Ecclesiastes 3:20

3:20 Both go to the same place,

both come from the dust,

and to dust both return.

Ecclesiastes 12:7

12:7 and the dust returns to the earth as it was,

and the life’s breath ¹  returns to God who gave it.

Job 1:21

1:21 He said, “Naked ²  I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will return there. ³  The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. ⁴  May the name of the Lord ⁵  be blessed!”

Job 30:23

30:23 I know that you are bringing ⁶  me to death,

to the meeting place for all the living.

Hebrews 9:27

9:27 And just as people ⁷  are appointed to die once, and then to face judgment, ⁸ 

[12:7]  ¹ tn Or “spirit.” The likely referent is the life’s breath that originates with God. See Eccl 3:19, as well as Gen 2:7; 6:17; 7:22.

[1:21]  ² tn The adjective “naked” is functioning here as an adverbial accusative of state, explicative of the state of the subject. While it does include the literal sense of nakedness at birth, Job is also using it symbolically to mean “without possessions.”

[1:21]  ³ sn While the first half of the couplet is to be taken literally as referring to his coming into this life, this second part must be interpreted only generally to refer to his departure from this life. It is parallel to 1 Tim 6:7, “For we have brought nothing into this world and so we cannot take a single thing out either.”

[1:21]  ⁴ tn The two verbs are simple perfects. (1) They can be given the nuance of gnomic imperfect, expressing what the sovereign God always does. This is the approach taken in the present translation. Alternatively (2) they could be referring specifically to Job’s own experience: “Yahweh gave [definite past, referring to his coming into this good life] and Yahweh has taken away” [present perfect, referring to his great losses]. Many English versions follow the second alternative.

[1:21]  ⁵ sn Some commentators are troubled by the appearance of the word “Yahweh” on the lips of Job, assuming that the narrator inserted his own name for God into the story-telling. Such thinking is based on the assumption that Yahweh was only a national god of Israel, unknown to anyone else in the ancient world. But here is a clear indication that a non-Israelite, Job, knew and believed in Yahweh.

[30:23]  ⁶ tn The imperfect verb would be a progressive imperfect, it is future, but it is also already underway.

[9:27]  ⁷ tn Here ἀνθρώποις (anqrwpoi") has been translated as a generic noun (“people”).

[9:27]  ⁸ tn Grk “and after this – judgment.”