Job 20:18

Job 20:18 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].

Ver. 18. That which he laboured for shall he restore] (Great pains he hath taken to small purpose) in hope to make himself happy, the result whereof is, Reddet laborem, he shall restore his labour, either by regret and remorse of conscience, or by law, or by force, he shall be made to restore his ill gotten goods, which he had laboured for, even to lassitude; for wicked men are sore worksmen, and oppressors are great pains takers, κερδαινοντες ου κοπιωσι, in getting wealth unweariable (Nazian.).

And shall not swallow it down] Or if he do, as Job 20:15, it shall be but as the fish swalloweth the hook, or as the whale swallowed Jonah, ill at ease till he had laid up again.

According to his substance shall the restitution be] Heb. According to the substance of his exchange. Opes compensationis, the riches of his recompense, so the word is rendered, Job 15:31. The oppressor is so infatuated, that he looks upon his cursed hoards as the reward of his labour, and rejoiceth in that whereof he hath more reason to repent, as Leah said at the birth of her son Issachar (but not well), "God hath given me my hire, because I have given my maiden to my husband," Gen 30:18. Felix scelus virtus vocatur. Dionysius gloried that the gods disliked not his sacrilege, because they punished him not presently. But what saith Zophar here?

He shall not rejoice therein] Or if he do for a while, yet the triumphing of the wicked is short, Job 20:5, as a blaze of thorns under a pot, or as a flash of lightning, which is followed by rending and roaring; he shall be filled with unmedicinable sorrows, when his gold (his god) is taken from him; when he parteth with that whereon he had set his heart and built his felicity.

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 20:18. That which he laboured for shall he restore — Expressed in Hebrew by only two words, משׁיב יגע, meshib jagang, literally, restituens laborem, restoring labor: that is, the goods which were gotten with labour, that of others, or his own. It may refer either to the goods of others, of which he had obtained possession, not without pains and difficulty; or to his own goods, honestly gotten by the sweat of his brow. And this may be intended as an aggravation of his misery, that he is compelled, not only to restore other men’s goods, which were in his hands, but to part with his own also, to make reparation for damages. And shall not swallow it down — So as to hold it: he shall not possess it long, nor to any important purpose. According to his substance shall the restitution be — That is, he shall be forced to part with all his property to make compensation for his wrongs. And he shall not rejoice therein — He shall not enjoy what he had gotten, because it shall be taken from him. Houbigant’s translation of this verse is, He shall restore what he gained by his labour, and shall not consume it. His merchandise was abundant, but he shall not enjoy it.

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

That is, these raveners and spoilers of the poor shall enjoy their theft but for a time: for after, God will take it from them, and cause them to make restitution, so that it is but an exchange.

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

Image from food which is taken away from one before he can swallow it.

restitution--(So Pro 6:31). The parallelism favors the English Version rather than the translation of GESENIUS, "As a possession to be restored in which he rejoices not."

he shall not rejoice--His enjoyment of his ill-gotten gains shall then be at an end (Job 20:5).

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 18. That which he laboureth for shall he restore] I prefer here the reading of the Arabic, which is also supported by the Syriac, and is much nearer to the Hebrew text than the common version. He shall return to labour, but he shall not eat; he shall toil, and not be permitted to enjoy the fruit of his labour. The whole of this verse Mr. Good thus translates: -

"To labour shall he return, but he shall not eat.

A dearth his recompense: yea, nothing shall he taste."

It may be inquired how Mr. Good arrives at this meaning. It is by considering the word יעלס yaalos, which we translate he shall rejoice, as the Arabic [Arabic] alasa, "he ate, drank, tasted;" and the word כהיל kehil, which we make a compound word, keeheyl, "according to substance," to be the pure Arabic word [Arabic] kahala, "it was fruitless," applied to a year of dearth: hence kahlan, "a barren year." Conceiving these two to be pure Arabic words, for which he seems to have sufficient authority, he renders תמורתו temuratho, his recompense, as in Job 15:31, and not restitution, as here.

The general meaning is, He shall labour and toil, but shall not reap, for God shall send on his land blasting and mildew. Houbigant translates the verse thus: Reddet labore partum; neque id absumet; copiosae fuerunt mercaturae ejus, sed illis non fruetur. "He shall restore what he gained by labour, nor shall he consume it; his merchandises were abundant, but he shall not enjoy them." O, how doctors disagree! Old Coverdale gives a good sense, which is no unfrequent thing with this venerable translator: -

But laboure shal he, and yet have nothinge to eate; great travayle shal he make for riches, but he shal not enjoye them.

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

(18) That which he laboured for shall he restore . . .—The latter part of this verse is probably right; but it may be, “According to the substance that he hath gotten he shall not rejoice.”

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

18. That which he laboured for] i. e. that which he has acquired—the fruit of his labour; this he shall restore and shall not swallow down, or enjoy.

according to his substance] This half verse reads: according to the wealth which he has gotten he shall not rejoice, lit. according to the wealth of his exchange (cf. ch. Job_15:31). The meaning is, however great the substance be which by his evil he has acquired he shall not have the joy of it he promised himself.

The following verses read most naturally,

19. Because he hath oppressed and forsaken the poor,

The house which he hath violently taken away he shall not build up;

20. Because he hath known no rest in his belly,

He shall not deliver himself with that wherein he delighteth;

21. There was nothing left that he devoured not,

Therefore his good shall not abide.

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.

That which he laboured for shall he restore,.... This explains what was before figuratively expressed by vomiting, Job 20:15; and is to be interpreted either of that which another laboured for; so the Targum paraphrases it,

"another's labour;''

and Mr. Broughton renders it, "he shall restore what man's pain get": and then the sense is, that that which another got by his labour, coming by some means or another into the hand of this rapacious, covetous, wicked man, he shall be obliged to restore to him again; or the hire of the labourer being detained in his hands, he shall be forced to give it to him, as the Egyptians, by lending the Israelites their jewels of gold and silver, restored to them the wages due to them for all their labour among them for many years; or else this is to be understood of what the wicked man himself had laboured for, who with much toil and labour, as well as trick and artifice, had got the wealth of others into his hands; but should be obliged to make restoration of it again, and along with that also what he had laboured for, and had got even in an honest and lawful way, the marathon of unrighteousness corrupting and marring his whole substance:

and shall not swallow it down; or "not have time to devour it", as Mr. Broughton; he shall be obliged so soon to restore it, that it shall be as if he had never had it; he shall have no enjoyment of it, at least no comfort, pleasure, and satisfaction in it:

according to his substance shall the restitution be; the law of Moses required, in some cases, fourfold, in others fivefold, and sometimes sevenfold was exacted; and if a man had not sufficient to pay, all his substance was to go towards payment, and by this means what he lawfully got went along with that which was obtained in an illicit way, as before, see Exo 22:1;

and he shall not rejoice therein; not in the restitution he is forced to make, it being greatly against his will; nor in his ill-gotten substance, at least but for a little while, as in Job 20:5; he shall neither enjoy it nor have delight and pleasure in it, nor glory of it, as men are apt to do; Mr. Broughton reads this in connection with the preceding clause thus,

"and never rejoice in the wealth for which he must make recompense.''

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

That which he laboured for shall he restore - This means that he shall give back the profit of his labor. He shall not be permitted to enjoy it or to consume it.

And shall not swallow it down - Shall not enjoy it; shall not eat it. He shall be obliged to give it to others.

According to his substance shall the restitution be - literally, according to Gesenius, “As a possession to be restored in which one rejoices not.” The sense is, that all that he has is like property which a man has, which he feels not to be his own, but which belongs to another and which is soon to be given “up.” In such property a man does not find that pleasure which he does in that which he feels to be his own. He cannot dispose of it, and he cannot look on it and feel that it is his. So Zophar says it is with the wicked man. He can look on his property only as that which he will soon be compelled to part with, and not having any security for retaining it, he cannot rejoice in it as if it were his own. Dr. Lee, however, renders this, “As his wealth is, so shall his restitution be; and he shall not rejoice.” But the interpretation proposed above, seems to me to accord best with the sense of the Hebrew.

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

Suffer eternal torments. (Calmet) --- Hebrew, "according to his substance, shall the restitution be, and he shall not rejoice." (Protestants)

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).

That which he laboured for, Heb. labour, i.e. the goods which were gotten with labour; either,

1. By the labour of others; or rather,

2. By his own labour; which may relate as well to the goods of others, which he got not without pains and difficulty; or to his own goods honestly gotten by the sweat of his brows. And this is an aggravation of his misery, that he was forced to restore not only other men’s goods which were in his hands, but his own also, to make reparation for their damages.

Shall not swallow it down, to wit, so as to hold it; for otherwise he did swallow it, but withal did speedily vomit it up again, Job 20:15, which was as if he had not swallowed it. He shall not possess it long, nor to any considerable purpose.

According to his substance shall the restitution be, i.e. he shall be forced to part with all his estate to make compensation for his wrongs done to others.

He shall not rejoice therein, i.e. he shall not enjoy what he hath gotten, because it shall be taken from him.

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

18. Laboured for — The fruit of labour; but not necessarily his labour.

According to his substance, etc. — Delitzsch and Zockler render this difficult passage: “According to the riches he hath gotten (literally, “of his exchange,”) shall he not rejoice?” Hirtzel, Welte, etc., agree with the Authorized Version. Thus Renan: “His restitutions shall equal his riches;” which is but a feeble enlargement of the first clause of the verse. The word תמורה will be better rendered recompense, as in Job_15:31, According to his riches shall his recompense be, and he shall not rejoice. “Zophar enters now more particularly into the cause of the fate of the ungodly; and placing guilt and punishment together, seeks to bring into view the divine jus talionis,” [law of retribution.] — Hengstenberg.

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

That which he laboured for he shall restore. Even that which he gets by his own honest labour he shall have to part with and give up. He shall not swallow it down; i.e. "shall not absorb it, and make it his own." According to his substance shall the restitution be. So Schultens, Professor Lee, and Dr. Stanley Leathes, who understand Zophar as asserting that, in order to compensate those whom he has robbed, the wicked man will have to make over to them all the wealth that is honestly his Others translate, "According to the substance that he hath gotten, he shall not rejoice" (see the Revised Version, and the commentaries of Ewald, Delitzsch, and Dillmann).

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

Swallow - So as to hold it. He shall not possess it long, nor to any considerable purpose. Yea, he shall be forced to part with his estate to make compensations for his wrongs. So that he shall not enjoy what he had gotten, because it shall be taken from him.

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

He will return that which he labored for The loot that he stole.

when his gain becomes vast wealth When his gain becomes vast wealth, then he will lose it.

he will not rejoice Heb. יעלס, with it. Similarly, יַעֲלֹז, and so יַעַלֹץ; the three of them are interchangeable.

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.