Job 20:16
in Job 20He will suck the poison of cobras; the fangs of a viper will kill him.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
He shall suck the poison of asps: The viper’s tongue shall slay him.
KJV
He shall suck the poison of asps: the viper’s tongue shall slay him.
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This verse in Job 20
Commentary
9 notes on this verseVer. 16. He shall suck the head of asps: the viper's tongue shall slay him. 19. The 'asp' is a small serpent, but the 'viper' hath more length of body. And asps produce eggs, and their young are hatched from the eggs. But when vipers have conceived, their 'young ravin in their womb, which bursting the parents' sides issue out of their bellies. Hence too it is called the 'viper,' because it is a 'parent by violence.'
This site's exposition
evil is sweet in his mouth
on Job 20:12-16
The central figure runs in one line: "evil is sweet in his mouth and he conceals it under his tongue". The same food is sweet in the mouth at verse 12 and venom in the stomach at verse 14, one substance seen at two moments.
This site's exposition
He will suck the poison of cobras
Barnes notes that the ancients held a serpent's poison deadly however it entered the body. What the man sucked as sweet becomes the poison that kills him, as Henry and Clarke read it. The fangs of a viper finish him.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Not only the goods which he possessed will change into evil for him, but also he will suffer evils at the hands of his enemies both in word and in deed. He gives two examples of this. First, he gives the example of the asp …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
), than which nothing more fatal, and so it will be to him; what he sucked so sweetly, and with so much pleasure, will prove to him the poison of asps; so 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, when conscience is awakened, turn into so many raging furies.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
4 Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth, 5 That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment? 6 Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds; 7 Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where is he?
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
He shall suck the poison of asps,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
He shall suck the poison of asps - That delicious morsel, that secret, easily-besetting sin, so palatable, and so pleasurable, shall act on the life of his soul, as the poison of asps would do on the life of his body. The poison is called the gall of asps, it being anciently supposed that the poison of serpents consists in their gall, which is thought to be copiously exuded when those animals are enraged; as it has been often seen that their bite is not poisonous when they are not angry.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
He shall suck the poison of asps - That which he swallowed as pleasant nutriment, shall become the most deadly poison; or the consequence shall be as if he had sucked the poison of asps. It would seem that the ancients regarded the poison of the serpent as deadly, however, it was taken into the system. They seem not to have been aware that the poison of a wound may be sucked out without injury to him who does it; and that it is necessary that the poison should mingle with the blood to be fatal. The viper’s tongue shall slay him - The early impression probably was, that the injury done by a serpent was by the fiery, forked, and brandished tongue, which was supposed to be sharp and penetrating. It is now known, that the injury is done by the poison ejected through a groove, or orifice in one of the teeth, which is so made as to lie flat on the roof of the mouth, except when the serpent bites, when that tooth is elevated, and penetrates the flesh. The word “viper” here (אפעה 'eph‛eh), “viper,” is probably the same species of serpent that is known among the Arabs by the same name still - El Effah. See the notes at Isa 30:6. It is the most common and venomous of the serpent tribe in Northern Africa and in South-western Asia. It is remarkable for its quick and penetrating poison. It is about two feet long, as thick as a man’s arm, beautifully spotted with yellow and brown, and sprinkled over with blackish specks. They have a large mouth, by which they inhale a large quantity of air, and when inflated therewith, they eject it with such force as to be heard a considerable distance. “Jackson.” Capt. Riley, in his “Authentic Narrative,” (New York, 1817,) confirms this account. He describes the viper as the “most beautiful object in nature,” and says that the poison is so virulent as to cause death in fifteen minutes.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| רֹאשׁ־ | rosh- | [the] poison of | H7219 → | |
| פְּתָנִ֥ים | petanim | cobras | H6620 → | |
| יִינָ֑ק | yinak | he sucks | H3243 → | |
| תַּֽ֝הַרְגֵ֗הוּ | tahargehu | it slays him | H2026 → | |
| לְשׁ֣וֹן | leshon | [the] tongue of | H3956 → | 117 times |
| אֶפְעֶֽה׃ | ʾefeh | a viper | H660 → |
רֹאשׁ־[the] poison of
rosh-H7219 →
פְּתָנִ֥יםcobras
petanimH6620 →
יִינָ֑קhe sucks
yinakH3243 →
תַּֽ֝הַרְגֵ֗הוּit slays him
tahargehuH2026 →
לְשׁ֣וֹן[the] tongue of
leshonH3956 →117 times
אֶפְעֶֽה׃a viper
ʾefehH660 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Romans 3:13“Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The venom of vipers is on their lips.”
it leads to
- Psalms 5:9
For not a word they speak can be trusted; destruction lies within them. Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.
- Psalms 140:3
They sharpen their tongues like snakes; the venom of vipers is on their lips. Selah
- Matthew 23:27–28
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of impurity.
- Jeremiah 9:3–5
“They bend their tongues like bows; lies prevail over truth in the land. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not take Me into account,” declares the LORD.
- Psalms 57:4
My soul is among the lions; I lie down with ravenous beasts— with men whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords.
- Psalms 5:9
Through
Isaiah 30:6This is the burden against the beasts of the Negev: Through a land of hardship and distress, of lioness and lion, of viper and flying serpent, they carry their wealth on the backs of…
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 8:15
He led you through the vast and terrifying wilderness with its venomous snakes and scorpions, a thirsty and waterless land. He brought you water from the rock of flint.
- Deuteronomy 8:15
Through
Matthew 3:7But when John saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his place of baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
it leads to
- Matthew 12:34
You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.
- Romans 5:9
Therefore, since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from wrath through Him!
- Matthew 12:34
About Job
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XV; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.