Job 20:26-28

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.

Isaiah 5:8-9

Disaster is Coming

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 

[20:26]  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.”

[20:26]  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).

[5:8]  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.

[5:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “[who] bring a field near a field.”

[5:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “until the end of the place”; NASB “until there is no more room.”

[5:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land.”

[5:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “in my ears, the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts].”

[5:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “great and good [houses], without a resident.”