Job 3:13

3:13 For now ¹  I would be lying down

and ²  would be quiet, ³ 

I would be asleep and then at peace ⁴ 

Job 17:14

17:14 If I cry ⁵  to corruption, ⁶  ‘You are my father,’

and to the worm, ‘My Mother,’ or ‘My sister,’

Job 21:32-33

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

and watch is kept ⁷  over the funeral mound, ⁸ 

21:33 The clods of the torrent valley ⁹  are sweet to him;

behind him everybody follows in procession,

and before him goes a countless throng.

Ecclesiastes 12:7

12:7 and the dust returns to the earth as it was,

and the life’s breath ¹⁰  returns to God who gave it.

Isaiah 26:19

26:19 ¹¹ Your dead will come back to life;

your corpses will rise up.

Wake up and shout joyfully, you who live in the ground! ¹² 

For you will grow like plants drenched with the morning dew, ¹³ 

and the earth will bring forth its dead spirits. ¹⁴ 

Daniel 12:2

12:2 Many of those who sleep

in the dusty ground will awake –

some to everlasting life,

and others to shame and everlasting abhorrence. ¹⁵ 

[3:13]  ¹ tn The word עַתָּה (’attah, “now”) may have a logical nuance here, almost with the idea of “if that had been the case…” (IBHS 667-68 §39.3.4f). However, the temporal “now” is retained in translation since the imperfect verb following two perfects “suggests what Job’s present state would be if he had had the quiet of a still birth” (J. E. Hartley, Job [NICOT], 95, n. 23). Cf. GKC 313 §106.p.

[3:13]  ² tn The copula on the verb indicates a sequence for the imperfect: “and then I would….” In the second half of the verse it is paralleled by “then.”

[3:13]  ³ tn The text uses a combination of the perfect (lie down/sleep) and imperfect (quiet/rest). The particle עַתָּה (’attah, “now”) gives to the perfect verb its conditional nuance. It presents actions in the past that are not actually accomplished but seen as possible (GKC 313 §106.p).

[3:13]  ⁴ tn The last part uses the impersonal verb “it would be at rest for me.”

[17:14]  ⁵ tn This is understood because the conditional clauses seem to run to the apodosis in v. 15.

[17:14]  ⁶ tn The word שַׁחַת (shakhat) may be the word “corruption” from a root שָׁחַת (shakhat, “to destroy”) or a word “pit” from שׁוּחַ (shuakh, “to sink down”). The same problem surfaces in Ps 16:10, where it is parallel to “Sheol.” E. F. Sutcliffe, The Old Testament and the Future Life, 76ff., defends the meaning “corruption.” But many commentators here take it to mean “the grave” in harmony with “Sheol.” But in this verse “worms” would suggest “corruption” is better.

[21:32]  ⁷ tn The verb says “he will watch.” The subject is unspecified, so the translation is passive.

[21:32]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew word refers to the tumulus, the burial mound that is erected on the spot where the person is buried.

[21:33]  ⁹ 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.

[12:7]  ¹⁰ tn Or “spirit.” The likely referent is the life’s breath that originates with God. See Eccl 3:19, as well as Gen 2:7; 6:17; 7:22.

[26:19]  ¹¹ sn At this point the Lord (or prophet) gives the people an encouraging oracle.

[26:19]  ¹² tn Heb “dust” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[26:19]  ¹³ tn Heb “for the dew of lights [is] your dew.” The pronominal suffix on “dew” is masculine singular, like the suffixes on “your dead” and “your corpses” in the first half of the verse. The statement, then, is addressed to collective Israel, the speaker in verse 18. The plural form אוֹרֹת (’orot) is probably a plural of respect or magnitude, meaning “bright light” (i.e., morning’s light). Dew is a symbol of fertility and life. Here Israel’s “dew,” as it were, will soak the dust of the ground and cause the corpses of the dead to spring up to new life, like plants sprouting up from well-watered soil.

[26:19]  ¹⁴ sn It is not certain whether the resurrection envisioned here is intended to be literal or figurative. A comparison with 25:8 and Dan 12:2 suggests a literal interpretation, but Ezek 37:1-14 uses resurrection as a metaphor for deliverance from exile and the restoration of the nation (see Isa 27:12-13).

[12:2]  ¹⁵ sn This verse is the only undisputed reference to a literal resurrection found in the Hebrew Bible.