Job 21:23

Death Levels Everything

21:23 “One man dies in his full vigor, ¹ 

completely secure and prosperous,

Job 21:32-34

21:32 And when he is carried to the tombs,

and watch is kept ²  over the funeral mound, ³ 

21:33 The clods of the torrent valley ⁴  are sweet to him;

behind him everybody follows in procession,

and before him goes a countless throng.

21:34 So how can you console me with your futile words?

Nothing is left of your answers but deception!” ⁵ 

Psalms 49:14

49:14 They will travel to Sheol like sheep, ⁶ 

with death as their shepherd. ⁷ 

The godly will rule ⁸  over them when the day of vindication dawns; ⁹ 

Sheol will consume their bodies and they will no longer live in impressive houses. ¹⁰ 

Psalms 58:8-9

58:8 Let them be ¹¹  like a snail that melts away as it moves along! ¹² 

Let them be like ¹³  stillborn babies ¹⁴  that never see the sun!

58:9 Before the kindling is even placed under your pots, ¹⁵ 

he ¹⁶  will sweep it away along with both the raw and cooked meat. ¹⁷ 

Psalms 68:2

68:2 As smoke is driven away by the wind, so you drive them away. ¹⁸ 

As wax melts before fire,

so the wicked are destroyed before God.

Proverbs 14:32

14:32 The wicked will be thrown down in his trouble, ¹⁹ 

but the righteous have refuge ²⁰  even in the threat of death. ²¹ 

Ecclesiastes 9:4-6

Better to Be Poor but Alive than Rich but Dead

9:4 But whoever is among ²²  the living ²³  has hope;

a live dog is better than a dead lion.

9:5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead do not know anything;

they have no further reward – and even the memory of them disappears. ²⁴ 

9:6 What they loved, ²⁵  as well as what they hated ²⁶  and envied, ²⁷  perished long ago,

and they no longer have a part in anything that happens on earth. ²⁸ 

Luke 12:20

12:20 But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life ²⁹  will be demanded back from ³⁰  you, but who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ ³¹ 

Luke 16:22

16:22 “Now ³²  the poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. ³³  The ³⁴  rich man also died and was buried. ³⁵ 

[21:23]  ¹ tn The line has “in the bone of his perfection.” The word עֶצֶם (’etsem), which means “bone,” is used pronominally to express “the same, very”; here it is “in the very fullness of his strength” (see GKC 449 §139.g). The abstract תֹּם (tom) is used here in the sense of physical perfection and strengths.

[21:32]  ² tn The verb says “he will watch.” The subject is unspecified, so the translation is passive.

[21:32]  ³ tn The Hebrew word refers to the tumulus, the burial mound that is erected on the spot where the person is buried.

[21:33]  ⁴ tn The clods are those that are used to make a mound over the body. And, for a burial in the valley, see Deut 34:6. The verse here sees him as participating in his funeral and enjoying it. Nothing seems to go wrong with the wicked.

[21:34]  ⁵ tn The word מָעַל (ma’al) is used for “treachery; deception; fraud.” Here Job is saying that their way of interpreting reality is dangerously unfaithful.

[49:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “like sheep to Sheol they are appointed.” The verb form שַׁתּוּ (shatu) is apparently derived from שָׁתַת (shatat), which appears to be a variant of the more common שִׁית (shiyt, “to place; to set”; BDB 1060 s.v. שָׁתַת and GKC 183 §67.ee). Some scholars emend the text to שָׁחוּ (shakhu; from the verbal root שׁוּח [shukh, “sink down”]) and read “they descend.” The present translation assumes an emendation to שָׁטוּ (shatu; from the verbal root שׁוּט [shut, “go; wander”]), “they travel, wander.” (The letter tet [ט] and tav [ת] sound similar; a scribe transcribing from dictation could easily confuse them.) The perfect verbal form is used in a rhetorical manner to speak of their destiny as if it were already realized (the so-called perfect of certitude or prophetic perfect).

[49:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “death will shepherd them,” that is, death itself (personified here as a shepherd) will lead them like a flock of helpless, unsuspecting sheep to Sheol, the underworld, the land of the dead.

[49:14]  ⁸ tn The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive carries the same force as the perfect verbal form in v. 14a. The psalmist speaks of this coming event as if it were already accomplished.

[49:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “will rule over them in the morning.” “Morning” here is a metaphor for a time of deliverance and vindication after the dark “night” of trouble (see Pss 30:5; 46:5; 59:16; 90:14; 143:8; Isa 17:14). In this context the psalmist confidently anticipates a day of vindication when the Lord will deliver the oppressed from the rich (see v. 15) and send the oppressors to Sheol.

[49:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “their form [will become an object] for the consuming of Sheol, from a lofty residence, to him.” The meaning of this syntactically difficult text is uncertain. The translation assumes that צוּר (tsur, “form”; this is the Qere [marginal] reading; the Kethib has צִירָם [tsiram, “their image”]) refers to their physical form or bodies. “Sheol” is taken as the subject of “consume” (on the implied “become” before the infinitive “to consume” see GKC 349 §114.k). The preposition מִן (min) prefixed to “lofty residence” is understood as privative, “away from; so as not.” The preposition -ל (lamed) is possessive, while the third person pronominal suffix is understood as a representative singular.

[58:8]  ¹¹ tn There is no “to be” verb in the Hebrew text at this point, but a jussive tone can be assumed based on vv. 6-7.

[58:8]  ¹² tn Heb “like a melting snail [that] moves along.” A. Cohen (Psalms [SoBB], 184) explains that the text here alludes “to the popular belief that the slimy trail which the snail leaves in its track is the dissolution of its substance.”

[58:8]  ¹³ tn The words “let them be like” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. The jussive mood is implied from the preceding context, and “like” is understood by ellipsis (see the previous line).

[58:8]  ¹⁴ tn This rare word also appears in Job 3:16 and Eccles 6:3.

[58:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “before your pots perceive thorns.”

[58:9]  ¹⁶ tn Apparently God (v. 6) is the subject of the verb here.

[58:9]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “like living, like burning anger he will sweep it away.” The meaning of the text is unclear. The translation assumes that within the cooking metaphor (see the previous line) חַי (khay, “living”) refers here to raw meat (as in 1 Sam 2:15, where it modifies בָּשָׂר, basar, “flesh”) and that חָרוּן (kharun; which always refers to God’s “burning anger” elsewhere) here refers to food that is cooked. The pronominal suffix on the verb “sweep away” apparently refers back to the “thorns” of the preceding line. The image depicts swift and sudden judgment. Before the fire has been adequately kindled and all the meat cooked, the winds of judgment will sweep away everything in their path.

[68:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “as smoke is scattered, you scatter [them].”

[14:32]  ¹⁹ tn The prepositional phrase must be “in his time of trouble” (i.e., when catastrophe comes). Cf. CEV “In times of trouble the wicked are destroyed.” A wicked person has nothing to fall back on in such times.

[14:32]  ²⁰ sn The righteous have hope in a just retribution – they have a place of safety even in death.

[14:32]  ²¹ tc The LXX reads this as “in his integrity,” as if it were בְּתוּמּוֹ (bÿtumo) instead of “in his death” (בְּמוֹתוֹ, bÿmoto). The LXX is followed by some English versions (e.g., NAB “in his honesty,” NRSV “in their integrity,” and TEV “by their integrity”).

[9:4]  ²² tn The consonantal text (Kethib) has “is chosen, selected.” The translation follows the marginal reading (Qere), “is joined.” See BDB 288 s.v. חָבַר Pu.

[9:4]  ²³ tn Heb “all the living.”

[9:5]  ²⁴ tn Heb “for their memory is forgotten.” The pronominal suffix is an objective genitive, “memory of them.”

[9:6]  ²⁵ tn Heb “their love.”

[9:6]  ²⁶ tn Heb “their hatred.”

[9:6]  ²⁷ tn Heb “their envy.”

[9:6]  ²⁸ tn Heb “under the sun.”

[12:20]  ²⁹ tn Grk “your soul,” but ψυχή (yuch) is frequently used of one’s physical life. It clearly has that meaning in this context.

[12:20]  ³⁰ tn Or “required back.” This term, ἀπαιτέω (apaitew), has an economic feel to it and is often used of a debt being called in for repayment (BDAG 96 s.v. 1).

[12:20]  ³¹ tn Grk “the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” The words “for yourself” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.

[16:22]  ³² tn Grk “Now it happened that the.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[16:22]  ³³ tn Grk “to Abraham’s bosom.” The phrase “carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom” describes being gathered to the fathers and is a way to refer to heaven (Gen 15:15; 47:30; Deut 31:16).

[16:22]  ³⁴ tn Grk “And the.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[16:22]  ³⁵ sn The shorter description suggests a different fate, which is confirmed in the following verses.