He will suck the poison of asps: in verse 12 the wicked hid his wickedness under his tongue in order to taste it and prolong its sweetness. In 16, instead of sweetness he finds himself sucking out the flavor of snake poison, or more poetically “serpent venom.” Because verse 16 seems more closely related to verse 14, some editors have suggested it was originally a marginal comment on that verse. Consequently Moffatt places verse 16 immediately after verse 14 and places 16b before 16a. Such textual revisions are not necessary, as the sense is clear as it stands in the Hebrew. This line may be rendered, for example, “He has been sucking the poison of snakes” or “What he has been sucking is snake poison.”

The tongue of a viper will kill him: it is not the tongue as such that causes death. Tongue of a viper is parallel to poison of asps in the previous line. Therefore it is the poison symbolized by the tongue that kills. In translation it may be difficult to make this point clear without some adjustment such as Good News Translation “it (the poison) kills him like the bite of a deadly snake.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates verse 16 “What he has swallowed (his riches) works on him like poison; it is as deadly as the bite of a viper.” Viper occurs elsewhere only in Isaiah 30.6; 59.5, where Good News Translation translates “poisonous snake.” The exact meaning of the Hebrew word translated viper is uncertain, and a generic term for “deadly snake” such as in Good News Translation may be adequate. Translators may use a term for viper that is the most deadly among known poisonous snakes. The line may be rendered, for example, “the bite of the viper will kill him” or “it is the snake poison that will kill him.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, Wiliam. A Handbook on Job. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .