Job 20:20

Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, he shall not save of that which he desired.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(20) Quietness in his belly.—“Because he knew no quietness within him, (Comp. Isaiah 57:20-21.) he shall not save ought of that which he desireth.”

Benson Commentary

Job 20:20. Surely he shall not feel quietness, &c. — He shall have no peace nor satisfaction in his mind, in all his gains, partly because of his perpetual fears and expectations of the wrath of God and man, which his guilty conscience assures him he deserves, and partly because they shall be speedily taken away from him. He shall not save of that which he desired — That is, any part of his good and desirable things, but he shall forfeit and lose them all.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Surely he shall not feel quietness - Margin, as in the Hebrew "know." The sense is, he shall not know peace or tranquility. He shall be agitated and troubled. Wemyss, however, renders this, "Because his appetite could not be satisfied." Noyes, "Because his avarice was insatiable." So Rosenmuller explains it. So the Vulgate renders it, "Nec est satiatus renter ejus." The Septuagint, "Neither is there safety to his property, nor shall he be saved by his desire." But it seems to me that the former is the sense, and that the idea is, that he should not know peace or tranquility after he had obtained the things which he had so anxiously sought.

In his belly - Within him; in his mind or heart. The viscera in general in the Scriptures are regarded as the seat of the affections. We confine the idea now to the "heart."

He shall not save of that which he desired - literally, he shall not "escape" with that which was an object of desire. He shall not be "delivered" from the evils which threaten him by obtaining that which he desired. All this shall be taken from him.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

20. Umbreit translates, "His inward parts know no rest" from desires.

his belly—that is, peace inwardly.

not save—literally, "not escape with that which," &c., alluding to Job's having been stripped of his all.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

He shall not feel quietness in his belly, i.e. he shall have no peace nor satisfaction in his mind in all his gains, partly because of his perpetual fears and expectations of the wrath of God and man, which his guilty conscience knoweth that he deserves; and partly because they shall be speedily taken away from him. He still continueth the metaphor of a glutton, whose belly is not quiet until it hath vomited up that wherewith he had oppressed it.

Of that which he desired, i.e. any part of his good and desirable things, but he shall forfeit and lose them all.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly,.... Or happiness in his children, so some in Bar Tzemach; rather shall have no satisfaction in his substance; though his belly is filled with hid treasure, it shall give him no contentment; he shall be a stranger to that divine art, but ever have a restless craving after more, which is his sin; but rather punishment is here meant, and the sense is, that he shall have no quiet in his conscience, no peace of mind, because of his sin in getting riches in an unlawful way:

he shall not save of that which he desired; of his desirable things, his goods, his wealth, his riches, and even his children, all being gone, and none saved; respect may be had particularly to Job's case, who was stripped of everything, of all his substance and his children.

Geneva Study Bible

Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, he shall not save of that which he desired.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

20. quietness in his belly] Rather as above. The belly is the seat of appetite; the words mean, because he felt and displayed a restless insatiable greediness.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 20. - Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly; rather, became he knew no quietness in his belly or within him (see the Revised Version); i.e. because his greed and his rapacity were insatiable - he was never at rest, but continually oppressed and plundered the poor more and more (see the comment on ver. 19). He shall not save of that which he desired; or, he shall not save aught of that wherein he delighteth (see the Revised Version). For his oppression, for his violence, for his insatiable greed, he shall be punished by retaining nothing of all those delightful things which he had laid up for himself during the time that he was powerful and prosperous Job 20:20

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

17 He shall not delight himself in streams,

Like to rivers and brooks of honey and cream.

18 Giving back that for which he laboured, he shall not swallow it;

He shall not rejoice according to the riches he hath gotten.

19 Because he cast down, let the destitute lie helpless;

He shall not, in case he hath seized a house, finish building it.

20 Because he knew no rest in his craving,

He shall not be able to rescue himself with what he most loveth.

As poets sing of the aurea aetas of the paradise-like primeval age: Flumina jam lactis, jam flumina nectaris ibant,

(Note: Ovid, Metam. i. 112, comp. Virgil, Ecl. iv. 30:

Et durae quercus sudabant roscida mella;

and Horace, Epod. xvi. 47

Mella cava manant ex ilice, montibus altis

Levis crepante lympha desilit pede.)

continued...