Job 20:16

Footnotes

1. 29 The word is a homonym for the word for “head,” which has led to some confusion in the early versions.
2. 30 To take the possessions of another person is hereby compared to sucking poison from a serpent—it will kill eventually.
3. 31 Heb “tongue.”
4. 32 Some have thought this verse is a gloss on v. 14 and should be deleted. But the word for “viper” (אֶפְעֶה, ’ef’eh) is a rare word, occurring only here and in Isa 30:6 and 59:5. It is unlikely that a rarer word would be used in a gloss. But the point is similar to v. 14—the wealth that was greedily sucked in by the wicked proves to be their undoing. Either this is totally irrelevant to Job’s case, a general discussion, or the man is raising questions about how Job got his wealth.