a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
multiplied
יִרְבּ֣וּyir.Bu
H7235
to increase (in whatever respect) · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
for
לְמוֹle.mov-
H3926
to or for · preposition
sword
חָ֑רֶבCha.rev
H2719
drought · noun, common feminine singular absolute
offspring
וְ֝צֶאֱצָאָ֗יוve.tze.'e.tza.'Av
H6631
issue · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
satisfied
יִשְׂבְּעוּyis.be.'u-
H7646
to sate · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
bread
לָֽחֶםLa.chem
H3899
food (for man or beast) · 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
Deuteronomy 28:41 Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them; for they shall go into captivity.
Job 20:10 His children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods.
Luke 23:29 For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which nev…
Deuteronomy 28:32 Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day long: a…
1 Samuel 2:5 They that were full have hired out themselves for bread; and they that were hungry ceased: so that the barren hath born seven; and she that…
2 Kings 9:7-8 And thou shalt smite the house of Ahab thy master, that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servant…
2 Kings 10:6-10 Then he wrote a letter the second time to them, saying, If ye be mine, and if ye will hearken unto my voice, take ye the heads of the men yo…
Esther 5:11 And Haman told them of the glory of his riches, and the multitude of his children, and all the things wherein the king had promoted him, and…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 27:11–end
Job's friends had seen a great deal of the misery and destruction that attend wicked people, especially oppressors; and Job, while the heat of disputation lasted, had said as much, and with as much assurance, of their prosperity; but now that the heat of the battle was nearly over he was willing to own how far he agreed with them, and where the difference between his opinion and theirs lay. 1. He agreed with them that wicked people are miserable people, that God will surely reckon with cruel oppressors, and one time or other, one way or other, his justice will make reprisals upon them for all the affronts they have put upon God and all the wrongs they have done to their neighbours. This trut…
His family only increases to perish by sword or famine (Jer 18:21; Job 5:20, the converse).
John Gill on Job 27:14
If his children be multiplied,.... As it is possible they may; this is one external blessing common to good men and bad men. Haman, that proud oppressor, left ten sons behind him, and wicked Ahab had seventy, Esther 9:12,
it is for the sword; for them that kill with the sword, as the Targum; to be killed with it, as in the two instances above; Haman's ten sons were slain by the sword of the Jews, Esther 9:13, and Ahab's seventy sons by the sword of Jehu, or those he ordered to slay them, 2 Kings 10:7. The children of such wicked persons are oftentimes put to death, either by the sword of the enemy, fall in battle in an hostile way, which is one of God's four sore judgments, Ezekiel 14:21; o…
13 This is the lot of the wicked man with God,
And the heritage of the violent which they receive from the Almighty:
14 If his children multiply, it is for the sword,
And his offspring have not bread enough.
15 His survivors shall be buried by the pestilence,
And his widows shall not weep.
16 If he heapeth silver together as dust,
And prepareth garments for himself as mire:
17 He prepareth it, and the righteous clothe themselves,
And the innocent divide the silver among themselves.
18 He hath built as a moth his house,
And as a hut that a watchman setteth up.
We have already had the combination אדם רשׁע for אישׁ רשׁע in Job 20:29; it is a favourite expression in Proverbs, and reminds one of…
The Church Fathers
"If his sons are many, they will be put to death. He calls his sons those who imitate him, and seek to seduce, propagating the false teachings of perdition. "And if they grow up, it will be in misery," that is to say, if they strengthen themselves in error, they will be unhappy; and their vanity will not be able to satisfy them.
He describes what is likely to happen to the ungodly. Admittedly, things do not always go in this manner for them. Some of them, indeed, preserve their prosperity until the end of their life, as he himself, in his quandary, has taught his friends in the previous chapters. Therefore, he calls "slaughter" the kind of death that is inflicted by enemies, and "death" the one that comes suddenly and prematurely.
If his children be multiplied, it is in the sword; and his grandchildren shall not be satisfied with bread. The title of the 'ungodly' is not without meaning given to heretics, who through the erroneousness of false doctrine are far removed from the knowledge of the truth; whom in the words following he calls 'violent' as well, as being persons who set themselves to wrest by violence to a wrong meaning the sentences of Holy Scripture containing right articles of doctrine. And so they are 'violent' if not in the goods of men, at all events in the senses of precepts. But the 'sons of violent men', are the followers of heretics, who while they consent to their error, are as it were engendered by their preaching. But while being 'multiplied' 'they shall' be in the sword,' for though now they grow up in an immense multitude in a ruinous liberty, yet they are smitten by the sentence of the Judge to come, Whence the Lord saith by Moses, My sword shall devour flesh. For 'the sword of God devours flesh,' because in the Final Judgment His sentence destroys those, who are carnally wise. On which point it is to be made out why it should be said that the wicked 'receive this portion' and inheritance of theirs from the Almighty? Yet to those taking a right view it is plain that though they had it from themselves to act unjustly, yet it comes before the Equity Above, what is unjustly done justly to judge; so that the sentence of God should orderly appoint for punishment those whom their ill-ordered conduct drew into sin. For 'the grandchildren' of Heretics are they that are born by the preaching of children in error. And these 'bread fails to satisfy;' because while in the provender of the sacred Word they seek to perceive more than they take in, they are ever a hungering to the knowledge of the truth; and the preachings of instruction, which they are busy to seek for questioning, they are incapable of having for refreshment.
Dictionary and topics
Hypocrisy · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Rich, The · 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).
Some interpreters see a new speech here and ascribe it to Zophar because otherwise Zophar has no speech in this cycle.
Rashi on Job 27:14
If his sons increase they will increase for the sword. in death They will die amidst suffering and sicknesses, until his widows will be happy at their death and will not weep.
