Ayub 18:17

18:17 His memory perishes from the earth,

he has no name in the land. ¹ 

Ayub 20:7

20:7 he will perish forever, like his own excrement; ² 

those who used to see him will say, ‘Where is he?’

Amsal 10:7

10:7 The memory ³  of the righteous is a blessing,

but the reputation ⁴  of the wicked will rot. ⁵ 

[18:17]  ¹ tn Heb “outside.” Cf. ESV, “in the street,” referring to absence from his community’s memory.

[20:7]  ² tn There have been attempts to change the word here to “like a whirlwind,” or something similar. But many argue that there is no reason to remove a coarse expression from Zophar.

[10:7]  ³ sn “Memory” (זֵכֶר, zekher) and “name” are often paired as synonyms. “Memory” in this sense has to do with reputation, fame. One’s reputation will be good or bad by righteousness or wickedness respectively.

[10:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “name.” The term “name” often functions as a metonymy of association for reputation (BDB 1028 s.v. שֵׁם 2.b).

[10:7]  ⁵ tn The editors of BHS suggest a reading “will be cursed” to make a better parallelism, but the reading of the MT is more striking as a metaphor.

[10:7]  sn To say the wicked’s name will rot means that the name will be obliterated from memory (Exod 17:14; Deut 25:19), leaving only a bad memory for a while.