The Meaning of Job 20:15 Explained

Job 20:15

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

YLT: Wealth he hath swallowed, and doth vomit it. From his belly God driveth it out.

Darby: He hath swallowed down riches, but he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly.

ASV: He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again; God will cast them out of his belly.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

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

What does Job 20:15 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 20:15 mean?

Riches He swallows down and vomits them up again of his belly casts them out God
חַ֣יִל בָּ֭לַע וַיְקִאֶ֑נּוּ מִ֝בִּטְנ֗וֹ יוֹרִשֶׁ֥נּוּ אֵֽל

חַ֣יִל  Riches 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: חַיִל 
Sense: strength, might, efficiency, wealth, army.
בָּ֭לַע  He  swallows  down 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, third person masculine singular
Root: בָּלַע 
Sense: to swallow down, swallow up, engulf, eat up.
וַיְקִאֶ֑נּוּ  and  vomits  them  up  again 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Hifil, Consecutive imperfect, third person masculine singular, third person masculine singular
Root: קִיא 
Sense: to vomit up, spue out, disgorge.
מִ֝בִּטְנ֗וֹ  of  his  belly 
Parse: Preposition-m, Noun, feminine singular construct, third person masculine singular
Root: בֶּטֶן  
Sense: belly, womb, body.
יוֹרִשֶׁ֥נּוּ  casts  them  out 
Parse: Verb, Hifil, Imperfect, third person masculine singular, third person masculine singular
Root: יָרַשׁ  
Sense: to seize, dispossess, take possession off, inherit, disinherit, occupy, impoverish, be an heir.
אֵֽל  God 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: אֵל 
Sense: god, god-like one, mighty one.

What are the major concepts related to Job 20:15?

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