Job 20:5-8

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

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

20:6 Even though his stature ⁴  reaches to the heavens

and his head touches the clouds,

20:7 he will perish forever, like his own excrement; ⁵ 

those who used to see him will say, ‘Where is he?’

20:8 Like a dream he flies away, never again to be found, ⁶ 

and like a vision of the night he is put to flight.

Job 20:20-22

20:20 For he knows no satisfaction in his appetite; ⁷ 

he does not let anything he desires ⁸  escape. ⁹ 

20:21 “Nothing is left for him to devour; ¹⁰ 

that is why his prosperity does not last. ¹¹ 

20:22 In the fullness of his sufficiency, ¹² 

distress ¹³  overtakes him.

the full force of misery will come upon him. ¹⁴ 

Job 20:28

20:28 A flood will carry off his house,

rushing waters on the day of God’s wrath.

Habakkuk 2:6-8

The Proud Babylonians are as Good as Dead

2:6 “But all these nations will someday taunt him ¹⁵ 

and ridicule him with proverbial sayings: ¹⁶ 

‘The one who accumulates what does not belong to him is as good as dead ¹⁷ 

(How long will this go on?) ¹⁸  –

he who gets rich by extortion!’ ¹⁹ 

2:7 Your creditors will suddenly attack; ²⁰ 

those who terrify you will spring into action, ²¹ 

and they will rob you. ²² 

2:8 Because you robbed many countries, ²³ 

all who are left among the nations ²⁴  will rob you.

You have shed human blood

and committed violent acts against lands, cities, ²⁵  and those who live in them.

Zephaniah 1:18

1:18 Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them

in the day of the Lord’s angry judgment.

The whole earth ²⁶  will be consumed by his fiery wrath. ²⁷ 

Indeed, ²⁸  he will bring terrifying destruction ²⁹  on all who live on the earth.” ³⁰ 

[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.

[20:6]  ⁴ tn The word שִׂיא (si’) has been connected with the verb נָשָׂא (nasa’, “to lift up”), and so interpreted here as “pride.” The form is parallel to “head” in the next part, and so here it refers to his stature, the part that rises up and is crowned. But the verse does describe the pride of such a person, with his head in the heavens.

[20:7]  ⁵ tn There have been attempts to change the word here to “like a whirlwind,” or something similar. But many argue that there is no reason to remove a coarse expression from Zophar.

[20:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “and they do not find him.” The verb has no expressed subject, and so here is equivalent to a passive. The clause itself is taken adverbially in the sentence.

[20:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “belly,” which represents his cravings, his desires and appetites. The “satisfaction” is actually the word for “quiet; peace; calmness; ease.” He was driven by greedy desires, or he felt and displayed an insatiable greed.

[20:20]  ⁸ tn The verb is the passive participle of the verb חָמַד (khamad) which is one of the words for “covet; desire.” This person is controlled by his desires; there is no escape. He is a slave.

[20:20]  ⁹ tn The verb is difficult to translate in this line. It basically means “to cause to escape; to rescue.” Some translate this verb as “it is impossible to escape”; this may work, but is uncertain. Others translate the verb in the sense of saving something else: N. Sarna says, “Of his most cherished possessions he shall save nothing” (“The Interchange of the Preposition bet and min in Biblical Hebrew,” JBL 78 [1959]: 315-16). The RSV has “he will save nothing in which he delights”; NIV has “he cannot save himself by his treasure.”

[20:21]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “for his eating,” which is frequently rendered “for his gluttony.” It refers, of course, to all the desires he has to take things from other people.

[20:21]  ¹¹ sn The point throughout is that insatiable greed and ruthless plundering to satisfy it will be recompensed with utter and complete loss.

[20:22]  ¹² tn The word שָׂפַק (safaq) occurs only here; it means “sufficiency; wealth; abundance (see D. W. Thomas, “The Text of Jesaia 2:6 and the Word sapaq,” ZAW 75 [1963]: 88-90).

[20:22]  ¹³ tn Heb “there is straightness for him.” The root צָרַר (tsarar) means “to be narrowed in straits, to be in a bind.” The word here would have the idea of pressure, stress, trouble. One could say he is in a bind.

[20:22]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “every hand of trouble comes to him.” The pointing of עָמֵל (’amel) indicates it would refer to one who brings trouble; LXX and Latin read an abstract noun עָמָל (’amal, “trouble”) here.

[2:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Will not these, all of them, take up a taunt against him…?” The rhetorical question assumes the response, “Yes, they will.” The present translation brings out the rhetorical force of the question by rendering it as an affirmation.

[2:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and a mocking song, riddles, against him? And one will say.”

[2:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Woe [to] the one who increases [what is] not his.” The Hebrew term הוֹי (hoy, “woe,” “ah”) was used in funeral laments and carries the connotation of death.

[2:6]  ¹⁸ tn This question is interjected parenthetically, perhaps to express rhetorically the pain and despair felt by the Babylonians’ victims.

[2:6]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and the one who makes himself heavy [i.e., wealthy] [by] debts.” Though only appearing in the first line, the term הוֹי (hoy) is to be understood as elliptical in the second line.

[2:7]  ²⁰ tn Heb “Will not your creditors suddenly rise up?” The rhetorical question assumes the response, “Yes, they will.” The present translation brings out the rhetorical force of the question by rendering it as an affirmation.

[2:7]  ²¹ tn Heb “[Will not] the ones who make you tremble awake?”

[2:7]  ²² tn Heb “and you will become their plunder.”

[2:8]  ²³ tn Or “nations.”

[2:8]  ²⁴ tn Or “peoples.”

[2:8]  ²⁵ tn Heb “because of the shed blood of humankind and violence against land, city.” The singular forms אֶרֶץ (’erets, “land”) and קִרְיָה (qiryah, “city”) are collective, referring to all the lands and cities terrorized by the Babylonians.

[1:18]  ²⁶ tn Or “land” (cf. NEB). This same word also occurs at the end of the present verse.

[1:18]  ²⁷ tn Or “passion”; traditionally, “jealousy.”

[1:18]  ²⁸ tn Or “for.”

[1:18]  ²⁹ tn Heb “complete destruction, even terror, he will make.”

[1:18]  ³⁰ tn It is not certain where the Lord’s words end and the prophet’s words begin. It is possible that Zephaniah begins speaking in the middle of v. 17 or at the beginning of v. 18 (note the third person pronouns referring to the Lord).