Job 20:23

When he is about to fill his belly, God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, and shall rain it upon him while he is eating.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
fill	לְמַלֵּ֬א le.ma.Le'	H4390	to fill or (intransitively) be full of · preposition + verb, piel infinitive construct
belly	בִטְנ֗וֹ vit.No	H990	the belly · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
cast	יְֽשַׁלַּח ye.sha.lach-	H7971	to send away · verb, piel imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
fury	חֲר֣וֹן cha.Ron	H2740	a burning of anger · noun, common masculine singular construct
wrath	אַפּ֑וֹ 'a.Po	H639	properly · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
rain	וְיַמְטֵ֥ר ve.yam.Ter	H4305	to rain · conjunction + verb, hiphil jussive, 3rd person masculine singular
eating	בִּלְחוּמֽוֹ bil.chu.Mo	H3894	properly · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Psalms 78:30-31 They were not estranged from their lust. But while their meat was yet in their mouths,
Numbers 11:33 And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD smote…
Genesis 19:24 Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;
Exodus 9:23 And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; and the LORD ra…
Psalms 11:6 Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup.
Isaiah 21:4 My heart panted, fearfulness affrighted me: the night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear unto me.
Malachi 2:2 If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the LORD of hosts, I will even send a curse upon…
Luke 12:17-20 And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Job 20:23–end

Zophar, having described the many embarrassments and vexations which commonly attend the wicked practices of oppressors and cruel men, here comes to show their utter ruin at last. I. Their ruin will take its rise from God's wrath and vengeance, Job 20:23. The hand of the wicked was upon him (Job 20:22), every hand of the wicked. His hand was against every one, and therefore every man's hand will be against him. Yet, in grappling with these, he might go near to make his part good; but his heart cannot endure, nor his hands be strong, when God shall deal with him (Eze 22:14), when God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him and rain it upon him. Every word here speaks terror. It is not only…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Job 20:23

Rather, "God shall cast (may God send) [UMBREIT] upon him the fury of His wrath to fill his belly!" while . . . eating--rather, "shall rain it upon him for his food!" Fiery rain, that is, lightning (Psa 11:6; alluding to Job's misfortune, Job 1:16). The force of the image is felt by picturing to one's self the opposite nature of a refreshing rain in the desert (Exo 16:4; Psa 68:9).

John Gill on Job 20:23

When he is about to fill his belly,.... Either in a literal sense, when he is about to take an ordinary meal to satisfy nature; or in a figurative sense, when he is seeking to increase his worldly riches, and his barns and coffers, and endeavouring to get satisfaction therein: God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him; or "send it out on him" (c); out of the treasures of it, which are laid up with him, Deuteronomy 32:34; into his conscience, and fill him with a dreadful sense and apprehension of it, and that with great force and violence, and cast it, and pour it on him like fire, or any scalding liquor, which is very terrible and intolerable. This intends the indignation of God against…

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Keil & Delitzsch on Job 20:21-25

The Church Fathers

"Can he even satisfy his appetite? He will fall into such misery that he will no longer know whether he will be able to satisfy his appetite. and yet these foods are only sought to appease hunger. This language means that the more man possesses, the more he desires. "And he will bring down upon him the fire of his wrath," because he did not see him perform good works.
— Augustine of Hippo, ANNOTATIONS ON THE BOOK OF JOB (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Ver. 23. Would that his belly might be filled, that God might cast the fury of His wrath upon him, and rain His war upon him. 29. The Lord 'rains His war' upon this hypocrite, when he smites his deeds with the swords of His judgments. Thus for God to 'rain war,' is His pressing hard to destruction the life of the wicked man by His strict sentences from on high. God 'raining war' is His smiting the hearts that are lifted up against Himself, and His wounding the blasted soul with the darts of His judgments, as with a kind of thickening drops of rain, that when he is now carried off to judgment, one while he should remind himself how he coveted wickedly, and more wickedly set himself to heap together the things he coveted, at another time grieve that he is parted from the things thus heaped together, and one day feel the very fire of retribution, which, that he might not live well, he was too indifferent to foresee.
— Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XV

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Fury — As attributed to God, is a figurative expression for dispensing afflictive judgments (Lev. 26:28; Job 20:23; Isa. 63:3; Jer. 4:4; Ezek. 5:13; Dan. 9:16; Zech. 8:2).
Rain · Illustrative: (Destructive,) of God’s judgments — Illustrative: (Destructive,) of God’s judgments
Worldliness · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Job 20:23

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Job 20:23–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Job 20:23

John Gill on Job 20:23

Keil & Delitzsch on Job 20:21-25

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Job 20:23

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Job 20:23–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Job 20:23

John Gill on Job 20:23

Keil & Delitzsch on Job 20:21-25

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Job 20:20

Rashi on Job 20:23