Job 27:20 - Exposition

Terrors take hold on him as waters (comp. Job 18:11 ). Terrors sweep over the wicked man like a flood of waters—vague terrors with respect to the past, the present, and the future. He fears the vengeance of these whom he has oppressed and injured, the loss of his prosperity at any moment by a reverse of fortune, and a final retribution at the hand of God commensurate with his ill desert. He is at all times uneasy; sometimes he experiences a sudden rush upon him of such gloomy thoughts, which overwhelms him, and sweeps him away like a mighty stream. A tempest stealeth him away in the night . While he is off his guard, as it were, in the night, a sudden storm bursts on him, and removes him from his place.