Job 20:5

20:5 that the elation of the wicked is brief, ¹ 

the joy of the godless ²  lasts but a moment. ³ 

Psalms 37:10

37:10 Evil men will soon disappear; ⁴ 

you will stare at the spot where they once were, but they will be gone. ⁵ 

Psalms 37:35-36

37:35 I have seen ruthless evil men ⁶ 

growing in influence, like a green tree grows in its native soil. ⁷ 

37:36 But then one passes by, and suddenly they have disappeared! ⁸ 

I looked for them, but they could not be found.

Psalms 73:19

73:19 How desolate they become in a mere moment!

Terrifying judgments make their demise complete! ⁹ 

Psalms 92:7

92:7 When the wicked sprout up like grass,

and all the evildoers glisten, ¹⁰ 

it is so that they may be annihilated. ¹¹ 

James 1:11

1:11 For the sun rises with its heat and dries up the meadow; the petal of the flower falls off and its beauty is lost forever. ¹²  So also the rich person in the midst of his pursuits will wither away.

James 5:1-3

Warning to the Rich

5:1 Come now, you rich! Weep and cry aloud ¹³  over the miseries that are coming on you. 5:2 Your riches have rotted and your clothing has become moth-eaten. 5:3 Your gold and silver have rusted and their rust will be a witness against you. It will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have hoarded treasure! ¹⁴ 

[20:5]  ¹ tn The expression in the text is “quite near.” This indicates that it is easily attained, and that its end is near.

[20:5]  ² tn For the discussion of חָנֵף (khanef, “godless”) see Job 8:13.

[20:5]  ³ tn The phrase is “until a moment,” meaning it is short-lived. But see J. Barr, “Hebrew ’ad, especially at Job 1:18 and Neh 7:3,” JSS 27 (1982): 177-88.

[37:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “and yet, a little, there will be no wicked [one].”

[37:10]  ⁵ 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.

[37:35]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew uses the representative singular again here.

[37:35]  ⁷ tn Heb “being exposed [?] like a native, luxuriant.” The Hebrew form מִתְעָרֶה (mit’areh) appears to be a Hitpael participle from עָרָה (’arah, “be exposed”), but this makes no sense in this context. Perhaps the form is a dialectal variant of מִתְעָלָה (“giving oneself an air of importance”; see Jer 51:3), from עָלָה (’alah, “go up”; see P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 [WBC], 296). The noun אֶזְרָח (’ezrakh, “native, full citizen”) refers elsewhere to people, but here, where it is collocated with “luxuriant, green,” it probably refers to a tree growing in native soil.

[37:36]  ⁸ 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).

[73:19]  ⁹ tn Heb “they come to an end, they are finished, from terrors.”

[92:7]  ¹⁰ tn Or “flourish.”

[92:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “in order that they might be destroyed permanently.”

[1:11]  ¹² tn Or “perishes,” “is destroyed.”

[5:1]  ¹³ tn Or “wail”; Grk “crying aloud.”

[5:3]  ¹⁴ tn Or “hoarded up treasure for the last days”; Grk “in the last days.”