Job 20:7-9

20:7 he will perish forever, like his own excrement; ¹ 

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

20:8 Like a dream he flies away, never again to be found, ² 

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

20:9 People ³  who had seen him will not see him again,

and the place where he was

will recognize him no longer.

[20:7]  ¹ 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]  ² 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.

[20:9]  ³ tn Heb “the eye that had seen him.” Here a part of the person (the eye, the instrument of vision) is put by metonymy for the entire person.