Lectionary Calendar
Thursday, August 21st, 2025
the Week of Proper 15 / Ordinary 20
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Read the Bible

New Century Version

Job 33:20

They may be in such pain that they even hate food, even the very best meal.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Afflictions and Adversities;   Agency;   Conviction;   God;   God Continued...;   Philosophy;   Wicked (People);   The Topic Concordance - Deliverance;   Grace;   Prayer;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Diseases;   Sickness;  

Dictionaries:

- Fausset Bible Dictionary - Proverbs, the Book of;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Job, the Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Job;   Pit;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Eschatology (2);   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Elihu;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Job, Book of;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
so that he detests bread,and his soul despises his favorite food.
Hebrew Names Version
So that his life abhors bread, And his soul dainty food.
King James Version
So that his life abhorreth bread, and his soul dainty meat.
English Standard Version
so that his life loathes bread, and his appetite the choicest food.
New English Translation
so that his life loathes food, and his soul rejects appetizing fare.
Amplified Bible
So that his life makes him loathe food, And his soul [loathe] even his favorite dishes.
New American Standard Bible
So that his life loathes bread, And his soul, food that he should crave.
World English Bible
So that his life abhors bread, And his soul dainty food.
Geneva Bible (1587)
So that his life causeth him to abhorre bread, and his soule daintie meate.
Legacy Standard Bible
So that his life loathes bread,And his soul favorite food.
Berean Standard Bible
so that he detests his bread, and his soul loathes his favorite food.
Contemporary English Version
Merely the thought of our favorite food makes our stomachs sick,
Complete Jewish Bible
so that he detests bread as well as richer food.
Darby Translation
And his life abhorreth bread, and his soul dainty food;
Easy-to-Read Version
They feel so bad they cannot eat. Even the best food makes them sick.
George Lamsa Translation
So that his flesh fails because of his fear, and his soul is not satisfied with bread, and covets food.
Good News Translation
Those who are sick lose their appetites, and even the finest food looks revolting.
Lexham English Bible
so that his life loathes bread, and his inner self loathes appetizing food.
Literal Translation
so that his life loathes bread, and his soul desirable food.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
so that his life maye awaye wt no bred, & his soule abhorreth to eate eny dayntie meate:
American Standard Version
So that his life abhorreth bread, And his soul dainty food.
Bible in Basic English
He has no desire for food, and his soul is turned away from delicate meat;
JPS Old Testament (1917)
So that his life maketh him to abhor bread, and his soul dainty food.
King James Version (1611)
So that his life abhorreth bread, and his soule daintie meate.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
So that his lyfe may away with no bread, and his soule abhorreth to eate any dayntie meate:
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And he shall not be able to take any food, though his soul shall desire meat;
English Revised Version
So that his life abhorreth bread, and his soul dainty meat.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Breed is maad abhomynable to hym in his lijf, and mete desirable `bifor to his soule.
Update Bible Version
So that his life abhors bread, And his soul dainty food.
Webster's Bible Translation
So that his life abhorreth bread, and his soul dainty food.
New King James Version
So that his life abhors bread, And his soul succulent food.
New Living Translation
They lose their appetite for even the most delicious food.
New Life Bible
So he hates bread, and has no desire for fine foods.
New Revised Standard
so that their lives loathe bread, and their appetites dainty food.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
So that his life maketh loathsome his food, and his soul, dainty meat;
Douay-Rheims Bible
Bread becometh abominable to him in his life, and to his soul the meat which before he desired.
Revised Standard Version
so that his life loathes bread, and his appetite dainty food.
Young's Literal Translation
And his life hath nauseated bread, And his soul desirable food.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
So that his life loathes bread, And his soul favorite food.

Contextual Overview

19 People may be corrected while in bed in great pain; they may have continual pain in their very bones. 20 They may be in such pain that they even hate food, even the very best meal. 21 Their body becomes so thin there is almost nothing left of it, and their bones that were hidden now stick out. 22 They are near death, and their life is almost over. 23 "But there may be an angel to speak for him, one out of a thousand, who will tell him what to do. 24 The angel will beg for mercy and say: ‘Save him from death. I have found a way to pay for his life.' 25 Then his body is made new like a child's. It will return to the way it was when he was young. 26 That person will pray to God, and God will listen to him. He will see God's face and will shout with happiness. And God will set things right for him again. 27 Then he will say to others, ‘I sinned and twisted what was right, but I did not receive the punishment I should have received. 28 God bought my life back from death, and I will continue to enjoy life.'

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

his life: Psalms 107:17, Psalms 107:18

dainty meat: Heb. meat of desire, Genesis 3:6, Jeremiah 3:19, Amos 5:11, *marg.

Reciprocal: Job 33:28 - see Daniel 10:3 - pleasant bread

Cross-References

Genesis 8:20
Then Noah built an altar to the Lord . He took some of all the clean birds and animals, and he burned them on the altar as offerings to God.
Genesis 13:18
So Abram moved his tents and went to live near the great trees of Mamre at the city of Hebron. There he built an altar to the Lord .
Genesis 21:33
Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba and prayed to the Lord , the God who lives forever.
Genesis 32:28
Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob. Your name will now be Israel, because you have wrestled with God and with people, and you have won."
Genesis 33:7
Leah and her children also came up to Esau and also bowed down flat on the earth. Last of all, Joseph and Rachel came up to Esau, and they, too, bowed down flat before him.
Genesis 33:8
Esau said, "I saw many herds as I was coming here. Why did you bring them?" Jacob answered, "They were to please you, my master."
Genesis 35:7
There Jacob built an altar and named the place Bethel, after God, because God had appeared to him there when he was running from his brother.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

So that his life abhorreth bread,.... Through the force of pain he loses his appetite for food, and even a nausea of it takes place; he loathes it as the most abominable and filthy thing that can be thought of; even bread, so necessary to the support of human life, so strengthening to the heart of man, and what he every day stands in need of, and should pray for, and in health is never weary of; it may be put for all common and useful food:

and his soul dainty meat; the most rich and delicious; such as the tables of the great and rich are furnished with: "food of desire" p; or desirable food, as it may be rendered; see Daniel 10:3; such as in the time of health the appetite craves and desires, and is fed on with delight and pleasure, but now had in the utmost aversion. Pains and diseases of body often produce such a nausea in men, Psalms 107:17, and was Job's case, Job 3:24.

p מאכל תאוה "cibum desiderii", Vatablus, Drusius, Michaelis; "cibum appetentiae", Mercerus.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

So that his life abhorreth bread - It is a common effect of sickness to take away the appetite. Elihu here regards it as a part of the wholesome discipline of the sufferer. He has no relish for the comforts of life.

And his soul dainty meat - Margin, “meat of desire.” The Hebrew is, “food of desire.” The word rendered “meat” (מאכל ma'ăkâl) does not denote animal food only, but any kind of food. So the Old English word meat was used. The idea is, that the sick man loathes the most delicate food. It is a part of his discipline that the pleasure which he had in the days of his health is now taken away.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 33:20. His life abhorreth bread — These expressions strongly and naturally point out that general nausea, or loathing which sick persons feel in almost every species of disorder.


 
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