Job 20:12

“Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, etc.] Which may respect some particular sin, and by the context it seems to be the sin of covetousness, or of getting riches in an unlawful way, which is very sweet and pleasing to wicked men, while they are in such pursuits that succeed; and so Mr. Broughton renders it by “wrong”; though it may be applied to sin in general, which is “wickedness”, or an evil f781, being contrary to the pure and holy nature, will, and law of God; and it is evil in its effects on men, it having deprived them of the image and glory of God, and exposed them to his wrath, to the curses of his law, and to eternal deaths. Now this is “sweet” to an unregenerate man, who minds…”

“be--"taste sweet." Sin's fascination is like poison sweet to the taste, but at last deadly to the vital organs (Pro 20:17; Job 9:17-18). hide . . . tongue--seek to prolong the enjoyment by keeping the sweet morsel long in the mouth (so Job 20:13).”

“Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth - Though he has pleasure in committing it, as he has in pleasant food. The sense of this and the following verses is, that though a man may have pleasure in indulgence in sin, and may find happiness of a certain kind in it, yet that the consequences will be bitter - as if the food which he ate should become like gall, and he should cast it up with loathing. There are many sins which, from the laws of our nature, are attended with a kind of pleasure. Such, for illustration, are the sins of gluttony and of intemperance in drinking; the sins of ambition and vanity; the sins of amusement and of fashionable life. To such we give the name of “pleasures.” We…”

“Mouth - To his taste; though it greatly please him for the present. Hide - As an epicure doth a sweet morsel, which he keeps and rolls about his mouth, that he may longer enjoy the pleasure of it. Job 20:14”

“wickedness: Job 15:16; Gen 3:6; Pro 9:17, Pro 9:18, Pro 20:17; Ecc 11:9 he hide: Psa 10:7, Psa 109:17, Psa 109:18 Job 20:13”

“12 If wickedness tasted sweet in his mouth, He hid it under his tongue; 13 He carefully cherished it and did not let it go, And retained it in his palate: 14 His bread is now changed in his bowels, It is the gall of vipers within him. 15 He hath swallowed down riches and now he spitteth them out, God shall drive them out of his belly. 16 He sucked in the poison of vipers, The tongue of the adder slayeth him. The evil-doer is, in Job 20:12, likened to an epicure; he keeps hold of wickedness as long as possible, like a delicate morsel that is retained in the mouth (Renan: comme un bonbon qu'on laisse fondre dans la bouche), and seeks to enjoy it to the very last. המתּיק, to make sweet, has…”