19:10 He tears me down 1 on every side until I perish; 2
he uproots 3 my hope 4 like one uproots 5 a tree.
20:11 His bones 6 were full of his youthful vigor, 7
but that vigor will lie down with him in the dust.
1 tn The metaphors are changed now to a demolished building and an uprooted tree. The verb is נָתַץ (natats, “to demolish”). Since it is Job himself who is the object, the meaning cannot be “demolish” (as of a house so that an inhabitant has to leave), but more of the attack or the battering.
2 tn The text has הָלַךְ (halakh, “to leave”). But in view of Job 14:20, “perish” or “depart” would be a better meaning here.
3 tn The verb נָסַע (nasa’) means “to travel” generally, but specifically it means “to pull up the tent pegs and move.” The Hiphil here means “uproot.” It is used of a vine in Ps 80:9. The idea here does not contradict Job 14:7, for there the tree still had roots and so could grow.
4 tn The NEB has “my tent rope,” but that seems too contrived here. It is absurd to pull up a tent-rope like a tree.
5 tn Heb “like a tree.” The words “one uproots” are supplied in the translation for clarity.
6 tn “Bones” is often used metonymically for the whole person, the bones being the framework, meaning everything inside, as well as the body itself.
7 sn This line means that he dies prematurely – at the height of his youthful vigor.