The Meaning of Job 20:10 Explained

Job 20:10

KJV: His children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods.

YLT: His sons do the poor oppress, And his hands give back his wealth.

Darby: His children shall seek the favour of the poor, and his hands restore his wealth.

ASV: His children shall seek the favor of the poor, And his hands shall give back his wealth.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

His children  shall seek to please  the poor,  and his hands  shall restore  their goods. 

What does Job 20:10 Mean?

Context Summary

Job 20:1-29 - "the Triumphing Of The Wicked"
Zophar is the man who least of all understood Job. The rebuke which Job had just administered, Job 19:28-29, has vexed him, so that he speaks with impatience.
The theme of Zophar's speech is the brevity of the prosperity of the wicked. He claims that this is an acknowledged principle, Job 20:4; then proceeds to show it by many striking metaphors.
Hypocrite, Job 20:5, is "godless" in the r.v.; and in describing the prosperity and speedy destruction of such, Job 20:5-11, he manifestly applies his words to Job. He refuses to pay any heed to Job's protestations of innocence. His theology was: God is righteous; he blesses and prospers the good, and destroys the wicked. Job was being destroyed; therefore Job was wicked. Thus often do we in our ignorance misunderstand God and cruelly misjudge man.
Zophar descends to more particulars. He describes the pleasure which the ungodly has in sin, Job 20:12-13; how his sin becomes his punishment, Job 20:14-22; and how terrible destruction at last visits him, Job 20:23-28, as his portion from God, Job 20:29. Though in all this Zophar was wrong in applying it to Job's case, and equally wrong in supposing that this life is the place of judgment for the wicked, yet it is important to remember that he was right in seeing a very real connection between sin and punishment. However sweet sin may be to the taste, it is sure to become bitter as the gall of asps ere long. The "pleasures of sin" are but for a season. [source]

Chapter Summary: Job 20

1  Zophar shows the state and portion of the wicked

What do the individual words in Job 20:10 mean?

His children will seek the favor of the poor and his hands will restore his wealth
בָּ֭נָיו יְרַצּ֣וּ דַלִּ֑ים וְ֝יָדָ֗יו תָּשֵׁ֥בְנָה אוֹנֽוֹ

בָּ֭נָיו  His  children 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural construct, third person masculine singular
Root: בֵּן 
Sense: son, grandson, child, member of a group.
יְרַצּ֣וּ  will  seek  the  favor 
Parse: Verb, Piel, Imperfect, third person masculine plural
Root: רָצָא 
Sense: to be pleased with, be favourable to, accept favourably.
דַלִּ֑ים  of  the  poor 
Parse: Adjective, masculine plural
Root: דַּל  
Sense: low, poor, weak, thin, one who is low.
וְ֝יָדָ֗יו  and  his  hands 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Noun, fdc, third person masculine singular
Root: יָד  
Sense: hand.
תָּשֵׁ֥בְנָה  will  restore 
Parse: Verb, Hifil, Imperfect, third person feminine plural
Root: שׁוּב  
Sense: to return, turn back.
אוֹנֽוֹ  his  wealth 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct, third person masculine singular
Root: אֹון  
Sense: vigour, generative power.