6:17 When they are scorched, 1 they dry up,
when it is hot, they vanish 2 from their place.
37:10 Evil men will soon disappear; 3
you will stare at the spot where they once were, but they will be gone. 4
37:36 But then one passes by, and suddenly they have disappeared! 5
I looked for them, but they could not be found.
103:16 but when the hot wind 6 blows by, it disappears,
and one can no longer even spot the place where it once grew.
20:11 Then 11 I saw a large 12 white throne and the one who was seated on it; the earth and the heaven 13 fled 14 from his presence, and no place was found for them.
1 tn The verb יְזֹרְבוּ (yÿzorÿvu, “burnt, scorched”) occurs only here. A good number of interpretations take the root as a by-form of צָרַב (tsarav) which means in the Niphal “to be burnt” (Ezek 21:3). The expression then would mean “in the time they are burnt,” a reference to the scorching heat of the summer (“when the great heat comes”) and the rivers dry up. Qimchi connected it to the Arabic “canal,” and this has led to the suggestion by E. Dhorme (Job, 88) that the root זָרַב (zarav) would mean “to flow.” In the Piel it would be “to cause to flow,” and in the passive “to be made to flow,” or “melt.” This is attractive, but it does require the understanding (or supplying) of “ice/snow” as the subject. G. R. Driver took the same meaning but translated it “when they (the streams) pour down in torrents, they (straightway) die down” (ZAW 65 [1953]: 216-17). Both interpretations capture the sense of the brooks drying up.
2 tn The verb נִדְעֲכוּ (nid’akhu) literally means “they are extinguished” or “they vanish” (cf. 18:5-6; 21:17). The LXX, perhaps confusing the word with the verb יָדַע (yada’, “to know”) has “and it is not known what it was.”
3 tn Heb “and yet, a little, there will be no wicked [one].”
4 tn Heb “and you will carefully look upon his place, but he will not be [there].” The singular is used here in a representative sense; the typical evildoer is in view.
5 tn Heb “and he passes by and, look, he is not [there].” The subject of the verb “passes by” is probably indefinite, referring to any passerby. Some prefer to change the form to first person, “and I passed by” (cf. NEB; note the first person verbal forms in preceding verse and in the following line).
6 tn Heb “[the] wind.” The word “hot” is supplied in the translation for clarification.
7 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the implied contrast.
8 tn The words “to prevail” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.
9 tn Grk “found.”
10 tn Grk “for them”; the referent (the dragon and his angels, v. 7) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
11 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.
12 tn Traditionally, “great,” but μέγας (megas) here refers to size rather than importance.
13 tn Or “and the sky.” The same Greek word means both “heaven” and “sky,” and context usually determines which is meant. In this apocalyptic scene, however, it is difficult to be sure what referent to assign the term.
14 tn Or “vanished.”