20:26 Total darkness waits to receive his treasures; 1
a fire which has not been kindled 2
will consume him
and devour what is left in his tent.
20:27 The heavens reveal his iniquity;
the earth rises up against him.
20:28 A flood will carry off his house,
rushing waters on the day of God’s wrath.
5:8 Those who accumulate houses are as good as dead, 3
those who also accumulate landed property 4
until there is no land left, 5
and you are the only landowners remaining within the land. 6
5:9 The Lord who commands armies told me this: 7
“Many houses will certainly become desolate,
large, impressive houses will have no one living in them. 8
1 tn Heb “all darkness is hidden for his laid up things.” “All darkness” refers to the misfortunes and afflictions that await. The verb “hidden” means “is destined for.”
2 tn Heb “not blown upon,” i.e., not kindled by man. But G. R. Driver reads “unquenched” (“Hebrew notes on the ‘Wisdom of Jesus Ben Sirach’,” JBL 53 [1934]: 289).
3 tn Heb “Woe [to] those who make a house touch a house.” The exclamation הוֹי (hoy, “woe, ah”) was used in funeral laments (see 1 Kgs 13:30; Jer 22:18; 34:5) and carries the connotation of death.
4 tn Heb “[who] bring a field near a field.”
5 tn Heb “until the end of the place”; NASB “until there is no more room.”
6 tn Heb “and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land.”
7 tn Heb “in my ears, the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts].”
8 tn Heb “great and good [houses], without a resident.”