He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter.
Parallel translations
- WEB He shall not look at the rivers, the flowing streams of honey and butter.
- BSB He will not enjoy the streams, the rivers flowing with honey and cream.
- NKJV He will not see the streams, The rivers flowing with honey and cream.
- NASB “He does not look at the streams, The rivers flowing with honey and curds.
- NLT They will never again enjoy streams of olive oil or rivers of milk and honey.
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
The wicked man will never enjoy the rivers of honey and butter, the symbols of abundant blessing. He is shut out from prosperity and delight.
Overview
Zophar declares that the wicked man will be denied the flowing streams of plenty, honey and curds being emblems of rich, covenant blessing. The good things others enjoy are forfeited by his wickedness. The verse contrasts the barren end of the godless with the abundant 'land flowing with milk and honey' promised to God's people, whose fullness is found in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Deut 32:13–14He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock;
- Luke 16:24And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.
- Job 29:6When I washed my steps with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil;
- Ps 81:16He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee.
- Num 14:23Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:
- 2 Kgs 7:2Then a lord on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, Behold, if the LORD would make windows in heaven, might this thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.
- Ps 36:8–9They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.
- Isa 41:17When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
- Rev 22:1And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
- Isa 7:15Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.
- Jer 17:6–8For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.
- 2 Sam 17:29And honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of kine, for David, and for the people that were with him, to eat: for they said, The people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness.
- Isa 7:22And it shall come to pass, for the abundance of milk that they shall give he shall eat butter: for butter and honey shall every one eat that is left in the land.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 20:17 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.