Job 20:17
in Job 20He will not enjoy the streams, the rivers flowing with honey and cream.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
He shall not look upon the rivers, The flowing streams of honey and butter.
KJV
He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter.
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This verse in Job 20
Commentary
10 notes on this verseVer. 17. He shall not see the streamlets of the torrent river of honey and butter. 20. The Lord saith in the Gospel; He that believeth in Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. [John 7, 38. 39.] Where the Evangelist subjoins, saying, But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive. And so 'the streamlets of the river' are the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
This site's exposition
He will not enjoy the streams
on Job 20:17-19
Zophar says the wicked man forfeits "the rivers flowing with honey and cream". The reason given is concrete: "he has oppressed and forsaken the poor". Davidson notes that this is the one place in the speech where the doctrine names a specific wrong, beside the general triumph of verse 5.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"They will not rejoice on the division of the rivers, the streams flowing with honey and curds." These words mean that those rivers were divided on Mount Calvary, and the streams derived from the rivers signify the gifts of the Spirit communicated by the revelation …
The Medieval Church1 voice
Then he continues with the punishment which is the privation of goods when he then says, "Let him not see the stream of the river flowing with butter and honey." Butter and honey are similar in that both fittingly describe what is sweet to the …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
): He shall never see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter, with which he hoped to glut himself. The world is not that to those who love it, and court it, and admire it, which they fancy it will be. The enjoyment sinks far below the raised expectation.
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 not see the rivers,....
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
He shall not see the rivers - That is, he shall not be permitted to enjoy plenty and prosperity. Rivers or rills of honey and butter are emblems of prosperity; compare Exo 3:17; Job 29:6. A land flowing with milk, honey, and butter, is, in the Scripture, the highest image of prosperity and happiness.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
floods--literally, "stream of floods," plentiful streams flowing with milk, &c. Honey and butter are more fluid in the East than with us and are poured out from jars. These "rivers" or water brooks are in the sultry East emblems of prosperity.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
He shall not see the rivers - Mr. Good has the following judicious note on this passage: “Honey and butter are the common results of a rich, well-watered pasturage, offering a perpetual banquet of grass to kine, and of nectar to bees; and thus loading the possessor with the most luscious luxuries of pastoral life, peculiarly so before the discovery of the means of obtaining sugar. The expression appears to have been proverbial; and is certainly used here to denote a very high degree of temporal prosperity.” See also Job 29:6. To the Hebrews such expressions were quite familiar. See Exo 3:8; Exo 13:5; Exo 33:3; 2Ki 18:32; Deu 31:20, and elsewhere. The Greek and Roman writers abound in such images. Milk and honey were such delicacies with the ancients, that Pindar compares his song to them for its smoothness and sweetness: - Χαιρε Φιλος. Εγω τοδε τοι Πεμπω μεμιγμενον μελι λευκῳ Συν γαλακτι· κιρναμενα δ’ εερς’ αμφεπει πομ’ αοιδιμον, Αιολισιν εν πνοαισιν αυλων. Pind. Nem. iii., ver. 133. “Hail, friend! to thee I tune my song; For thee its mingled sweets prepare; Mellifluous accents pour along; Verse, pure as milk, to thee I bear; On all thy actions falls the dew of praise; Pierian draughts thy thirst of fame assuage, And breathing flutes thy songs of triumph raise.” J. B. C. Qui te, Pollio, amat, veniat, quo te quoque gaudet; Mella fluant illi, ferat et rubus asper amomum. Virg. Ecl. iii., ver. 88. “Who Pollio loves, and who his muse admires; Let Pollio’s fortune crown his full desires Let myrrh, instead of thorn, his fences fill; And showers of honey from his oaks distil!” Dryden. Ovid, describing the golden age, employs the same image: - Flumina jam lactis, jam flumina nectaris ibant; Flavaque de viridi stillabant ilice mella. Metam. lib. i., ver. […]
The words behind it
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אַל־ | ʾal- | may not | H408 → | 724 times |
| יֵ֥רֶא | yere' | he look | H7200 → | 1300 times |
| בִפְלַגּ֑וֹת | viflagot | on streams | H6390 → | |
| נַהֲרֵ֥י | naharei | rivers of | H5104 → | 119 times |
| נַ֝חֲלֵ֗י | nachalei | torrents of | H5158 → | 141 times |
| דְּבַ֣שׁ | devash | honey | H1706 → | |
| וְחֶמְאָֽה׃ | vechemah | and curd<s> | H2529 → |
אַל־may not
ʾal-H408 →724 times
יֵ֥רֶאhe look
yere'H7200 →1300 times
בִפְלַגּ֑וֹתon streams
viflagotH6390 →
נַהֲרֵ֥יrivers of
nahareiH5104 →119 times
נַ֝חֲלֵ֗יtorrents of
nachaleiH5158 →141 times
דְּבַ֣שׁhoney
devashH1706 →
וְחֶמְאָֽה׃and curd<s>
vechemahH2529 →
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
Psalms 81:16But I would feed you the finest wheat; with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 32:13–14
He made him ride on the heights of the land and fed him the produce of the field. He nourished him with honey from the rock and oil from the flinty crag,
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 147:14
He makes peace at your borders; He fills you with the finest wheat.
- 1 Samuel 14:25–26
Then all the troops entered the forest, and there was honey on the ground.
- Deuteronomy 32:13–14
Through
Luke 16:24So he cried out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. For I am in agony in this fire.’
it leads to
- Revelation 22:1
Then the angel showed me a river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb
- John 4:10
Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God and who is asking you for a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
- Revelation 7:16–17
‘Never again will they hunger, and never will they thirst; nor will the sun beat down upon them, nor any scorching heat.’
- John 4:14
But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life.”
- Revelation 22:1
Through
Job 29:6when my steps were bathed in cream and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!
it leads to
- Psalms 81:16
But I would feed you the finest wheat; with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”
- Psalms 81:16
About Job
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on A. B. Davidson, The Book of Job, Cambridge Bible; Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ephrem the Syrian, COMMENTARY ON JOB 20:17; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XV; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.