Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 20:12
Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, [though] he hide it under his tongue;
12. Sin is spoken of under the figure of a dainty which tickles the palate, and which one retains and turns in his mouth with delight.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
12 22. His sin changes into his punishment.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth – Though he has pleasure in committing it, as he has in pleasant food. The sense of this and the following verses is, that though a man may have pleasure in indulgence in sin, and may find happiness of a certain kind in it, yet that the consequences will be bitter – as if the food which he ate should become like gall, and he should cast it up with loathing. There are many sins which, from the laws of our nature, are attended with a kind of pleasure. Such, for illustration, are the sins of gluttony and of intemperance in drinking; the sins of ambition and vanity; the sins of amusement and of fashionable life. To such we give the name of pleasures. We do not speak of them as happiness. That is a word which would not express their nature. It denotes rather substantial, solid, permanent joy – such joy as the pleasures of sin for a season do not furnish. It is this temporary pleasure which the lovers of vanity, fashion and dress, seek, and which, it cannot be denied, they often find. As long ago as the time of Zophar, it was admitted that such pleasure might be found in some forms of sinful indulgence and yet even in his time that was seen, which all subsequent observation has proved true, that such indulgence must lead to bitter results.
Though he hide it under his tongue – It is from this passage, probably, that we have derived the phrase, to roll sin as a sweet morsel under the tongue, which is often quoted as if it were a part of Scripture. The meaning here is, that a man would find pleasure in sin, and would seek to prolong it, as one does the pleasure of eating that which is grateful to the palate by holding it long in the mouth, or by placing it under the tongue.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Job 20:12-14
Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth.
The woe of the wicked
I. The disposition of a wicked man in regard to sin.
1. His complacency in it. It is sweet to his mouth. A metaphor taken from natural food, which is pleasing and delightful to the taste, which is seated in the mouth or palate. So is sin to the carnal heart. It is very sweet and refreshing to it. Especially in the first embracing or entertaining of it. The ground hereof is this. It is suitable and connatural to him. We may judge of the delight which a wicked person has in sin, by the measure of a gracious persons delight in goodness. Satan enlarges and advances things to them, and makes them seem greater than they are.
2. His concealment of it. He hides it under his tongue. This wicked persons do, either by speaking for sin, or by speaking against it. They speak for it by denying it, or diminishing it, or defending it.
3. His indulgence or favourableness towards it. He spares it, and does not forsake it. He spares it, as to matter of search and inquiry; as to matter of resistance and opposition; as to matter of expulsion, and ejection, and mortification. He does not forsake it. He never forsakes his sin, till his sin forsake him, and he can keep it no longer. A man cannot be said to forsake any sin in particular, who does not forsake the way of sin in general.
II. The effect of sin to a wicked man. Yet his meat, etc. In the general, His meat within his bowels is turned. In the particular, It is as the gall of asps within him. This figure represents the bitterness and the perniciousness of sin. Use and improvement.
1. Beware of being taken with any sinful way or course whatsoever, from the seeming sweetness that is in it.
2. Do not please thyself in the covering and concealing of sin.
3. Or in self-security and presumption.
4. Use Christian prudence to see the plague afar off, to hide yourselves from it. (T. Horton, D.D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 12. Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth] This seems to refer to the secret sins mentioned above.
Hide it under his tongue] This and the four following verses contain an allegory; and the reference is to a man who, instead of taking wholesome food, takes what is poisonous, and is so delighted with it because it is sweet, that he rolls it under his tongue, and will scarcely let it down into his stomach, he is so delighted with the taste; “he spares it, and forsakes it not, but keeps it still within his mouth,” Job 20:13. “But when he swallows it, it is turned to the gall of asps within him,” Job 20:14, which shall corrode and torture his bowels.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
In his mouth, i.e. to his taste, though it greatly please him for the present.
Though he hide it under his tongue; as an epicure doth a sweet morsel, which he is loth to swallow, and therefore keeps and rolls it about his mouth that he may longer enjoy the pleasure of it: though he be highly pleased with his lusts, and cleave to them in hearty love, and resolve to hold them fast, and improve them to the greatest delight and advantage.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
12. be“taste sweet.“Sin’s fascination is like poison sweet to the taste, but at lastdeadly to the vital organs (Pro 20:17;Job 9:17; Job 9:18).
hide . . . tongueseekto prolong the enjoyment by keeping the sweet morsel long in themouth (so Job 20:13).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth,…. Which may respect some particular sin, and by the context it seems to be the sin of covetousness, or of getting riches in an unlawful way, which is very sweet and pleasing to wicked men, while they are in such pursuits that succeed; and so Mr. Broughton renders it by “wrong”; though it may be applied to sin in general, which is “wickedness”, or an evil q, being contrary to the pure and holy nature, will, and law of God; and it is evil in its effects on men, it having deprived them of the image and glory of God, and exposed them to his wrath, to the curses of his law, and to eternal deaths. Now this is “sweet” to an unregenerate man, who minds and savours the things of the flesh, whose taste is not changed, but is as it was from his birth, and who calls sweet bitter, and bitter sweet; such a man has the same delight in sin as a man has in his food, drinks up iniquity like water, and commits sin with greediness; for it is natural to him, he is conceived, born, and brought up in it; besides, some sins are what are more particularly called constitution sins, which some are peculiarly addicted to, and in which they take a peculiar delight and pleasure; these are like the right hand or right eye, and they cannot be persuaded, at any rate, to part with them:
[though] he hide it under his tongue; not for the sake of concealing it, nor by denying, dissembling, or excusing it, but for the sake of enjoying more pleasure in it; as a gluttonous man, when he has got a sweet morsel in his mouth, do not let it go down his throat immediately, but rolls it under his tongue, that he may have all the pleasure of it he can; so a wicked man devises sin in his heart, keeps it on his mind, revolves it in his thoughts, and his meditation on it is sweet; and he is so far from hiding it from others, that he openly declares it, freely tells of it, and takes pleasure in so doing: “fools make a mock at sin”; it is their diversion and recreation.
q “malum”, Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, &c.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
12 If wickedness tasted sweet in his mouth,
He hid it under his tongue;
13 He carefully cherished it and did not let it go,
And retained it in his palate:
14 His bread is now changed in his bowels,
It is the gall of vipers within him.
15 He hath swallowed down riches and now he spitteth them out,
God shall drive them out of his belly.
16 He sucked in the poison of vipers,
The tongue of the adder slayeth him.
The evil-doer is, in Job 20:12, likened to an epicure; he keeps hold of wickedness as long as possible, like a delicate morsel that is retained in the mouth (Renan: comme un bonbon qu’on laisse fondre dans la bouche ), and seeks to enjoy it to the very last. , to make sweet, has here the intransitive signification dulcescere , Ew. 122, c. , to remove from sight, signifies elsewhere to destroy, here to conceal (as the Piel, Job 6:10; Job 15:18). , to spare, is construed with , which is usual with verbs of covering and protecting. The conclusion of the hypothetical antecedent clauses begins with Job 20:14; the perf. (with Kametz by Athnach) describes the suddenness of the change; the which follows is not equivalent to (Luther: His food shall be turned to adder’s gall in his body), but Job 20:14 expresses the result of the change in a substantival clause. The bitter and poisonous are synonymous in the ancient languages; hence we find the meanings poison and gall (Job 20:25) in , and signifies both a poisonous plant which is known by its bitterness, and the poison of plants like to the poison of serpents (Job 20:16; Deu 32:33). (Job 20:15) is property, without the accompanying notion of forcible acquisition (Hirz.), which, on the contrary, is indicated by the . The following fut. consec. is here not aor., but expressive of the inevitable result which the performance of an act assuredly brings: he must vomit back the property which he has swallowed down; God casts it out of his belly, i.e., (which is implied in , expellere ) forcibly, and therefore as by the pains of colic. The lxx, according to whose taste the mention of God here was contrary to decorum, trans. (read , according to Cod. Alex.) (Theod. ). The perf., Job 20:15, is in Job 20:16 changed into the imperf. fut. , which more strongly represents the past action as that which has gone before what is now described; and the , fut. which follows, describes the consequence which is necessarily and directly involved in it. Psa 140:4 may be compared with Job 20:16, Pro 23:32 with Job 20:16. He who sucked in the poison of low desire with a relish, will meet his punishment in that in which he sinned: he is destroyed by the poisonous deadly bite of the serpent, for the punishment of sin is fundamentally nothing but the nature of sin itself brought fully out.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(12) Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth.He draws a picture of the wicked man after the pattern of a gourmand or glutton, which, if it were intended to apply to Job, was a fresh instance of heartless cruelty, as well as of an entire want of discernment of character, and of unfitness for the office of judge he was so ready to assume. It is possible that the reproach here aimed at Job was that of inordinate love of riches, which Zophar extracts from the bare fact of his having been a wealthy man.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Job 20:12 Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, [though] he hide it under his tongue;
Ver. 12. Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth ] As poison swallowed in some pleasing meat or drink. Agrippina, in poisoning her husband, Claudius the emperor, tempered it in meat he most delighted in. Poison given in wine works more furiously, as did that wassail The liquor in which healths were drunk; esp. the spiced ale used in Twelfth-night and Christmas-eve celebrations. the monk drank to King John of England. That wickedness with a witness here meant is oppression, and is said to be held in the mouth, and hid under the tongue, as some think, because it is oft covered with godly speeches, whereby he seeketh to circumvent and deceive his neighbour. Others by these expressions will have understood continuance in sin and complacency therein, rolling it under his tongue, as a child doth a piece of sugar, which he is loth to part with, and retaining it a long time in his mouth, that he may taste it with more pleasure. Philoxenus wished his neck were as long as a crane’s, that he might the longer keep the taste of his sweetmeats and dainty morsels. Such is the wicked man’s wish, and his practice is answerable; for under his tongue is mischief and vanity, Psa 10:7 . He licks his lips with the remembrance of his former sins, and so recommitteth them in his desires, at least, while he recalleth former acts with delight. Thus the rebellious Israelites called to mind the flesh-pots of Egypt, and were moved; and thus afterwards they multiplied their whoredoms by calling to remembrance the days of their youth, wherein they had gone a whoring in the land of Egypt, Eze 23:21 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
wickedness. Hebrew. ra’a’. App-44.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Job 20:12-19
Job 20:12-19
“Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth,
Though he hide it under his tongue,
Though he spare it, and will not let it go,
But keep it still within his mouth;
Yet his food in his bowels is turned,
It is the gall of asps within him.
He hath swallowed down riches, and he
shall vomit them up again;
God will cast them out of his belly.
He shall suck the poison of asps;
The viper’s tongue shall slay him.
He shall not look upon the rivers,
The flowing streams of honey and butter.
That which he labored for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down;
According to the substance which he hath gotten, he shall not rejoice.
For he hath oppressed and forsaken the poor;
He hath violently taken away a house, and he shall not build it up.”
“Sweet in his mouth … gall within him” (Job 20:12; Job 20:14). The fruit of evil is not nearly so dramatic and sudden as Zophar stated here. In some instances, the reward of evil will not occur in this life at all, but in the life to come. The thing that Zophar was driving at here was that of denouncing Job, whose disasters indeed came suddenly.
“The viper’s tongue shall slay him” (Job 20:16). Like much of the rest of Zophar’s tirade, this had no relation whatever to truth. It was not the viper’s tongue that killed people; it was its fangs loaded with venom.
“He hath oppressed and forsaken the poor” (Job 20:19). Zophar, of course, means that this is what Job has done. “Job is the culprit upon whom God is wreaking vengeance because of his oppressing the poor.” That, of course, is exactly what Zophar was saying here.
“He hath violently taken away a house, and he shall not build it up” (Job 20:19). From the marginal reference here, we learn that the meaning of the last clause is, “He hath not built it up.” He took a house that was not his, a house he had not built. Zophar here was brutally charging Job with all kinds of sins, without any evidence whatever; he was multiplying his allegations in the hope of hitting something that might have been true.
E.M. Zerr:
Job 20:12-15. This paragraph claims that the sins of Job may have brought him pleasure while committing them, but that afterward they would turn against him. Such was the argument Zophar was making regarding the experiences of Job.
Job 20:16. A man might suck the poison of asps and not realize that anything objectionable would result. Afterwards the effects of the poison would show up in some form, just as the effects of Job’s sins were manifesting themselves in his afflictions.
Job 20:17. The desirable things the wicked man looked for will be denied him; he will not get to see them to enjoy them.
Job 20:18. Shall he restore means he shall not get to keep the fruits of his labor. Instead of retaining the things for his own use, others will possess them.
Job 20:19-20. A glance at the statements of God as to the righteousness of Job (Job 1:8) will show this paragraph to be a false accusation.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
wickedness: Job 15:16, Gen 3:6, Pro 9:17, Pro 9:18, Pro 20:17, Ecc 11:9
he hide: Psa 10:7, Psa 109:17, Psa 109:18
Reciprocal: Gen 27:42 – comfort himself 2Sa 11:6 – Send me 2Sa 12:16 – lay all night Pro 19:28 – the Eze 7:19 – they shall not Act 1:18 – with
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 20:12-14. Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth Though it greatly please him while he is committing it; though he hide it under his tongue As an epicure doth a sweet morsel, which he keeps and rolls about his mouth, that he may longer enjoy the pleasure of it. Though he be highly pleased with the gratification of his lusts, and cleave to his sinful pleasures in hearty love, resolving to hold them fast, and improve them to the greatest delight and advantage; though he spare it Will not part with his sin, but gratifies and obeys his sinful inclinations, instead of subduing and mortifying them; but keeps it still within his mouth That he may enjoy all the sweetness of it. Yet his meat in his bowels is turned From sweet to bitter; it is the gall of asps within him Exceeding bitter and pernicious. Gall is most bitter; the gall of serpents is full of poison; and the poison of asps is most dangerous, and, within a few hours, kills without remedy.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
20:12 Though wickedness be {f} sweet in his mouth, [though] he hide it under his tongue;
(f) As poison that is sweet in the mouth brings destruction when it comes into the body: so all vice at the first is pleasant, but God later turns it to destruction.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The certain punishment of sin 20:12-19
Job 20:16 pictures the wicked eating his delicacies but finding that they have turned to poison in his stomach and are killing him (Job 20:14).
"Sin tastes good in the mouth but creates terrible cramps and nausea in the stomach (Job 20:12-14)." [Note: Merrill, p. 387.]
Ancient Near Easterners considered honey (often date syrup) and curds (the part of milk from which cheese comes) delicacies (cf. Jdg 5:25).