18:17 His memory perishes from the earth,
he has no name in the land. 1
20:7 he will perish forever, like his own excrement; 2
those who used to see him will say, ‘Where is he?’
10:7 The memory 3 of the righteous is a blessing,
but the reputation 4 of the wicked will rot. 5
1 tn Heb “outside.” Cf. ESV, “in the street,” referring to absence from his community’s memory.
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.
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.
4 tn Heb “name.” The term “name” often functions as a metonymy of association for reputation (BDB 1028 s.v. שֵׁם 2.b).
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.