The Meaning of Job 33:20 Explained

Job 33:20

KJV: So that his life abhorreth bread, and his soul dainty meat.

YLT: And his life hath nauseated bread, And his soul desirable food.

Darby: And his life abhorreth bread, and his soul dainty food;

ASV: So that his life abhorreth bread, And his soul dainty food.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

So that his life  abhorreth  bread,  and his soul  dainty  meat. 

What does Job 33:20 Mean?

Context Summary

Job 33:1-33 - The Interpreter
It is not wonderful that Elihu has been mistaken for the Mediator Himself, so helpfully does he interpose between Job and his Maker. He dwells especially on his own likeness to Job in his manhood, and quotes this as the reason why he could specially help him: I also am formed out of the clay. So also our High Priest is man. Elihu takes up Job's words protesting his innocence, and he insists that Job was not right in those protestations, or in the conclusions that he drew from them.
Then follows one of the grandest passages in the book. Elihu tells how God speaks in nature and through conscience, and is often disregarded; and how then he speaks by revelation, opening the ears of men to withdraw them from their purpose. He shows that God often lays a man upon a bed of pain, that He may speak to his heart. Happy is the afflicted if an interpreter stands beside him to point the path to repentance. Finally, broken and penitent, he turns back to God, and sees His face with joy, and sings before men the story of his restoration. Thus Elihu argues that affliction is often sent as discipline to read to man God's deepest truth. [source]

Chapter Summary: Job 33

1  Elihu offers himself instead of God to reason with Job
8  He excuses God from giving man an account of his ways, by his greatness
14  God calls man to repentance by visions, by afflictions, and by his ministry
31  He incites Job to attention

What do the individual words in Job 33:20 mean?

So that abhors his life bread and his soul food succulent
וְזִֽהֲמַ֣תּוּ חַיָּת֣וֹ לָ֑חֶם וְ֝נַפְשׁ֗וֹ מַאֲכַ֥ל תַּאֲוָֽה

וְזִֽהֲמַ֣תּוּ  So  that  abhors 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Piel, Conjunctive perfect, third person feminine singular, third person masculine singular
Root: זָהַם  
Sense: (Piel) to loathe, be foul, be loathsome.
חַיָּת֣וֹ  his  life 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular construct, third person masculine singular
Root: חַי 
Sense: living, alive.
לָ֑חֶם  bread 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: לֶחֶם  
Sense: bread, food, grain.
וְ֝נַפְשׁ֗וֹ  and  his  soul 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Noun, feminine singular construct, third person masculine singular
Root: נֶפֶשׁ  
Sense: soul, self, life, creature, person, appetite, mind, living being, desire, emotion, passion.
מַאֲכַ֥ל  food 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct
Root: מַאֲכָל  
Sense: food, fruit, meat.
תַּאֲוָֽה  succulent 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular
Root: תַּאֲוָה  
Sense: desire.

What are the major concepts related to Job 33:20?

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