Isaiah 24:4

24:4 The earth ¹  dries up ²  and withers,

the world shrivels up and withers;

the prominent people of the earth ³  fade away.

Micah 7:17

7:17 They will lick the dust like a snake,

like serpents crawling on the ground. ⁴ 

They will come trembling from their strongholds

to the Lord our God; ⁵ 

they will be terrified ⁶  of you. ⁷ 

James 1:11

1:11 For the sun rises with its heat and dries up the meadow; the petal of the flower falls off and its beauty is lost forever. ⁸  So also the rich person in the midst of his pursuits will wither away.

¹ tn Some prefer to read “land” here, but the word pair אֶרֶץ/תֵּבֵל (erets/tevel [see the corresponding term in the parallel line]) elsewhere clearly designates the earth/world (see 1 Sam 2:8; 1 Chr 16:30; Job 37;12; Pss 19:4; 24:1; 33:8; 89:11; 90:2; 96:13; 98:9; Prov 8:26, 31; Isa 14:16-17; 34:1; Jer 10:12; 51:15; Lam 4:12). According to L. Stadelmann, תבל designates “the habitable part of the world” (The Hebrew Conception of the World [AnBib], 130).

² tn Or “mourns” (BDB 5 s.v. אָבַל). HALOT 6-7 lists the homonyms I אבל (“mourn”) and II אבל (“dry up”). They propose the second here on the basis of parallelism.

³ tn Heb “the height of the people of the earth.” The translation assumes an emendation of the singular form מְרוֹם (mÿrom, “height of”) to the plural construct מְרֹמֵי (mÿrome, “high ones of”; note the plural verb at the beginning of the line), and understands the latter as referring to the prominent people of human society.

⁴ tn Heb “like crawling things on the ground.” The parallelism suggests snakes are in view.

⁵ tn Thetranslationassumesthatthe phrase אֶל־יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ (’el-yÿhvah ’elohenu, “to the Lord our God”) goes with what precedes. Another option is to take the phrase with the following verb, in which case one could translate, “to the Lord our God they will turn in dread.”

⁶ tn Heb “they will be in dread and afraid.”

⁷ tn The Lord is addressed directly using the second person.

⁸ tn Or “perishes,” “is destroyed.”