Job 20 summary

One would have thought that such an excellent confession of faith as Job made, in the close of the foregoing chapter, would satisfy his friends, or at least mollify them; but they do not seem to have taken any notice of it, and therefore Zophar here takes his turn, enters the lists with Job, and attacks him with as much vehemence as before. I. His preface is short, but hot (Job 20:2, Job 20:3). II. His discourse is long, and all upon one subject, the very same that Bildad was large upon (ch. 18), the certain misery of wicked people and the ruin that awaits them. 1. He asserts, in general, that the prosperity of a wicked person is short, and his ruin sure (Job 20:4-9). 2. He proves the misery of his condition by many instances - that he should have a diseased body, a troubled conscience, a ruined estate, a beggared family, an infamous name and that he himself should perish under the weight of divine wrath: all this is most curiously described here in lofty expressions and lively similitudes; and it often proves true in this world, and always in another, without repentance (v. 10-29). But the great mistake was, and (as bishop Patrick expresses it) all the flaw in his discourse (which was common to him with the rest), that he imagined God never varied from this method, and therefore Job was, without doubt, a very bad man, though it did not appear that he was, any other way than by his infelicity.

Source: Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706–21; Romans–Revelation completed by Nonconformist ministers). Public domain. Digital text: Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org).

1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered,

2 “Therefore my thoughts answer me, even by reason of my haste that is in me.

3 I have heard the reproof which puts me to shame. The spirit of my understanding answers me.

4 Don’t you know this from old time, since man was placed on earth,

5 that the triumphing of the wicked is short, the joy of the godless but for a moment?

6 Though his height mount up to the heavens, and his head reach to the clouds,

7 yet he will perish forever like his own dung. Those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’

8 He will fly away as a dream, and will not be found. Yes, he will be chased away like a vision of the night.

9 The eye which saw him will see him no more, neither will his place see him any more.