11:19 You will lie down with 1 no one to make you afraid,
and many will seek your favor. 2
11:20 But the eyes of the wicked fail, 3
and escape 4 eludes them;
their one hope 5 is to breathe their last.” 6
1 tn The clause that reads “and there is no one making you afraid,” is functioning circumstantially here (see 5:4; 10:7).
2 tn Heb “they will stroke your face,” a picture drawn from the domestic scene of a child stroking the face of the parent. The verb is a Piel, meaning “stroke, make soft.” It is used in the Bible of seeking favor from God (supplication); but it may on the human level also mean seeking to sway people by flattery. See further D. R. Ap-Thomas, “Notes on Some Terms Relating to Prayer,” VT 6 (1956): 225-41.
3 tn The verb כָּלָה (kalah) means “to fail, cease, fade away.” The fading of the eyes, i.e., loss of sight, loss of life’s vitality, indicates imminent death.
4 tn Heb a “place of escape” (with this noun pattern). There is no place to escape to because they all perish.
5 tn The word is to be interpreted as a metonymy; it represents what is hoped for.
6 tn Heb “the breathing out of the soul”; cf. KJV, ASV “the giving up of the ghost.” The line is simply saying that the brightest hope that the wicked have is death.