Psalms 37:35-36

37:35 I have seen ruthless evil men ¹ 

growing in influence, like a green tree grows in its native soil. ² 

37:36 But then one passes by, and suddenly they have disappeared! ³ 

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

Psalms 49:10

49:10 Surely ⁴  one sees ⁵  that even wise people die; ⁶ 

fools and spiritually insensitive people all pass away ⁷ 

and leave their wealth to others. ⁸ 

Psalms 103:16

103:16 but when the hot wind ⁹  blows by, it disappears,

and one can no longer even spot the place where it once grew.

Job 7:10

7:10 He returns no more to his house,

nor does his place of residence ¹⁰  know him ¹¹  any more.

Job 7:21

7:21 And why do you not pardon my transgression,

and take away my iniquity?

For now I will lie down in the dust, ¹² 

and you will seek me diligently, ¹³ 

but I will be gone.”

Job 14:10

14:10 But man ¹⁴  dies and is powerless; ¹⁵ 

he expires – and where is he? ¹⁶ 

Job 20:8-9

20:8 Like a dream he flies away, never again to be found, ¹⁷ 

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

20:9 People ¹⁸  who had seen him will not see him again,

and the place where he was

will recognize him no longer.

Luke 12:20-21

12:20 But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life ¹⁹  will be demanded back from ²⁰  you, but who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ ²¹  12:21 So it is with the one who stores up riches for himself, ²²  but is not rich toward God.”

Luke 16:27-28

16:27 So ²³  the rich man ²⁴  said, ‘Then I beg you, father – send Lazarus ²⁵  to my father’s house 16:28 (for I have five brothers) to warn ²⁶  them so that they don’t come ²⁷  into this place of torment.’

[37:35]  ¹ tn The Hebrew uses the representative singular again here.

[37:35]  ² 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]  ³ 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).

[49:10]  ⁴ tn The particle כִּי (ki) is understood here as asseverative (emphatic).

[49:10]  ⁵ tn The subject of the verb is probably the typical “man” mentioned in v. 7. The imperfect can be taken here as generalizing or as indicating potential (“surely he/one can see”).

[49:10]  ⁶ tn The imperfect verbal forms here and in the next line draw attention to what is characteristically true. The vav (ו) consecutive with perfect in the third line carries the same force.

[49:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “together a fool and a brutish [man] perish.” The adjective בַּעַר (ba’ar, “brutish”) refers to spiritual insensitivity, not mere lack of intelligence or reasoning ability (see Pss 73:22; 92:6; Prov 12:1; 30:2, as well as the use of the related verb in Ps 94:8).

[49:10]  ⁸ sn Death shows no respect for anyone. No matter how wise or foolish an individual happens to be, all pass away.

[103:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “[the] wind.” The word “hot” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[7:10]  ¹⁰ tn M. Dahood suggests the meaning is the same as “his abode” (“Hebrew-Ugaritic Lexicography V,” Bib 48 [1967]: 421-38).

[7:10]  ¹¹ tn The verb means “to recognize” by seeing. “His place,” the place where he was living, is the subject of the verb. This personification is intended simply to say that the place where he lived will not have him any more. The line is very similar to Ps 103:16b – when the wind blows the flower away, its place knows it no more.

[7:21]  ¹² tn The LXX has, “for now I will depart to the earth.”

[7:21]  ¹³ tn The verb שָׁחַר (shakhar) in the Piel has been translated “to seek early in the morning” because of the possible link with the word “dawn.” But the verb more properly means “to seek diligently” (by implication).

[14:10]  ¹⁴ tn There are two words for “man” in this verse. The first (גֶּבֶר, gever) can indicate a “strong” or “mature man” or “mighty man,” the hero; and the second (אָדָם, ’adam) simply designates the person as mortal.

[14:10]  ¹⁵ tn The word חָלַשׁ (khalash) in Aramaic and Syriac means “to be weak” (interestingly, the Syriac OT translated חָלַשׁ [khalash] with “fade away” here). The derived noun “the weak” would be in direct contrast to “the mighty man.” In the transitive sense the verb means “to weaken; to defeat” (Exod 17:13); here it may have the sense of “be lifeless, unconscious, inanimate” (cf. E. Dhorme, Job, 199). Many commentators emend the text to יַחֲלֹף (yakhalof, “passes on; passes away”). A. Guillaume tries to argue that the form is a variant of the other, the letters שׁ (shin) and פ (pe) being interchangeable (“The Use of halas in Exod 17:13, Isa 14:12, and Job 14:10,” JTS 14 [1963]: 91-92). G. R. Driver connected it to Arabic halasa, “carry off suddenly” (“The Resurrection of Marine and Terrestrial Creatures,” JSS 7 [1962]: 12-22). But the basic idea of “be weak, powerless” is satisfactory in the text. H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 105) says, “Where words are so carefully chosen, it is gratuitous to substitute less expressive words as some editors do.”

[14:10]  ¹⁶ tn This break to a question adds a startling touch to the whole verse. The obvious meaning is that he is gone. The LXX weakens it: “and is no more.”

[20:8]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ 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.

[12:20]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ 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]  ²¹ tn Grk “the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” The words “for yourself” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.

[12:21]  ²² sn It is selfishness that is rebuked here, in the accumulation of riches for himself. Recall the emphasis on the first person pronouns throughout the parable.

[16:27]  ²³ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate the rich man’s response to Abraham’s words.

[16:27]  ²⁴ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the rich man, v. 19) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:27]  ²⁵ tn Grk “Then I beg you, father, that you send him”; the referent (Lazarus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:28]  ²⁶ sn To warn them. The warning would consist of a call to act differently than their dead brother had, or else meet his current terrible fate.

[16:28]  ²⁷ tn Grk “lest they also come.”