fire upon a rotten house; it was rotten before, and must have fallen of itself, so that it is no more but one ruin preventing another. Virtue, we are admonished, is a friend and a help to nature; but it is vice and luxury that destroy it, and the diseases of intemperance are the natural product of the sins of intemperance. Chastity makes no work for a chirurgeon, nor ever ends in rottenness of bones. Whereas, sin is the fruitful parent of distempers, and ill lives occasion good physicians. (Francis Jacox.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Job 20:11. His bones — That is, his whole body, even the strongest parts of it; are full of the sin of his youth — Of the punishment of it. He shall feel the sad effects of his youthful sins in his riper years, as riotous sinners commonly do. Which shall lie down with him in the dust — He shall carry his diseases and pains, brought upon him by his sins, to the grave: or, rather, they will carry him thither, and prove the causes of his immature death; and the very putrefying of his body in the grave is to him the effect of sin, so that his iniquity is upon his bones even there.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Meaning, that he shall carry nothing away with him but his sin.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

(Psa 25:7), so Vulgate. GESENIUS has "full of youth"; namely, in the fulness of his youthful strength he shall be laid in the dust. But "bones" plainly alludes to Job's disease, probably to Job's own words (Job 19:20). UMBREIT translates, "full of his secret sins," as in Psa 90:8; his secret guilt in his time of seeming righteousness, like secret poison, at last lays him in the dust. The English Version is best. Zophar alludes to Job's own words (Job 17:16).

with him--His sin had so pervaded his nature that it accompanies him to the grave: for eternity the sinner cannot get rid of it (Rev 22:11).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 11. His bones are full of the sin of his youth] Our translators have followed the VULGATE, Ossa ejus implebuntur vitiis adolescentiae ejus; "his bones shall be filled with the sins of his youth." The SYRIAC and ARABIC have, his bones are full of marrow; and the TARGUM is to the same sense. At first view it might appear that Zophar refers to those infirmities in old age, which are the consequences of youthful vices and irregularities. עלומו alumau, which we translate his youth, may be rendered his hidden things; as if he had said, his secret vices bring down his strength to the dust. For this rendering Rosenmuller contends, and several other German critics. Mr. Good contends for the same.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(11) His bones are full of the sin of his youth.—Rather, of his youth, or youthful vigour, as in Job_33:25 : “He shall return to the days of his youth,” and Psa_89:46 : “The days of his youth hast thou shortened.” “Though he is in the full vigour of life, yet it shall lie down with him in the dust.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11. full of the sin of his youth] Rather, his bones axe full of his youth, but it shall lie down, &c.; in the midst of his years, when his bones are full of his youthful strength, like a vigorous marrow, he shall be cut off, and his youth go down to the grave with him.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

His bones are full of the sins of his youth,.... Man is born in sin, and is a transgressor from the womb; and the youthful age is addicted to many sins, as pride, passion, lust, luxury, intemperance, and uncleanness; and these are sometimes brought to mind, and men are convinced of them, and corrected for them, when more advanced in years; and if not stopped in them, and reformed from them, they are continued in an old age; and the effects of them are seen in bodily diseases, which a debauched life brings upon them, not only to the rottenness and consumption of their flesh, but to the putrefaction of their bones; though this may be understood of the whole body, the bones, the principal and stronger parts, being put for the whole, and denote that general decay and waste which gluttony, drunkenness, and uncleanness, bring into, see Pro 5:11; Some interpret this of "secret" sins (p), as the word is thought to signify, which, if not cleansed from and pardoned, will be found and charged on them, and be brought into judgment, and they punished for them, Psa 90:8;

which shall lie down with him in the dust: to be in the dust is to be in the state of the dead, to lie in the grave, where men lie down and sleep as on a bed; and this is common to good and bad men, all sleep in the dust of the earth, but with this difference, the sins of wicked men lie down with them; as they live in sin, they die in their sins; not that their sins die with them, and are no more, but they continue on them, and with them, and will rise with them, and will follow them to judgment, and remain with them after, and the guilt and remorse of which will be always on their consciences, and is that worm that never dies: of such it is said, that they "are gone down to hell with their weapons of war"; with the same enmity against God, against Christ, and his people, and all that is good, they had in their lifetime: and "they have laid their swords under their heads"; in the grave, and shall rise with the same revengeful spirit they ever had against the saints, see Rev 20:8; "but their iniquities shall be upon their bones"; both them, and the punishment of them, Eze 32:27. The Jewish commentator last mentioned interprets the whole verse of Balaam, who died at the age of thirty three, and whose prosperity died with him, he leaving nothing to his children; and so he interprets the following verses of the curse he was forced to hide, which he would gladly have pronounced, and of the riches he received from Balak falling into the hands of the Israelites.

(p) "ejus occultis", Montanus, Vatablus, Schmidt.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

His bones are full of the sin of his youth - The words “of the sin” in our common translation are supplied by the translators. Gesenius and Noyes suppose that the Hebrew means, “His bones are full of youth;” that is, full of vigor and strength, and the idea according to this would be, that he would be cut off in the fulness of his strength. Dr. Good renders it forcibly,

“His secret lusts shall follow his bones,

Yea, they shall press upon him in the dust.”

The Vulgate renders it, “His bones are full of the sins of his youth.” The Septuagint, “His bones are full of his youth.” The Chaldee Paraphrase, “His bones are full of his strength.” The Hebrew literally is, “His bones are full of his secret things” (עלוּמו ‛âlûmāŷ) - referring, as I suppose, to the “secret, long-cherished” faults of his life; the corrupt propensities and desires of his soul which had been seated in his very nature, and which would adhere to him, leaving a withering influence on his whole system in advancing years. The effect is that which is so often seen, when vices corrupt the very physical frame, and where the results are seen long in future life. The effect would be seen in the diseases which they engendered in his system, and in the certainty with which they would bring him down to the grave. The Syriac renders it, “marrow,” as if the idea were that he would die full of vigor and strength. But the sense is rather that his secret lusts would work his certain ruin.

Which shall lie down with him - That is, the results of his secret sins shall lie down with him in the grave. He will never get rid of them. He has so long indulged in his sins; they have so thoroughly pervaded his nature, and he so delights to cherish them, that they will attend him to the tomb. There is truth in this representation. Wicked people often indulge in secret sin so long that it seems to pervade the whole system. Nothing will remove it; and it lives and acts until the body is committed to the dust, and the soul sinks ruined into hell.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vices of, is not in Hebrew, but must be understood. (Haydock) --- Youth. Some translate, "hidden." Sophar perhaps accuses Job of some secret abominations, for which he was afflicted with the venereal disease. At least, nothing is more common than to see people brought to old age and infirmities unnumbered, (Calmet) before their time, in consequence of riotous living in their youth. (Haydock) --- Youth may also denote the sin in which we are born, which is the source of all our maladies, and is always dragging us towards the grave. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

His bones, i.e. his whole body, even the strongest parts of it, which may seem most remote from danger.

Of the sin of his youth, Heb. of his youth, i.e. of his youthful pleasures and lusts, by a metonymy of the subject. And this may be understood either,

1. Of the sins themselves, that he shall persevere in his youthful lusts even in old age, and shall die without repentance. Or rather,

2. Of the punishment of his sins, of which he is speaking both in the foregoing and following verses. He shall feel the sad effects of those sins in his riper years, as riotous sinners commonly do; and, as it follows, attended him to his grave. Or, with his secret ways or sins, as others render it; whereby he possibly intimates that Job, though he appeared righteous before others, yet was guilty of some secret wickedness, for which God was now reckoning with him.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

11. The sin of his youth — Literally, secret things. Hitzig and many moderns render עלומו, secret sins, (see Psa_90:8,) though others prefer youth, in the sense of “youthful vigour.” The latter sense, then, would give the idea that prematurely the wicked man descends to the grave. The root of the word ‘halam, (from which is ‘holam, eternity, “the hidden,”) means both to hide and to be young. Even if the latter meaning be accepted, it may as properly mean youthful sin as youthful vigour. Job had spoken of hope descending with him to the bars of sheol, and of rest in the dust, (Job_17:16.) “No!” says Zophar, “your secret sins shall lie down with you in the dust — the grave shall be no place of rest.” It were bad enough if, like a wound in the body, sin left simply a scar upon the soul. But sin is a poison, as Zophar proceeds to show. It enters into man’s entire being, until he may be said to be “full” of it. So subtle is the virus that it penetrates every tissue. The sins of youth make themselves felt in subsequent years through premature old age, the ruin of health, manifold regret ripening into remorse, and the general wreck of our moral being. Youth is strangely a period of weakness, and pre-eminently one of temptation; but nature utters aloud her notes of warning, and the voice of the Lord God walking also in this paradise, may be heard affectionately cautioning the soul against eating of forbidden fruit.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

His bones are full of the sin of his youth; literally, his bones are full of his youth; i.e. lusty and strong, full of youthful vigour. There is no sign of weakness or decay about them. Yet they shall lie down with him in the dust. A little while, and these vigorous bones, this entire body, so full of life and youth, shall be lying with the man himself, with all that constitutes his personality, in the dust of death (comp. vers. 24, 25).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Bones - His whole body, even the strongest parts of it. The sin - Of the punishment of it.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

His bones are full of his youth The strength of his youth.

and it will lie on the dust with him Because he will die suddenly with his strength.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.