Job 20:15

Job 20:15 He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly.

Ver. 15. He hath swallowed down riches] As wild beasts do their prey, as the greater fishes do the lesser, greedily, easily, suddenly, irrecoverably, as the fire swalloweth up the fuel, as the lean kine devoured the fat, and as the Pamphagus glutton doth his tidbits, his sweet morsels. This word, hath swallowed, showeth his infinite and insatiable desire of getting and gathering riches; and that by continual gaping after more, he loseth the pleasure of what he hath already, like as a dog at his master’s table swalloweth the whole meat he casteth him without any pleasure, gaping still for the next morsel. He knoweth no other language but that of the horse leech’s daughter, Give, give; or that of greedy Esau, returning from the field, as hungry as a hunter, Gen 25:30, Feed me, I pray thee, or let me swallow at once (like as camels are fed by casting gobbets into their mouth) that red, red, &c. Gold is no better than red earth, and cannot terminate man’s appetite, Ecc 5:10.

And he shall vomit them up again] Either by remorse and restitution in the mean time, or by despair and impenitent horror hereafter; he shall vomit them up, and together with them his vital blood and spirits; he shall bring up his very heart withal, as Judas did, together with those thirty pieces of silver, Mat 27:4, all his bowels gushing out, Act 1:18. He thought to have digested his ill gotten goods, as the ostrich doth iron; but, pelican-like, he is forced to cast them up again, קאת Pelicanus a vomitu. (See Plin. l. 10, c. 30.) The large fish that swallowed Jonah found him hard meat, and, for his own ease, was forced to regurgitate. Think the same of this wretched mammonist. The Septuagint interpret the text when they thus render it, Wealth unjustly gathered shall be vomited up again, and an angel shall hale it out of his mouth. ( Graeci eleganter tropo explicato.) An evil angel, say their interpreters; but the Hebrew verity referreth it to God, as an act of divine justice.

God shall cast them out of his belly] As by a writ of ejectment, or rather, as by a violent purgation, that shall work both ways. Jer 51:44, "I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth what he hath swallowed up"; viz. the wealth of the nations round about him. This God will rake out of his belly, so that a piece of his heart shall go with it. In the last destruction of Jerusalem some of the Jews had swallowed their gold, that the Roman soldiers might not have it; this was found out, and thereupon thousands of them were killed and ripped up for the gold that might be found in their stomachs and bowels. In like sort shall God deal with those covetous wretches, that have devoured the riches of iniquity; that have sucked in pestilential air, as Hos 8:7. {See Trapp on "Hos 8:7"}

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 20:15-16. He hath swallowed down riches — He hath got possession of them, and thought them to be as much his own as the meat he had eaten. But he is deceived. He shall vomit them up again — Shall be compelled to restore them: his own conscience perhaps may make him so uneasy in the keeping of what he has gotten, that, for the quiet of his own mind, he shall make restitution, and that not with the pleasure of a virtue, but with the utmost reluctancy, like the pain produced by an emetic. God shall cast them out of his belly — If he do not himself voluntarily refund what he has violently taken away, God, by his providence, shall force him to do it, and bring it about, one way or other, that his ill-gotten goods shall return to their right owners. If man’s hand cannot reach him, God shall find him out. He shall suck the poison of asps — What he sucked so sweetly, and with so much pleasure, shall, in the issue, prove most ungrateful and destructive, as the poison, or head (for the Hebrew ראשׁ, rosh, signifies both, and the poison lies in the head) of asps would be to one that sucked it. Such is sin; such especially will all unlawful gains be. The fawning tongue will prove the viper’s tongue. All the charming graces that are thought to be in sin will turn, when the conscience is awakened, into so many raging furies.

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

He is forced to disgorge his ill-gotten wealth.

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 15. He shall vomit them up again] This is also an allusion to an effect of most ordinary poisons; they occasion a nausea, and often excruciating vomiting; nature striving to eject what it knows, if retained, will be its bane.

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

15. The same general figure of a delightful food particularized. The ill-gotten riches which he amassed do not abide with him; the wealth that he swallowed up he must disgorge. The figure is perhaps that of a food which the stomach cannot retain.

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.

He hath swallowed down riches,.... Not his own, but another's, which he has spoiled him of and devoured, with as much eagerness, pleasure, and delight, as a hungry man swallows down his food; having an excessive and immoderate love of riches, and an insatiable desire after them, which make him stop at nothing, though ever so illicit, to obtain them; and when he has got them into his possession, thinks them as safe as the food in his belly, and never once dreams of refunding them, which yet he must do, as follows:

and he shall vomit them up again; that is, make restoration of them, not freely, but forcedly, with great reluctance, much pain of mind, and gripes of conscience:

God shall cast them out of his belly; he shall oblige him to cast them up again, by working upon his heart, making his mind uneasy, loading his conscience with guilt, so that he shall have no rest nor peace until he has done it; though they are as meat in his belly within him, they shall not remain with him; though they are in his house, in his coffers, or in his barns, they shall be fetched out from thence.

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

He hath swallowed down riches - He has “glutted” down riches - or gormandized them - or devoured them greedily. The Hebrew word בלע bela‛, means “to absorb, to devour with the idea of greediness.” It is descriptive of the voracity of a wild beast, and means here that he had devoured them eagerly, or voraciously.

And he shall vomit - As an epicure does that which he has drunk or swallowed with delight. “Noyes.” The idea is, that he shall lose that which he has acquired, and that it will be attended with loathing. All this is to a great extent true still, and may be applied to those who aim to accumulate wealth, and to lay up ill gotten gold. It will be ruinous to their peace; and the time will come when it will be looked on with inexpressible loathing. Zophar meant, undoubtedly, to apply this to Job, and to infer, that since it was a settled maxim that such would be the result of the ill-gotten gain of a wicked man, where a result like this “had” happened, that there must have been wickedness. How cutting and severe this must have been to Job can be easily conceived. The Septuagint renders this, “Out of his house let an angel drag him.”

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

He shall vomit them up again, i.e. be forced to restore them with great shame and torment, as gluttons sometimes do loathe, and with grief and pain cast up, that meat which they have eaten and swallowed down with much greediness and delight. If no man’s hand can reach him, God shall find him out, and punish him severely.

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

15. Riches — One of the “Forty-two Points of Instruction,” a small Tibetan work, delivered by Buddha, is, “The man who seeks riches is like a child that, with the sharp point of a knife, attempts to eat honey; ere he has time to relish the sweetness that has but touched his lips, nothing remains to him but the poignant pain of a cut in the tongue.”

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

He hath swallowed down riches and he shall vomit them up again. The wicked man shall be made to disgorge his ill-gotten gains. Either fear, or remorse, or a judicial sentence will force him to make restitution (see ver. 10). God shall cast them out of his belly. Whatever is the immediate motive of the restitution: it will really be God"s doing. He will cause the fear, or the remorse, or bring about the judicial sentence.

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

Vomit - Be forced to restore them. God, &c. - If no man's hand can reach him, God shall find him out.

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

General Information:

Zophar continues speaking to Job.

He swallows down riches ... cast them out of his stomach

Zophar speaks of gaining and losing wealth as if it were food that a person eats and vomits. AT: "The wicked person becomes very wealthy, but he loses his wealth like a person who vomits up his food. God causes him to lose it all" (See: Metaphor)

He swallows down riches

Possible meanings are that "swallows down riches" represents 1) accumulating riches and storing them selfishly. AT: "The wicked man gains much wealth and keeps it all for himself" or 2) accumulating riches in wicked ways. AT: "The wicked man steals many riches" (See: Metaphor)

God will cast them out of his stomach

Here "cast them out of his stomach" is a metonym for causing the man to vomit them. This is a metaphor for causing the man to lose his riches. (See: Metonymy and Metaphor)

cast

throw

He will suck the poison of asps

Here "suck the poison of asps" represents doing evil things. Both are very dangerous. AT: "Doing evil things is like sucking the poison of asps" or "He will do evil things and endanger his life like a person who sucks the poison of asps" (See: Metaphor)

asps

poisonous snakes

the viper's tongue will kill him

The viper is a poisonous snake. Its tongue represents its poisonous bite. AT: "the viper's poisonous bite will kill him" or "the viper will bite him and he will die" (See: Metonymy)

the viper's tongue will kill him

The viper represents the man's wickedness. AT: "his wickedness will kill him like a viper's bite" (See: Metaphor)

translationWords

God

serpent

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

wealth Heb. חיל, money.

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.