Job 20:16

He sucks the poison ¹  of serpents; ²  the fangs ³  of a viper ⁴  kill him.

Isa 30:6; Mt 3:7; Ac 28:3-6; Ro 3:13

¹ tn The word is a homonym for the word for “head,” which has led to some confusion in the early versions.

² sn To take the possessions of another person is hereby compared to sucking poison from a serpent – it will kill eventually.

³ tn Heb “tongue.”

⁴ tn Some have thought this verse is a gloss on v. 14 and should be deleted. But the word for “viper” (אֶפְעֶה, ’ef’eh) is a rare word, occurring only here and in Isa 30:6 and 59:5. It is unlikely that a rarer word would be used in a gloss. But the point is similar to v. 14 – the wealth that was greedily sucked in by the wicked proves to be their undoing. Either this is totally irrelevant to Job’s case, a general discussion, or the man is raising questions about how Job got his wealth.