Verse Lens · Context pointer
Job 20:13 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 13. 13Though he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth:
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Role in This Section
Job 20:13 advances the thought unit with the words “Though he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth.” Zophar states “Though he spare it, and forsake it not” as one poetic claim in Zophar Says Hidden Evil Turns to Poison.
Read It With
- Job 20:10–20:22
Read Job 20:13 with 20:10–20:22. Read alone, “Though he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth” could lose its speaker, the question or claim it develops, and the unit's outcome. The complete movement establishes: Zophar imagines children repaying the poor, concealed sweetness becoming venom, swallowed riches restored, and fullness collapsing into distress.
Why It Needs Context
Job 20:13 depends on 20:10–20:22; isolating “Though he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth” would detach a poetic premise, image, response, or transition from Zophar and “Zophar Says Hidden Evil Turns to Poison.”
Read Job 20:10–22 together
Why these verses belong together: Job 20:10–20:22 follows the pinned KJV paragraphing and holds together one sustained speech movement: “Zophar Says Hidden Evil Turns to Poison.” The next unit begins with a new stanza, question sequence, scene, speaker response, or rhetorical turn.
Verse 10. 10 His children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods.
Verse 11. 11 His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust.
Verse 12. 12 Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue;
Verse 13. 13 Though he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth:
Verse 14. 14 Yet his meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him.
Verse 15. 15 He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly.
Verse 16. 16 He shall suck the poison of asps: the viper’s tongue shall slay him.
Verse 17. 17 He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter.
Verse 18. 18 That which he laboured for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down: according to his substance shall the restitution be, and he shall not rejoice therein.
Verse 19. 19 Because he hath oppressed and hath forsaken the poor; because he hath violently taken away an house which he builded not;
Verse 20. 20 Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, he shall not save of that which he desired.
Verse 21. 21 There shall none of his meat be left; therefore shall no man look for his goods.
Verse 22. 22 In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: every hand of the wicked shall come upon him.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Job 20:10–20:22 — Zophar Says Hidden Evil Turns to PoisonSources used for this context pointer
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Job 20:10–20:22, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Job
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Job.xml, OSIS 20:10–20:22
Open the fixed Hebrew Job file ↗