10 His children shall seek the favor of the poor.
His hands shall give back his wealth. 11 His bones are full of his youth,
but youth shall lie down with him in the dust. 12 “Though wickedness is sweet in his mouth,
though he hide it under his tongue, 13 though he spare it, and will not let it go,
but keep it still within his mouth; 14 yet his food in his bowels is turned.
It is cobra venom within him. 15 He has swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again.
God will cast them out of his belly. 16 He shall suck cobra venom.
The viper’s tongue shall kill him. 17 He shall not look at the rivers,
the flowing streams of honey and butter. 18 That for which he labored he shall restore, and shall not swallow it down.
According to the substance that he has gotten, he shall not rejoice. 19 For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor.
He has violently taken away a house, and he shall not build it up. 20 “Because he knew no quietness within him,
he shall not save anything of that in which he delights. 21 There was nothing left that he didn’t devour,
therefore his prosperity shall not endure. 22 In the fullness of his sufficiency, distress shall overtake him.
The hand of everyone who is in misery shall come on him.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Job 20:10-22
Commentary on Job 20:10-22
(Read Job 20:10-22)
The miserable condition of the wicked man in this world is fully set forth. The lusts of the flesh are here called the sins of his youth. His hiding it and keeping it under his tongue, denotes concealment of his beloved lust, and delight therein. But He who knows what is in the heart, knows what is under the tongue, and will discover it. The love of the world, and of the wealth of it, also is wickedness, and man sets his heart upon these. Also violence and injustice, these sins bring God's judgments upon nations and families. Observe the punishment of the wicked man for these things. Sin is turned into gall, than which nothing is more bitter; it will prove to him poison; so will all unlawful gains be. In his fulness he shall be in straits, through the anxieties of his own mind. To be led by the sanctifying grace of God to restore what was unjustly gotten, as Zaccheus was, is a great mercy. But to be forced to restore by the horrors of a despairing conscience, as Judas was, has no benefit and comfort attending it.