Job 18:16-19

18:16 Below his roots dry up,

and his branches wither above.

18:17 His memory perishes from the earth,

he has no name in the land. ¹ 

18:18 He is driven ²  from light into darkness

and is banished from the world.

18:19 He has neither children nor descendants ³  among his people,

no survivor in those places he once stayed. ⁴ 

[18:17]  ¹ tn Heb “outside.” Cf. ESV, “in the street,” referring to absence from his community’s memory.

[18:18]  ¹ tn The verbs in this verse are plural; without the expressed subject they should be taken in the passive sense.

[18:19]  ¹ tn The two words נִין (nin, “offspring”) and נֶכֶד (nekhed, “posterity”) are always together and form an alliteration. This is hard to capture in English, but some have tried: Moffatt had “son and scion,” and Tur-Sinai had “breed or brood.” But the words are best simply translated as “lineage and posterity” or as in the NIV “offspring or descendants.”

[18:19]  ² tn Heb “in his sojournings.” The verb גּוּר (gur) means “to reside; to sojourn” temporarily, without land rights. Even this word has been selected to stress the temporary nature of his stay on earth.