Job 20:16

Amplified Bible

"He sucks the poison of vipers [which ill-gotten wealth contains]; The viper's tongue slays him.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
He will suck the poison of cobras;a viper’s fangs will kill him.

Hebrew Names Version
He shall suck cobra venom. The viper's tongue shall kill him.

King James Version
He shall suck the poison of asps: the viper's tongue shall slay him.

English Standard Version
He will suck the poison of cobras; the tongue of a viper will kill him.

New Century Version
They will suck the poison of snakes, and the snake's fangs will kill them.

New English Translation
He sucks the poison of serpents; the fangs of a viper kill him.

New American Standard Bible
"He sucks the poison of cobras; The viper's tongue kills him.

World English Bible
He shall suck cobra venom. The viper's tongue shall kill him.

Geneva Bible (1587)
He shall sucke the gall of Aspes, and the vipers tongue shall slay him.

Legacy Standard Bible
He sucks the poison of cobras;The viper's tongue kills him.

Berean Standard Bible
He will suck the poison of cobras; the fangs of a viper will kill him.

Contemporary English Version
They will die from the fangs of poisonous snakes

Complete Jewish Bible
He sucks the poison of asps, the viper's fangs will kill him.

Darby Translation
He shall suck the poison of asps; the viper's tongue shall kill him.

Easy-to-Read Version
What he drank will be like a snake's poison; it will kill him like the bite of a deadly snake.

George Lamsa Translation
He shall suck the poison of asps; the tongue of an adder shall slay him.

Good News Translation
What the evil people swallow is like poison; it kills them like the bite of a deadly snake.

Lexham English Bible
He will suck the poison of horned vipers; the viper's tongue will kill him.

Literal Translation
He shall suck the poison of asps; the viper's tongue shall slay him.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
The serpentes heade shall sucke him, and the adders tonge shall slaye him:

American Standard Version
He shall suck the poison of asps: The viper's tongue shall slay him.

Bible in Basic English
He takes the poison of snakes into his mouth, the tongue of the snake is the cause of his death.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
He shall suck the poison of asps; the viper's tongue shall slay him.

King James Version (1611)
He shall sucke the poison of Aspes: the vipers tongue shall slay him.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
He shall sucke the gall of serpentes, and the adders tongue shall slay him:

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And let him suck the poison of serpents, and let the serpent’s tongue slay him.

English Revised Version
He shall suck the poison of asps: the viper's tongue shall slay him.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
He schal souke the heed of snakis; and the tunge of an addre schal sle hym.

Update Bible Version
He shall suck the poison of cobras: The viper's tongue shall slay him.

Webster's Bible Translation
He shall suck the poison of asps: the viper's tongue shall slay him.

New King James Version
He will suck the poison of cobras; The viper's tongue will slay him.

New Living Translation
They will suck the poison of cobras. The viper will kill them.

New Life Bible
He will drink the poison of snakes. The snake's tongue will kill him.

New Revised Standard
They will suck the poison of asps; the tongue of a viper will kill them.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
The poison of adders, shall he suck, The tongue of the viper shall slay him;

Douay-Rheims Bible
He shall suck the head of asps, and the viper’s tongue shall kill him.

Revised Standard Version
He will suck the poison of asps; the tongue of a viper will kill him.

Young's Literal Translation
Gall of asps he sucketh, Slay him doth the tongue of a viper.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"He sucks the poison of cobras; The viper's tongue slays him.

Contextual Overview

¹⁰"His sons favor the poor [and pay his obligations], And his hands give back his [ill-gotten] wealth. ¹¹"His bones are full of youthful strength But it lies down with him in the dust. ¹²"Though evil and wickedness are sweet in his mouth And he hides it under his tongue, ¹³Though he desires it and will not let it go But holds it in his mouth, ¹⁴Yet his food turns [to poison] in his stomach; It is the venom of vipers within him. ¹⁵"He swallows [his ill-gotten] riches, But will vomit them up; God will drive them out of his belly. ¹⁶"He sucks the poison of vipers [which ill-gotten wealth contains]; The viper's tongue slays him.¹⁷"He does not look at the rivers, The flowing streams of honey and butter [to enjoy his wealth]. ¹⁸"He gives back what he has labored for and attained And cannot swallow it [down to enjoy it]; As to the riches of his labor, He cannot even enjoy them. ¹⁹"For he has oppressed and neglected the poor; He has violently taken away houses which he did not build.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the poison: Romans 3:13

the viper's: Isaiah 30:6, Matthew 3:7, Acts 28:3-6

Reciprocal: Job 20:14 - the gall Psalms 58:4 - the deaf

Cross-References

Genesis 20:3
But God came to Abimelech in a dream during the night, and said, "Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken [as your wife], for she is another man's wife."

Genesis 20:5
"Did Abraham not tell me, 'She is my sister?' And she herself said, 'He is my brother.' In the integrity of my heart and innocence of my hands I have done this."

Genesis 20:6
Then God said to him in the dream, "Yes, I know you did this in the integrity of your heart, for it was I who kept you back and spared you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not give you an opportunity to touch her.

Genesis 20:8
So Abimelech got up early in the morning and called all his servants and told them all these things; and the men were terrified.

Genesis 20:9
Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, "What have you done to us? And how have I offended you that you have brought on me and my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me what ought not to be done [to anyone]."

Genesis 24:65
She said to the servant, "Who is that man there walking across the field to meet us?" And the servant said, "He is my master [Isaac]." So she took a veil and covered herself [as was customary].

Genesis 26:11
Then Abimelech commanded all his people, "Whoever touches this man [Isaac] or his wife [Rebekah] shall without exception be put to death."

Proverbs 12:1
Whoever loves instruction and discipline loves knowledge, But he who hates reproof and correction is stupid.

Proverbs 25:12
Like an earring of gold and an ornament of fine gold Is a wise reprover to an ear that listens and learns.

Proverbs 27:5
Better is an open reprimand [of loving correction] Than love that is hidden.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

He shall suck the poison of asps,.... Or "the head of asps" u; for their poison lies in their heads, particularly in their "teeth" w; or rather is a liquor in the gums, yellow like oil x; according to Pliny y, in copulation the male puts his head into the mouth of the female, which she sucks and gnaws off through the sweetness of the pleasure, then conceives her young, which eat out her belly; this is to be understood not of the man's sin, then it would have been expressed either in the past or present tense, as if that was sweet unto him in the commission of it, sucked in like milk from the breast, or honey from the honeycomb; such were his contrivances and artful methods, and the success of them in getting riches, but in the issue proved like the poison of asps, pernicious and deadly to him, which caused him to vomit them up again; for poison excites vomiting: but of the punishment of his sin; for putting men to death by the poison of asps was a punishment inflicted by some people upon malefactors; and however, it is certain death, and immediately and quickly dispatches, and without sense; so the wages of sin is death, and there is no avoiding it, and it comes insensibly on carnal men; they are not aware of it, and in no pain about it, until in hell they lift up their eyes as the rich man did:

the viper's tongue shall slay him; though it is with its teeth it bites, yet, when it is about to bite, it puts out its tongue, and to it its poison is sometimes ascribed; though it is said z to be quite harmless, and therefore not to be understood in a literal sense, but figuratively of the tongue of a detractor, a calumniator and false accuser, such an one as Doeg; but cannot be the sense here, since the fall of the person here described would not be by any such means; but the phrase, as before, denotes the certain and immediate death of such a wicked man; for the bite of a viper was always reckoned incurable, and issued in sudden death, see Acts 28:3.

u ראש פתנים "caput aspidum", V. L. Montanus. w Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 11. c. 37. Aelian. Hist. Animal. l. 9. c. 4. x Philosoph. Transact. ut supra. (abridged, vol. 2. p. 819.) y Ib. c. 62. z Scheuchzer, ut supra, (Physic. Sacr. vol. 4.) p. 712.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

He shall suck the poison of asps - That which he swallowed as pleasant nutriment, shall become the most deadly poison; or the consequence shall be as if he had sucked the poison of asps. It would seem that the ancients regarded the poison of the serpent as deadly, however, it was taken into the system. They seem not to have been aware that the poison of a wound may be sucked out without injury to him who does it; and that it is necessary that the poison should mingle with the blood to be fatal.

The viper’s tongue shall slay him - The early impression probably was, that the injury done by a serpent was by the fiery, forked, and brandished tongue, which was supposed to be sharp and penetrating. It is now known, that the injury is done by the poison ejected through a groove, or orifice in one of the teeth, which is so made as to lie flat on the roof of the mouth, except when the serpent bites, when that tooth is elevated, and penetrates the flesh. The word “viper” here (אפעה 'eph‛eh), “viper,” is probably the same species of serpent that is known among the Arabs by the same name still - El Effah. See the notes at Isaiah 30:6. It is the most common and venomous of the serpent tribe in Northern Africa and in South-western Asia. It is remarkable for its quick and penetrating poison. It is about two feet long, as thick as a man’s arm, beautifully spotted with yellow and brown, and sprinkled over with blackish specks. They have a large mouth, by which they inhale a large quantity of air, and when inflated therewith, they eject it with such force as to be heard a considerable distance. “Jackson.” Capt. Riley, in his “Authentic Narrative,” (New York, 1817,) confirms this account. He describes the viper as the “most beautiful object in nature,” and says that the poison is so virulent as to cause death in fifteen minutes.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 20:16. He shall suck the poison of asps — That delicious morsel, that secret, easily-besetting sin, so palatable, and so pleasurable, shall act on the life of his soul, as the poison of asps would do on the life of his body.

The poison is called the gall of asps, it being anciently supposed that the poison of serpents consists in their gall, which is thought to be copiously exuded when those animals are enraged; as it has been often seen that their bite is not poisonous when they are not angry. Pliny, in speaking of the various parts of animals, Hist. Nat. lib. xi., c. 37, states, from this circumstance, that in the gall, the poison of serpents consists; ne quis miretur id (fel) venenum esse serpentum. And in lib. xxviii., c. 9, he ranks the gall of horses among the poisons: Damnatur (fel) equinum tantum inter venena. We see, therefore, that the gall was considered to be the source whence the poison of serpents was generated, not only in Arabia, but also in Italy.