He shall suck the poison of asps: the viper’s tongue shall slay him.
The saying stands in Zophar's second speech in chapter 20 on the portion and final doom of the wicked. That speech belongs within the extended dialogue between Job and his three friends in chapters 3-31 about the cause and purpose of human suffering, spoken from their own wisdom and observation. The presence of such speeches of Job's friends in the book does not by itself make them reliable, and their claims about God and Job must be tested against inspired Scripture.
The image is of the wicked man's destruction coming through the consequences of evil, like taking in deadly snake venom that kills. In that general sense it is true that evil is ultimately punished and good is ultimately rewarded. Yet it was misapplied to Job, whose answer was that the wicked prosper in this life and their punishment is future, so adversity, affliction, or suffering coming upon a person does not prove him to be under the displeasure of God.
The saying stands in Zophar's second speech in chapter 20 on the portion and final doom of the wicked. That speech belongs within the extended dialogue between Job and his three friends in chapters 3-31 about the cause and purpose of human suffering, spoken from their own wisdom and observation. The presence of such speeches of Job's friends in the book does not by itself make them reliable, and their claims about God and Job must be tested against inspired Scripture.
The image is of the wicked man's destruction coming through the consequences of evil, like taking in deadly snake venom that kills. In that general sense it is true that evil is ultimately punished and good is ultimately rewarded. Yet it was misapplied to Job, whose answer was that the wicked prosper in this life and their punishment is future, so adversity, affliction, or suffering coming upon a person does not prove him to be under the displeasure of God.