Job 33:20
in Job 33so that he detests his bread, and his soul loathes his favorite food.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
So that his life abhorreth bread, And his soul dainty food.
KJV
So that his life abhorreth bread, and his soul dainty meat.
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This verse in Job 33
Commentary
11 notes on this verseHis life abhorreth bread - These expressions strongly and naturally point out that general nausea, or loathing which sick persons feel in almost every species of disorder.
This site's exposition
A man is also chastened on his bed
on Job 33:19-22
“A man is also chastened on his bed with pain” introduces the second way God speaks, through suffering. Elihu describes it in sickbed terms close to Job's state: “he detests his bread”. Barnes reads the chastening as communication, pain sent as a message, which is Elihu's whole argument in small.
This site's exposition
he detests his bread
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read life here as the appetite that sustains life. Clarke recognizes the loathing of food that the sick feel. Henry draws a warning from Proverbs 23 against a love of dainties.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
These words mean that the soul of the wicked will never rejoice in the sins that it has committed or in the justice that it has never reached.
The Medieval Church2 voices
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistMorals on the Book of Job, Book XXIII · Written before 604.
proposed
His bread becomes abominable to him in his lips, and to his soul the food which before it desired. As if he were to say in so many words; A mind under affliction believes that every thing which used easily to satisfy, and give it pleasure, is turned into bitterness. For by bread is understood in holy Scripture sometimes the Lord Himself, sometimes spiritual grace, sometimes the instruction of divine teaching, sometimes the preaching of heretics, sometimes sustenance for this present life, sometimes the agreeableness of worldly pleasure.
Third, he places the loss of appetite when he says, "Bread," which is common food, "becomes abominable to him during his life," while he still lived, because of sickness, "and the food of his soul, which he desired before, becomes abominable," which refers to other …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
This is a good reason why we should not be desirous of dainties, because they are deceitful meat, Prov. xxiii. We may be soon made as sick of them as we are now fond of them; and those who live in luxury when they are well, if ever they come, by reason of sickness, to loathe dainty meat, may, with grief and shame, read their sin in their punishment.
Faithful are the wounds, and kind are the bonds, of that friend, for by them the soul is kept from perishing eternally. 19 He is chastened also with pain upon his bed, and the multitude of his bones with strong pain: 20 So that his life abhorreth bread, and his soul dainty meat.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-run:29w-of-51
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
So that his life abhorreth bread,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
life--that is, the appetite, which ordinarily sustains "life" (Job 38:39; The taking away of desire for food by sickness symbolizes the removal by affliction of lust, for things which foster the spiritual fever of pride. soul--desire.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase+unbalanced-parens
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
So that his life abhorreth bread - It is a common effect of sickness to take away the appetite. Elihu here regards it as a part of the wholesome discipline of the sufferer. He has no relish for the comforts of life. And his soul dainty meat - Margin, “meat of desire.” The Hebrew is, “food of desire.” The word rendered “meat” (מאכל ma'ăkâl) does not denote animal food only, but any kind of food. So the Old English word meat was used. The idea is, that the sick man loathes the most delicate food. It is a part of his discipline that the pleasure which he had in the days of his health is now taken away.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְזִֽהֲמַ֣תּוּ | vezihamatu | and it loathes it | H2092 → | |
| חַיָּת֣וֹ | chaiyato | life his | H2416 → | 498 times |
| לָ֑חֶם | lachem | bread | H3899 → | 298 times |
| וְ֝נַפְשׁ֗וֹ | venafsho | and self his | H5315 → | 754 times |
| מַאֲכַ֥ל | maakhal | food of | H3978 → | |
| תַּאֲוָֽה׃ | taavah | desire | H8378 → |
וְזִֽהֲמַ֣תּוּand it loathes it
vezihamatuH2092 →
חַיָּת֣וֹlife his
chaiyatoH2416 →498 times
לָ֑חֶםbread
lachemH3899 →298 times
וְ֝נַפְשׁ֗וֹand self his
venafshoH5315 →754 times
מַאֲכַ֥לfood of
maakhalH3978 →
תַּאֲוָֽה׃desire
taavahH8378 →
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
Genesis 3:6When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave…
it leads to
- 1 John 2:16
For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not from the Father but from the world.
- James 1:14–15
But each one is tempted when by his own evil desires he is lured away and enticed.
- 1 Timothy 2:14
And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman who was deceived and fell into transgression.
- 2 Samuel 11:2
One evening David got up from his bed and strolled around on the roof of the palace. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing—a very beautiful woman.
- Joshua 7:21
When I saw among the spoils a beautiful cloak from Shinar, two hundred shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in…
- 1 John 2:16
Through
Amos 5:11Therefore, because you trample on the poor and exact from him a tax of grain, you will never live in the stone houses you have built; you will never drink the wine from the…
it leads to
- Zephaniah 1:13
Their wealth will be plundered and their houses laid waste. They will build houses but not inhabit them, and plant vineyards but never drink their wine.
- Micah 6:15
You will sow but not reap; you will press olives but not anoint yourselves with oil; you will tread grapes but not drink the wine.
- Deuteronomy 28:30
You will be pledged in marriage to a woman, but another man will violate her. You will build a house but will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard but will not…
- Zephaniah 1:13
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
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 on the Book of Job; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ephrem the Syrian, COMMENTARY ON JOB 33:20; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XXIII; 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.