^20:14 His bread in his belly will be turned inwardly into the gall of asps.
^20:15 The riches that he devoured he will vomit out, and God will draw them out from his belly.
^20:16 The head of asps will rise up, and the tongue of the viper will kill him.
^20:17 Let him not see the rivulets of the river, the torrents of honey and butter.
^20:18 He will pay for all the things he has done, and yet he will not be consumed. According to the multitude of his devices, so also will he endure.
^20:19 For, breaking in, he stripped the poor man of his gift; he seized a house and did not build it.
^20:20 Nor is his belly satisfied; and when he has what he desired, he will not be able to possess it.
^20:21 Nothing remained of his food; therefore nothing will remain of his goods.
^20:22 When he has been satisfied, he will be constrained; he will burn, and every sorrow will rush upon him.
^20:23 May his belly be filled, so that he may send against him the anger of his fury and rain down his battle upon him.
^20:24 He will flee iron weapons and will rush upon a bronze bow:
^20:25 drawn out and coming forth from its sheath, and flashing in its bitterness. Horrible things will go and come upon him.
^20:26 All darknesses are hidden in his secret places. A fire that is not kindled will devour him; he will be afflicted, left in his tabernacle.
^20:27 The heavens will reveal his iniquity, and the earth will rise up against him.
^20:28 The shoot of his house will be laid open; it will be dragged away on the day of the fury of the Lord.
^20:29 This is the portion of the impious man from God, and the inheritance of his words from the Lord.

302. His bread in his belly, etc. Since he had said that the bones of the impious man are to be filled with the vices of his youth, namely, so that he may be punished for them after death, now he pursues his punishments more broadly,

and first he shows that the goods he had in this world will be turned into evils for him. And he uses the likeness of one eating, for whom food sometimes is turned into evil, and this in two ways: in one way, when undigested food remains within and is turned into poisonous humors, and with regard to this he says: His bread in his belly will be turned inwardly into the gall of asps, as if to say: just as sometimes food that has been eaten is turned into poisonous humors, so also the goods that he had in this world perseveringly until death will be turned for him into the bitterness of death.

Second, food once eaten, if it cannot be digested, is sometimes cast out by vomiting, with disgust and pain; so also it sometimes happens that sinful men lose, as though undigested, by divine judgment and with pain, the temporal goods that they acquire in this world, because they do not use them well. Hence he adds: The riches that he devoured, that is, acquired rapaciously, he will vomit out, that is, he will lose them with disgust, and from his belly, that is, from his dominion, God will draw them out, because, namely, by divine judgment they will be taken away from him by a certain violence.

303. Not only will the goods that he had be turned into evil for him, but he will also suffer evils from enemies, both by deed and by word, and therefore he sets down two examples:

the first indeed of the asp, which kills by biting, whence he says: The head of asps will rise up, namely, against him to bite him; by this is signified some prince of evildoers, or even the devil attacking him;

the second example he sets down of the viper, which spreads poison with its tongue, whence there follows: and the tongue of the viper will kill him; by this is understood whatever harm comes from the tongue of man, like poison from the tongue of a viper.

304. Then he adds the punishment from the privation of goods when he says: Let him not see the rivulets of the river, the torrents of honey and butter. Now honey and butter agree in this, that both are sweet to eat; but honey is gathered from flowers by the work of bees, while butter is taken from the milk of domestic animals by the service of men. Hence by honey can be signified any delightful good that comes without human industry, but by butter is designated some delightful good that comes from human effort. Now a torrent comes suddenly and unexpectedly; in a river abundance is designated because of the multitude of waters; but in rivulets the distribution of goods is designated: for not everyone has all goods, whether temporal or spiritual, but some have these and others those. Therefore it is given to be understood that, according to Zophar’s judgment, the sweetness of goods comes to the good abundantly and unexpectedly, both from human service and from divine providence without human industry, yet according to a certain ordered distribution; and he asserts that the sinner is to be deprived of this distribution. And because sometimes from a multitude of punishments a man fails so that he cannot sustain further punishments, he adds that the sinner, although he is punished in many ways in this life, is nevertheless reserved further for the punishments of the future life; hence there follows: He will pay for all the things he has done, that is, he will suffer punishment for each of his sins, and yet he will not be consumed, namely, according to the soul, which is reserved for future punishments.

305. Consequently he shows the fittingness of the punishments to the faults when he adds: According to the multitude of his devices, that is, of the sins that he carefully devised, so also will he endure, because, namely, punishment will answer to fault by a certain fittingness.

And first he makes this clear with regard to the fault of rapacity, in which he sets down two things in order,

the first of which is violent plundering, which he signifies by adding: For, breaking in, he stripped the house of the poor man, signifying violence in the breaking in, and robbery in the stripping.

second, he sets down negligence of restitution, and with regard to this he adds: he seized a house and did not build it, as if to say: the things that he seized from the house, or that he destroyed in the house by breaking in, he neglected to make recompense for. But he adds the punishment fitting to this fault, saying: Nor is his belly satisfied, as if to say: because he stripped the house of the poor man, not allowing him to be satisfied with his own goods, therefore his appetite is not satisfied, either from the goods that he rightfully possesses or from those that he unjustly acquired, because, as is said in Ecclesiastes 5:9, The covetous man will not be filled with money, and he who loves riches will not take fruit from them. And with regard to this second point he adds: and when he has what he desired, he will not be able to possess it, because either he himself will be taken away from them or they will be taken away from him; and this is fitting, that because he was unwilling to restore willingly the things he seized, he should lose them unwillingly.

306. Then he makes the same thing clear in the fault of voracity, which he sets down, adding: Nothing remained of his food, because, namely, whatever he had he turned to his own uses, reserving nothing for the need of others. And he adds the fitting punishment, saying: therefore nothing will remain of his goods, namely, for him, because he will lose all things; and this is a fitting punishment with regard to the fact that he was unwilling to reserve anything from his goods for others, whence it is just that nothing be reserved for him. But with regard to the fact that he consumed superfluous things for his own uses, he adds another fitting punishment, saying: When he has been satisfied, he will be constrained; and he speaks by likeness to a man who eats too much, whose inward parts are constrained, compressed by excessive food. By this is signified that a man who expends superfluous things for his own uses, or who has acquired superfluous things for himself, will suffer a certain constraint, being unable to dispose rightly all that he has acquired, as is clear in Luke 12:18 concerning the rich man whose field brought forth abundant fruits, who wished to destroy his barns so that he might make larger ones. But from the constraint of the inward parts there follows disordered heat and anxiety, whence he adds: and he will burn; and similarly those who inordinately gather many things for themselves are afflicted by excessive solicitude. Finally, from excessive food pain is accustomed to reach all the members, whence he adds: and every sorrow will rush upon him; similarly also, for those who have gathered superfluous things, manifold sorrow arises when they suffer losses in many things.

307. Therefore Zophar, considering that the satisfaction of the impious man is harmful to him, as though out of zeal for justice wishes for him satisfaction with temporal goods so that he may suffer punishment; whence there follows: May his belly be filled, namely, with an abundance of temporal goods, so that he may send against him, namely, God may send, the anger of his fury, that is, vengeance without mercy. And he shows the manner of the anger, adding: and rain down his battle upon him. And in saying rain down, he designates the abundance of evils; in saying upon him, that is, above the sinner’s strength, he designates his inability to resist; but in saying his battle, he shows that evils are not brought upon him for correction by way of discipline, by which a father chastises a son, but by way of extermination, by which enemies are destroyed;

whence he adds: He will flee iron weapons, that is, present punishments, by enduring them impatiently, which strike from close at hand in the manner of an iron sword; and will rush upon a bronze bow, that is, upon the punishments of the future life, which, as it were, strike from afar in the manner of a bronze bow, which is unbreakable, so that the endlessness of future punishments may be designated. But he consequently explains the proceeding of this bow, saying: drawn out and coming forth from its sheath, supply: that bow will be. For as long as a bow is in its sheath, it does not strike; and similarly, as long as the vengeance of future damnation is in God’s foreknowledge, as in a certain sheath, it does not damn, but it is drawn out from this sheath by malice provoking God, and then it comes forth by divine disposition. And he shows its effect, adding: and flashing in its bitterness; for just as lightning comes from above, suddenly and with violence and brightness, so that vengeance will be brought upon the sinner by God unexpectedly, with such violence that it cannot be resisted, and with such brightness of justice that there will be no room for excuse, and from this the sinner will be filled with bitterness.

308. Then he explains the punishments of vengeance part by part,

and first with regard to the fact that he will be handed over under the power of demons, and with regard to this he adds: Horrible things will go and come upon him, that is, the demons will receive free power over him.

Then he sets down the punishment of loss when he adds: All darknesses are hidden in his secret places, because, namely, he will suffer perfect darkness, interior and exterior, having been removed far from the brightness of God; and he says that this is hidden because, just as the brightness of the saints is hidden from us in this life, so also is the darkness of the impious.

Then he sets down the punishment of sense when he says: A fire will devour him, not indeed by consuming him, but by absorbing him with its affliction, namely, the fire of Gehenna, which is not kindled, namely, by human effort but by divine power, according to Isaiah 30:33: The breath of the Lord, like a torrent of sulfur, kindling it. But in these punishments no help will be present to him, whence he adds: he will be afflicted, left in his tabernacle, that is, from the fact that he will be left without help in the place of punishments appointed for him.

309. Therefore, after setting down the punishments that he will suffer in himself, he adds the punishments that pertain to him according as he remains after death in this life,

and first indeed with regard to the fact that he remains in the memories of men, saying: The heavens will reveal his iniquity, that is, by heavenly power it will come about that his iniquity, which lay hidden in life, is revealed after death, and the earth will rise up against him, because, when his iniquity has been manifested, earthly men will be stirred up even against the dead man whom perhaps they revered while living.

Then he sets down his punishment with regard to what remains in his sons, when he says: The shoot of his house will be laid open, that is, his sons will be exposed to tribulations; and this shoot will be dragged away, namely, from this life, on the day of the fury of the Lord, that is, on the day of divine vengeance; although this can also be referred to the final judgment, in which the saints will reveal the iniquity of the sinner, and the whole world will fight against the senseless, and the shoots, that is, the works of sin, will be manifested, and finally the impious man will be dragged down into Hell.

310. Then, by way of epilogue, he adds: This is the portion of the impious man from God, that is, what he has acquired for himself by impious works, and the inheritance of his words from the Lord, namely, what he has acquired for himself by depraved words. And it should be considered that among the preceding punishments he has mingled future ones with present ones.