19 For he has oppressed the poor and left them destitute; he has seized houses he did not build.
19 Because he hath oppressed
19 For he has crushed and abandoned the poor; he has seized a house that he did not build.
19 And why? Because they exploited the poor, took what never belonged to them.
19 For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor, He has violently seized a house which he did not build.
19 For they oppressed the poor and left them destitute. They foreclosed on their homes.
3 Haggard from want and hunger, they roamed[1] the parched land in desolate wastelands at night. 4 In the brush they gathered salt herbs, and their food[2] was the root of the broom bush. 5 They were banished from human society, shouted at as if they were thieves. 6 They were forced to live in the dry stream beds, among the rocks and in holes in the ground.
3 For want and famine they were solitary;
3 Through want and hard hunger they gnaw the dry ground by night in waste and desolation; 4 they pick saltwort and the leaves of bushes, and the roots of the broom tree for their food.
3 Half-starved, scavenging the back alleys, howling at the moon; 4 Homeless guttersnipes chewing on old bones and licking old tin cans; 5 Outcasts from the community, cursed as dangerous delinquents. 6 Nobody would put up with them; they were driven from the neighborhood.
3 They are gaunt from want and famine, Fleeing late to the wilderness, desolate and waste, 4 Who pluck mallow by the bushes, And broom tree roots for their food. 5 They were driven out from among men, They shouted at them as at a thief. 6 They had to live in the clefts of the valleys, In caves of the earth and the rocks.
3 They are gaunt from poverty and hunger. They claw the dry ground in desolate wastelands. 4 They pluck wild greens from among the bushes and eat from the roots of broom trees. 5 They are driven from human society, and people shout at them as if they were thieves. 6 So now they live in frightening ravines, in caves and among the rocks.
(Read Job 30:1-14)
Job contrasts his present condition with his former honour and authority. What little cause have men to be ambitious or proud of that which may be so easily lost, and what little confidence is to be put in it! We should not be cast down if we are despised, reviled, and hated by wicked men. We should look to Jesus, who endured the contradiction of sinners.
28 When the wicked rise to power, people go into hiding; but when the wicked perish, the righteous thrive.
28 When the wicked rise, men hide themselves: but when they perish, the righteous increase.
28 When the wicked rise, people hide themselves, but when they perish, the righteous increase.
28 When corruption takes over, good people go underground, but when the crooks are thrown out, it's safe to come out.
28 When the wicked arise, men hide themselves; But when they perish, the righteous increase.
28 When the wicked take charge, people go into hiding. When the wicked meet disaster, the godly flourish.
(Read Proverbs 28:28)
When power is put into the hands of the wicked, wise men decline public business. If the reader will go diligently over this and the other chapters, in many places where at first he may suppose there is least of Christ, still he will find what will lead to him.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Job 20:19
Commentary on Job 20:10-22
(Read Job 20:10-22)
The miserable condition of the wicked man in this world is fully set forth. The lusts of the flesh are here called the sins of his youth. His hiding it and keeping it under his tongue, denotes concealment of his beloved lust, and delight therein. But He who knows what is in the heart, knows what is under the tongue, and will discover it. The love of the world, and of the wealth of it, also is wickedness, and man sets his heart upon these. Also violence and injustice, these sins bring God's judgments upon nations and families. Observe the punishment of the wicked man for these things. Sin is turned into gall, than which nothing is more bitter; it will prove to him poison; so will all unlawful gains be. In his fulness he shall be in straits, through the anxieties of his own mind. To be led by the sanctifying grace of God to restore what was unjustly gotten, as Zaccheus was, is a great mercy. But to be forced to restore by the horrors of a despairing conscience, as Judas was, has no benefit and comfort attending it.