Ayub 10:9

10:9 Remember that you have made me as with ¹  the clay;

will ²  you return me to dust?

Ayub 17:16

17:16 Will ³  it ⁴  go down to the barred gates ⁵  of death?

Will ⁶  we descend ⁷  together into the dust?”

Ayub 20:11

20:11 His bones ⁸  were full of his youthful vigor, ⁹ 

but that vigor will lie down with him in the dust.

Ayub 21:26

21:26 Together they lie down in the dust,

and worms cover over them both.

Ayub 34:15

34:15 all flesh would perish together

and human beings would return to dust.

[10:9]  ¹ tn The preposition “like” creates a small tension here. So some ignore the preposition and read “clay” as an adverbial accusative of the material (GKC 371 §117.hh but cf. 379 §119.i with reference to beth essentiae: “as it were, by clay”). The NIV gets around the problem with a different meaning for the verb: “you molded me like clay.” Some suggest the meaning was “as [with] clay” (in the same manner that we have “as [in] the day of Midian” [Isa 9:4]).

[10:9]  ² tn The text has a conjunction: “and to dust….”

[17:16]  ³ sn It is natural to assume that this verse continues the interrogative clause of the preceding verse.

[17:16]  ⁴ tn The plural form of the verb probably refers to the two words, or the two senses of the word in the preceding verse. Hope and what it produces will perish with Job.

[17:16]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew word בַּדִּים (baddim) describes the “bars” or “bolts” of Sheol, referring (by synecdoche) to the “gates of Sheol.” The LXX has “with me to Sheol,” and many adopt that as “by my side.”

[17:16]  ⁶ tn The conjunction אִם (’im) confirms the interrogative interpretation.

[17:16]  ⁷ tn The translation follows the LXX and the Syriac versions with the change of vocalization in the MT. The MT has the noun “rest,” yielding, “will our rest be together in the dust?” The verb נָחַת (nakhat) in Aramaic means “to go down; to descend.” If that is the preferred reading – and it almost is universally accepted here – then it would be spelled נֵחַת (nekhat). In either case the point of the verse is clearly describing death and going to the grave.

[20:11]  ⁸ tn “Bones” is often used metonymically for the whole person, the bones being the framework, meaning everything inside, as well as the body itself.

[20:11]  ⁹ sn This line means that he dies prematurely – at the height of his youthful vigor.