Job 20:18
in Job 20He must return the fruit of his labor without consuming it; he cannot enjoy the profits of his trading.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
That which he labored for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down; According to the substance that he hath gotten, he shall not rejoice.
KJV
That which he laboured for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down: according to his substance shall the restitution be, and he shall not rejoice therein.
⋯
This verse in Job 20
Commentary
11 notes on this verseThat which he laboureth for shall he restore - I prefer here the reading of the Arabic, which is also supported by the Syriac, and is much nearer to the Hebrew text than the common version. He shall return to labor, but he shall not eat; he shall toil, and not be permitted to enjoy the fruit of his labor. The whole of this verse Mr. Good thus translates: - “To labor shall he return, but he shall not eat. A dearth his recompense: yea, nothing shall he taste.” It may be inquired how Mr. Good arrives at this meaning.
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.
This site's exposition
He must return the fruit of his labor
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown picture food taken from a man before he can swallow it. Barnes reads restitution: the man must return the profits of his labor to others. Henry sets Zacchaeus beside it.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
Ver. 18. He shall pay for all the things that he hath done, nor yet shall he be consumed. [LITERAL INTERPRETATION] 21. For he 'pays' in torment for those desires, which he retained here contrary to right, and being consigned to avenging flames, he is always dying, in that he is always kept alive in death.
Because sometimes man becomes so weak from excessive punishment that he cannot sustain further punishments, he then adds that although the sinner is punished in many ways in this life, yet he is destined for further punishment in the future life. So the text continues, …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
To be made to restore what was unjustly gotten, by the sanctifying grace of God, as Zaccheus was, is a great mercy; he voluntarily and cheerfully restored four-fold, and yet had a great deal left to give to the poor, Luke xix.
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
We must labour, not to be rich ( Prov. xxiii. 4 ), but to be charitable, that we may have to give ( Eph. iv. (3.) What great things he promises himself from it, intimated in the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
That which he laboured for shall he restore,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Image from food which is taken away from one before he can swallow it. restitution--(So Pr 6:31). The parallelism favors the English Version rather than the translation of GESENIUS, "As a possession to be restored in which he rejoices not." he shall not rejoice--His enjoyment of his ill-gotten gains shall then be at an end (Job 20:5).
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
That which he laboured for shall he restore - This means that he shall give back the profit of his labor. He shall not be permitted to enjoy it or to consume it. And shall not swallow it down - Shall not enjoy it; shall not eat it. He shall be obliged to give it to others. According to his substance shall the restitution be - literally, according to Gesenius, “As a possession to be restored in which one rejoices not.” The sense is, that all that he has is like property which a man has, which he feels not to be his own, but which belongs to another and which is soon to be given “up.” In such property a man does not find that pleasure which he does in that which he feels to be his own. He cannot dispose of it, and he cannot look on it and feel that it is his. So Zophar says it is with the wicked man. He can look on his property only as that which he will soon be compelled to part with, and not having any security for retaining it, he cannot rejoice in it as if it were his own. Dr. Lee, however, renders this, “As his wealth is, so shall his restitution be; and he shall not rejoice.” But the interpretation proposed above, seems to me to accord best with the sense of the Hebrew.
The words behind it
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מֵשִׁ֣יב | meshiv | [he is] restoring | H7725 → | 1056 times |
| יָ֭גָע | yago' | [the] gain | H3022 → | |
| וְלֹ֣א | velo' | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יִבְלָ֑ע | yivla' | he swallows [it] | H1104 → | 49 times |
| כְּחֵ֥יל | kecheil | according to [the] wealth of | H2428 → | 246 times |
| תְּ֝מוּרָת֗וֹ | temurato | trading his | H8545 → | 6 times |
| וְלֹ֣א | velo' | <and> not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יַעֲלֹֽס׃ | yaalos | he will rejoice | H5965 → |
מֵשִׁ֣יב[he is] restoring
meshivH7725 →1056 times
יָ֭גָע[the] gain
yago'H3022 →
וְלֹ֣אand not
velo'H3808 →5168 times
יִבְלָ֑עhe swallows [it]
yivla'H1104 →49 times
כְּחֵ֥ילaccording to [the] wealth of
kecheilH2428 →246 times
תְּ֝מוּרָת֗וֹtrading his
temuratoH8545 →6 times
וְלֹ֣א<and> not
velo'H3808 →5168 times
יַעֲלֹֽס׃he will rejoice
yaalosH5965 →
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
Job 20:15He swallows wealth but vomits it out; God will force it from his stomach.
it leads to
- Proverbs 23:8
You will vomit up what little you have eaten and waste your pleasant words.
- Matthew 27:3–4
When Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was filled with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders.
- Proverbs 23:8
Through
Jeremiah 22:13“Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms without justice, who makes his countrymen serve without pay, and fails to pay their wages,
it leads to
- James 5:4
Look, the wages you withheld from the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.
- Micah 3:10
who build Zion with bloodshed and Jerusalem with iniquity.
- Leviticus 19:13
You must not defraud your neighbor or rob him. You must not withhold until morning the wages due a hired hand.
- Deuteronomy 24:14–15
Do not oppress a hired hand who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother or a foreigner residing in one of your towns.
- James 5:4
Through
Jeremiah 51:44I will punish Bel in Babylon. I will make him spew out what he swallowed. The nations will no longer stream to him; even the wall of Babylon will fall.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 51:58
This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Babylon’s thick walls will be leveled, and her high gates consumed by fire. So the labor of the people will be for nothing; the nations will…
- Jeremiah 51:58
Through
Proverbs 1:12let us swallow them alive like Sheol, and whole like those descending into the Pit.
it leads to
- Psalms 124:3
when their anger flared against us, then they would have swallowed us alive,
- Psalms 124:3
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; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); 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.