yet in his stomach his food sours into the venom of cobras within him.
Parallel translations
- WEB yet his food in his bowels is turned. It is cobra venom within him.
- KJV Yet his meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him.
- NKJV Yet his food in his stomach turns sour; It becomes cobra venom within him.
- NASB Yet his food in his stomach is changed To the venom of cobras within him.
- NLT But suddenly the food in their bellies turns sour, a poisonous venom in their stomach.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Yet that sweet morsel turns sour in his stomach, becoming cobra venom within him. Cherished sin becomes deadly poison.
Overview
Zophar reveals the reversal: the savored sin, once swallowed, turns to deadly venom inside the wicked man. The vivid image shows how sin's brief sweetness yields lethal consequences. It echoes the biblical truth that sin promises pleasure but pays out death, a wage from which only Christ can deliver (Romans 6:23).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Rom 3:13“Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The venom of vipers is on their lips.”
- Ps 38:1–8A Psalm of David, for remembrance. O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your anger or discipline me in Your wrath.
- Prov 1:31So they will eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
- Deut 32:24They will be wasted from hunger and ravaged by pestilence and bitter plague; I will send the fangs of wild beasts against them, with the venom of vipers that slither in the dust.
- Prov 23:20–21Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat.
- Prov 23:29–35Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has needless wounds? Who has bloodshot eyes?
- Jer 2:19Your own evil will discipline you; your own apostasies will reprimand you. Consider and realize how evil and bitter it is for you to forsake the LORD your God and to have no fear of Me,” declares the Lord GOD of Hosts.
- Ps 32:3–4When I kept silent, my bones became brittle from my groaning all day long.
- Ps 51:8–9Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones You have crushed rejoice.
- 2 Sam 12:10–11Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’
- 2 Sam 11:2–5One evening David got up from his bed and strolled around on the roof of the palace. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing—a very beautiful woman.
- Job 20:16He will suck the poison of cobras; the fangs of a viper will kill him.
- Mal 2:2If you do not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to honor My name,” says the LORD of Hosts, “I will send a curse among you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already begun to curse them, because you are not taking it to heart.
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Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 20:14 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.