Ayub 20:13-14

20:13 if he retains it for himself

and does not let it go,

and holds it fast in his mouth, ¹ 

20:14 his food is turned sour ²  in his stomach; ³ 

it becomes the venom of serpents ⁴  within him.

[20:13]  ¹ tn Heb “in the middle of his palate.”

[20:14]  ² tn The perfect verb in the apodosis might express the suddenness of the change (see S. R. Driver, Tenses in Hebrew, 204), or it might be a constative perfect looking at the action as a whole without reference to inception, progress, or completion (see IBHS 480-81 §30.1d). The Niphal perfect simply means “is turned” or “turns”; “sour is supplied in the translation to clarify what is meant.

[20:14]  ³ tn The word is “in his loins” or “within him.” Some translate more specifically “bowels.”

[20:14]  ⁴ sn Some commentators suggest that the ancients believed that serpents secreted poison in the gall bladder, or that the poison came from the gall bladder of serpents. In any case, there is poison (from the root “bitter”) in the system of the wicked person; it may simply be saying it is that type of poison.