Job 33:20

so that he detests his bread, and his soul loathes his favorite food.

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — Elihu addresses Job, describing the physical toll of divine chastening that occurs while a person lies in bed with constant bone pain.

The words — The Hebrew verb זִהַמַּתּוֹ (zihamatto) literally means "it loathes," paired with נַפְשׁוֹ (nafsho, "his soul/self") to describe a visceral rejection of מַאֲכַל תַּאֲוָה (ma'akhal ta'avah, "food of desire").

The thread — This physiological revulsion toward sustenance parallels Job’s earlier complaint in Job 3:24, while Genesis 3:6 and Psalm 107:17 frame the broader biblical tension between food as a source of desire and food as a marker of affliction.

Why it lands — The text reports a physical rejection of nourishment before drawing any theological conclusion about its cause. It demands that readers recognize how severe affliction can strip away natural appetites without offering immediate comfort.

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

וְזִֽהֲמַ֣תּוּve./zi.ha.Ma.t/uand/ it loathes/ it חַיָּת֣וֹchai.ya.T/olife/ his לָ֑חֶםLa.chembread וְ֝נַפְשׁ֗וֹve./naf.Sh/oand/ self/ his מַאֲכַ֥לma.'a.Khalfood of תַּאֲוָֽה׃ta.'a.Vahdesire

King James Version

So that his life abhorreth bread, and his soul dainty meat.

Cross-references

Job 3:24 I sigh when food is put before me, and my groans pour out like water.
Psalms 107:17 Fools, in their rebellious ways, and through their iniquities, suffered affliction.
Genesis 3:6 When 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 some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.
Jeremiah 3:19 Then I said, ‘How I long to make you My sons and give you a desirable land, the most beautiful inheritance of all the nations!’ I thought you would call Me ‘Father’ and never turn away from following Me.
Amos 5:11 Therefore, 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 lush vineyards you have planted.