Lectionary Calendar
Tuesday, April 29th, 2025
the Second Week after Easter
Attention!
StudyLight.org has pledged to help build churches in Uganda. Help us with that pledge and support pastors in the heart of Africa.
Click here to join the effort!

Read the Bible

Good News Translation

Job 20:14

But in their stomachs the food turns bitter, as bitter as any poison could be.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Asp;   Gall;   Hypocrisy;   Pleasure;   Sin;   Wicked (People);   Worldliness;   Thompson Chain Reference - Gall;   The Topic Concordance - Oppression;   Wickedness;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Afflictions of the Wicked, the;   Asp, or Adder;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Asp;   Gall;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Greatness of God;   Hypocrisy;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Asp;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Gall;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Asp;   Job, the Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Gall;   Medicine;   Serpent;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Asp;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Adder;   Asp;   Gall;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Asp;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Gall;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Asp;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Asp;   Gall;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
yet the food in his stomach turnsinto cobras’ venom inside him.
Hebrew Names Version
Yet his food in his bowels is turned. It is cobra venom within him.
King James Version
Yet his meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him.
English Standard Version
yet his food is turned in his stomach; it is the venom of cobras within him.
New Century Version
But their food will turn sour in their stomachs, like the poison of a snake inside them.
New English Translation
his food is turned sour in his stomach; it becomes the venom of serpents within him.
Amplified Bible
Yet his food turns [to poison] in his stomach; It is the venom of vipers within him.
New American Standard Bible
Yet his food in his stomach is changed To the venom of cobras within him.
World English Bible
Yet his food in his bowels is turned. It is cobra venom within him.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Then his meat in his bowels was turned: the gall of Aspes was in the middes of him.
Legacy Standard Bible
Yet his food in his stomach is changedTo the venom of cobras within him.
Berean Standard Bible
yet his food will sour in his stomach to the venom of cobras within him.
Contemporary English Version
But their food will turn sour and poison their stomachs.
Complete Jewish Bible
yet in his stomach his food goes bad, it works inside him like snake venom;
Darby Translation
His food is turned in his bowels; it is the gall of asps within him.
Easy-to-Read Version
But that evil will turn sour in his stomach. It will be like a snake's bitter poison inside him.
George Lamsa Translation
Yet his food in his stomach is turned, it is the gall of asps within him.
Lexham English Bible
in his bowels his food is turned, the venom of horned vipers is within him.
Literal Translation
yet his food in his belly shall be turned; the gall of asps is within him.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
The meate that he eateth, shalbe turned to the poyson of serpetes within his body.
American Standard Version
Yet his food in his bowels is turned, It is the gall of asps within him.
Bible in Basic English
His food becomes bitter in his stomach; the poison of snakes is inside him.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Yet his food in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him.
King James Version (1611)
Yet his meate in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of Aspes within him.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
The bread that he did eate, is turned to the poyson of serpentes within his bodye.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
yet he shall not at all be able to help himself; the gall of an asp is in his belly.
English Revised Version
Yet his meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
His breed in his wombe schal be turned in to galle of snakis withynne.
Update Bible Version
Yet his food in his insides is turned, It is the gall of cobras inside him.
Webster's Bible Translation
[Yet] his food in his bowels is turned, [it is] the gall of asps within him.
New King James Version
Yet his food in his stomach turns sour; It becomes cobra venom within him.
New Living Translation
But suddenly the food in their bellies turns sour, a poisonous venom in their stomach.
New Life Bible
Yet his food in his stomach is changed to the poison of snakes inside him.
New Revised Standard
yet their food is turned in their stomachs; it is the venom of asps within them.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
His food, in his stomach, is changed, the gall of adders, within him!
Douay-Rheims Bible
His bread in his belly shall be turned into the gall of asps within him,
Revised Standard Version
yet his food is turned in his stomach; it is the gall of asps within him.
Young's Literal Translation
His food in his bowels is turned, The bitterness of asps [is] in his heart.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Yet his food in his stomach is changed To the venom of cobras within him.

Contextual Overview

10 and their children will make good what they stole from the poor. 11 Their bodies used to be young and vigorous, but soon they will turn to dust. 12Evil tastes so good to them that they keep some in their mouths to enjoy its flavor. < 14 But in their stomachs the food turns bitter, as bitter as any poison could be. 15 The wicked vomit up the wealth they stole; God takes it back, even out of their stomachs. 16 What the evil people swallow is like poison; it kills them like the bite of a deadly snake. 17 They will not live to see rivers of olive oil or streams that flow with milk and honey. 18 They will have to give up all they have worked for; they will have no chance to enjoy their wealth, 19 because they oppressed and neglected the poor and seized houses someone else had built. 20 Their greed is never satisfied.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

his meat: 2 Samuel 11:2-5, 2 Samuel 12:10, 2 Samuel 12:11, Psalms 32:3, Psalms 32:4, Psalms 38:1-8, Psalms 51:8, Psalms 51:9, Proverbs 1:31, Proverbs 23:20, Proverbs 23:21, Proverbs 23:29-35, Jeremiah 2:19, Malachi 2:2

the gall: Job 20:16, Deuteronomy 32:24, Romans 3:13

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 32:33 - the poison Psalms 58:4 - the deaf Acts 8:23 - the gall

Cross-References

Genesis 12:16
Because of her the king treated Abram well and gave him flocks of sheep and goats, cattle, donkeys, slaves, and camels.
Genesis 20:2
he said that his wife Sarah was his sister. So King Abimelech of Gerar had Sarah brought to him.
Genesis 20:7
But now, give the woman back to her husband. He is a prophet, and he will pray for you, so that you will not die. But if you do not give her back, I warn you that you are going to die, you and all your people."
Genesis 20:11
Abraham answered, "I thought that there would be no one here who has reverence for God and that they would kill me to get my wife.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

[Yet] his meat in his bowels is turned,.... Or "his bread" r, to which sin is compared, being what the sinner lives in, and lives upon; what he strengthens himself in and with, and by which he is nourished unto the day of slaughter, and by means of which he grows and proceeds to more ungodliness, though in the issue he comes into starving and famishing circumstances; for this is bread of deceit, and proves to be ashes and gravel stones; it promises pleasure, profit, liberty, and impunity, but is all the reverse; as meat turns in a man's stomach when it does not digest in him, or rather his stomach turns against that, and instead of its being pleasant and agreeable to him, it distresses him and makes him uneasy; sin being compared to meat in the bowels, denotes the finishing of in after it has been conceived in the mind, and completed in the act:

[it is] the gall of asps within him; which is bitter, though not poison; which yet Pliny s suggests, but it seems t it is not fact. Sin is an evil and bitter thing, and produces bitter sorrow, and makes bitter work for repentance in good men, Jeremiah 2:19; and fills with distress inexpressible and intolerable in wicked men, as in Cain and Judas in this world, and with black despair, weeping, and gnashing of teeth, and dreadful horrors of conscience, in the world to come, to all eternity; the effect of it is eternal death, the second death, inevitable and everlasting ruin and destruction.

r לחמו "panis ejus", Pagninus, Montanus, Beza, Schmidt. s Nat. Hist. l. 11. c. 37. t Scheuchzer. Physic. Sacr. vol. 4. p. 711. Philosoph. Transact. abridged, vol. 2. p. 819.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Yet his meat - His food.

In his bowels is turned - That is, it is as if he had taken food which was exceedingly pleasant, and had retained it in his mouth as long as possible, that he might enjoy it, but when he swallowed it, it became bitter and offensive; compare Revelation 10:9-10. Sin may be pleasant when it is committed, but its consequences will be bitter.

It is the gall of asps - On the meaning of the word here rendered “asps” (פתן pethen), see the notes at Isaiah 11:8. There can be little doubt that the “asp,” or aspic, of antiquity, which was so celebrated, is here intended. The bite was deadly, and was regarded as incurable. The sight became immediately dim after the bite - a swelling took place, and pain was felt in the stomach, followed by stupor, convulsions, and death. It is probably the same as the “boetan” of the Arabians. It is about a foot in length, and two inches in circumference - its color being black and white. “Pict. Bib.” The word “gall” (מרורה merôrâh), means “bitterness, acridness” (compare Job 13:26); and hence, bile or gall. It is not improbable that it was formerly supposed that the poison of the serpent was contained in the gall, though it is now ascertained that it is found in a small sack in the mouth. It is used here as synonymous with the “poison” of asps - supposed to be “bitter” and “deadly.” The meaning is, that sin, however pleasant and grateful it may be when committed, will be as destructive to the soul as food would be to the body, which, as soon as it was swallowed, became the most deadly poison. This is a fair account still of the effects of sin.


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile