Bible Strands
Job 20:18
He must return the fruit of his labor without consuming it; he cannot enjoy the profits of his trading.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Zophar addresses Job within a poetic discourse detailing the inevitable downfall of the wicked. The verse sits between a description of lost comforts in Job 20:17 and a charge of oppression in Job 20:19.
The words — The Hebrew מֵשִׁ֣יב (me.Shiv) literally means "he restores," and יִבְלָ֑ע (yiv.La') means "he swallows." The negation וְלֹא (ve./Lo') grammatically modifies only יִבְלָע, marking the failure to consume what is restored, while the gain (יָגָע) remains the object of the restoration.
The thread — This theme of reversed accumulation appears in Job 20:10, where the wicked man's hands must return his wealth, and Job 20:15, where God forces the swallowed wealth from his stomach. The imagery of swallowing also echoes Proverbs 1:12, where the wicked propose to swallow the upright alive like Sheol.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that unjust accumulation cannot be retained or enjoyed. It requires the reader to accept that divine justice actively reverses the wicked man's trading and forces restitution without personal consumption.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Job 20:10 His sons will seek the favor of the poor, for his own hands must return his wealth.
- Job 20:15 He swallows wealth but vomits it out; God will force it from his stomach.
- Proverbs 1:12 let us swallow them alive like Sheol, and whole like those descending into the Pit.
- 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,
- Jeremiah 51:44 I 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.
- Job 20:5 the triumph of the wicked has been brief and the joy of the godless momentary?
- Job 31:25 if I have rejoiced in my great wealth because my hand had gained so much,
- Job 31:29 If I have rejoiced in my enemy’s ruin, or exulted when evil befell him—
- Isaiah 24:7 The new wine dries up, the vine withers. All the merrymakers now groan.
- Jeremiah 11:15 What right has My beloved in My house, having carried out so many evil schemes? Can consecrated meat avert your doom? When you are wicked, then you rejoice.