Job - 20:15



15 He has swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again. God will cast them out of his belly.

Verse In-Depth

Explanation and meaning of Job 20:15.

Differing Translations

Compare verses for better understanding.
The riches which he hath swallowed; he shall vomit up, and God shall draw them out of his belly.
Wealth he hath swallowed, and doth vomit it. From his belly God driveth it out.
He takes down wealth as food, and sends it up again; it is forced out of his stomach by God.
The riches that he devours, he will vomit up, and from his stomach God will draw them out.

*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.


Historical Commentaries

Scholarly Analysis and Interpretation.

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."

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.

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.

He is forced to disgorge his ill-gotten wealth.

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

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