elevation · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
up
יַעֲלֶ֣הya.'a.Leh
H5927
to ascend · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
heavens
לַשָּׁמַ֣יִםla.sha.Ma.yim
H8064
the sky (as aloft · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
head
וְ֝רֹאשׁ֗וֹve.ro.Sho
H7218
the head (as most easily shaken) · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
reach
יַגִּֽיעַya.Gi.a'
H5060
properly · verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
clouds
לָעָ֥בla.'Av
H5645
properly · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
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
Isaiah 14:13-14 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount…
Obadiah 1:3-4 The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart…
Genesis 11:4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered a…
Daniel 4:11 The tree grew, and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth:
Daniel 4:22 It is thou, O king, that art grown and become strong: for thy greatness is grown, and reacheth unto heaven, and thy dominion to the end of t…
Amos 9:2 Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down:
Matthew 11:23 And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, ha…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 20:1-9
Here, I. Zophar begins very passionately, and seems to be in a great heat at what Job had said. Being resolved to condemn Job for a bad man, he was much displeased that he talked so like a good man, and, as it should seem, broke in upon him, and began abruptly (Job 20:2): Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer. He takes no notice of what Job had said to move their pity, or to evidence his own integrity, but fastens upon the reproof he gave them in the close of his discourse, counts that a reproach, and thinks himself therefore obliged to answer, because Job had bidden them be afraid of the sword, that he might not seem to be frightened by his menaces. The best counsel is too often ill t…
Though his excellency mount up to the heavens,.... Though, in worldly grandeur and glory, he should arrive to such a pitch as the Assyrian monarch was ambitious of, as to ascend into heaven, exalt his throne above the stars of God, and be like the Most High; or be comparable to such a tree, by which the greatness of Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom is expressed, the height whereof reached unto heaven, Isaiah 14:12;
and his head reach unto the clouds; being lifted up with pride, because of his greatness, and looking with contempt and scorn on others; the Septuagint version is, "if his gifts ascend up to heaven", &c. which well agrees with an hypocrite possessed of great gifts, and proud of them; as…
6 If his aspiration riseth to the heavens,
And he causeth his head to touch the clouds:
7 Like his dung he perisheth for ever;
Those who see him say: Where is he?
8 As a dream he flieth away, and they cannot find him;
And he is scared away as a vision of the night.
9 The eye hath seen him, and never again,
And his place beholdeth him no more.
10 His children must appease the poor,
And his hands give up his wealth.
11 His bones were full of youthful vigour;
Now it is laid down with him in the dust.
If the exaltation of the evil-doer rises to heaven, and he causes his head to reach to the clouds, i.e., to touch the clouds, he notwithstanding perishes like his own dung. We are here reminded of…
The Church Fathers
Ver. 6, 7. Though his pride mount up unto the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds: Yet he shall perish at last like the dunghill. 5. The pride of the hypocrite is said to 'mount up unto the heavens,' when his high-mindedness has the appearance of leading a heavenly life; and his 'head as it were reaches unto the clouds,' when the leading part, i.e. his intellect, is thought to equal the merits of the Saints that have gone before. Yet he 'perishes at last like the dunghill,' because at his death, when he is led to torments, being full of the dung of evil habits, he is trodden under foot of evil spirits. For the joys of the present life, which the unrighteous account great good, righteous men look upon as dung. Whence it is written; A slothful man is stoned with the dung of oxen. [Ecclus. 22, 2] Thus he that will not follow God is made slothful in the love of the life everlasting. And as often as he is stricken with the loss of temporal goods, he is surely troubled on the score of those things, which the righteous look down upon as 'dung:' what else is it with him, then, that is bruised with the buffeting of things earthly, than that he 'is stoned with the dung of oxen' And the hypocrite is justly described like a dunghill, in that while he aims to obtain temporal glory, at one time in the imagination of his heart he swells within himself, at another time he grudges that same glory to some, and laughs at others having it really. For all the evil qualities then that he is full of, his breast as it were is defiled with so much dung, in the eye of the Eternal Judge. Therefore it may be said, Though his pride mount up unto the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds, yet he shall perish at last like the dunghill. Which same, though he feign to lead a heavenly life, though he shew his view of truth to accord with the true preachers, yet he 'perishes like a dunghill in the end,' in that his soul is damned for the stench of his evil qualities. It goes on; They which had seen him shall say, Where is he? 6. It generally happens that the life of the hypocrite is even by all men discovered at the end to be damnable, for it to be made appear by plainer marks now what sort they were of. They then that saw him elate at this present time shall say of him when dead, Where is he? For neither is he seen here where he was elated, nor yet in the rest of eternity,…
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
Ambition · UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO — UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO
Dreams · Illustrative of: Prosperity of sinners — Illustrative of: Prosperity of sinners
Hypocrisy · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
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).
that the triumph of the wicked throughout all its duration, has come but recently, and will not last for any length of time.
and the joy of the flatterers is but a moment in a short time, it will end.
