Ayub 20:7

20:7 he will perish forever, like his own excrement; ¹ 

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

Ayub 7:8

7:8 The eye of him who sees me now will see me no more; ² 

your eyes will look for me, but I will be gone. ³ 

Ayub 7:10

7:10 He returns no more to his house,

nor does his place of residence ⁴  know him ⁵  any more.

Ayub 8:18

8:18 If he is uprooted ⁶  from his place,

then that place ⁷  will disown him, saying, ⁸ 

‘I have never seen you!’

Ayub 27:3

27:3 for while ⁹  my spirit ¹⁰  is still in me,

and the breath from God is in my nostrils,

[20:7]  ¹ 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.

[7:8]  ² sn The meaning of the verse is that God will relent, but it will be too late. God now sees him with a hostile eye; when he looks for him, or looks upon him in friendliness, it will be too late.

[7:8]  ³ tn This verse is omitted in the LXX and so by several commentators. But the verb שׁוּר (shur, “turn, return”) is so characteristic of Job (10 times) that the verse seems appropriate here.

[7:10]  ⁴ tn M. Dahood suggests the meaning is the same as “his abode” (“Hebrew-Ugaritic Lexicography V,” Bib 48 [1967]: 421-38).

[7:10]  ⁵ tn The verb means “to recognize” by seeing. “His place,” the place where he was living, is the subject of the verb. This personification is intended simply to say that the place where he lived will not have him any more. The line is very similar to Ps 103:16b – when the wind blows the flower away, its place knows it no more.

[8:18]  ⁶ tc Ball reads אֵל (’el, “God”) instead of אִם (’im, “if”): “God destroys it” – but there is no reason for this. The idea would be implied in the context. A. B. Davidson rightly points out that who destroys it is not important, but the fact that it is destroyed.

[8:18]  tn The Hebrew has “if one destroys it”; the indefinite subject allows for a passive interpretation. The verb means “swallow” in the Qal, but in the Piel it means “to engulf; to destroy; to ruin” (2:3; 10:8). It could here be rendered “removed from its place” (the place where it is rooted); since the picture is that of complete destruction, “uprooted” would be a good rendering.

[8:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “it”; the referent (“his place” in the preceding line) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:18]  sn The place where the plant once grew will deny ever knowing it. Such is the completeness of the uprooting that there is not a trace left.

[8:18]  ⁸ tn Here “saying” is supplied in the translation.

[27:3]  ⁹ tn The adverb עוֹד (’od) was originally a noun, and so here it could be rendered “all the existence of my spirit.” The word comes between the noun in construct and its actual genitive (see GKC 415 §128.e).

[27:3]  ¹⁰ tn The word נְשָׁמָה (nÿshamah) is the “breath” that was breathed into Adam in Gen 2:7. Its usage includes the animating breath, the spiritual understanding, and the functioning conscience – so the whole spirit of the person. The other word in this verse, רוּחַ (ruakh), may be translated as “wind,” “breath,” or “spirit/Spirit” depending on the context. Here, since it talks about the nostrils, it should be translated “breath.”