Job 20:7

7 he shall be lost in the end, as a dunghill; and, they that have seen him, shall say, Where is he? (he shall be discarded in the end, like his own dung; and then they who have seen him, shall say, Where is he?)

Job 20:7 Meaning and Commentary

Job 20:7

[Yet] he shall perish for ever like his own dung
Not only in this world, but in the world to come, both in his outward substance here, and in his body in the grave, and in his soul to all eternity, and that in the most shameful and disgraceful manner; he shall perish in his own corruption, and like his own dung inevitably, which is never returned to its place again: dead bodies were reckoned by the ancients as dung, and the carcasses of men are rather to be cast out than dung {i}; and the Arabians used, to bury in dunghills even their kings F11; to which some F12 think the allusion is:

they which have seen him shall say, where [is] he?
such as formerly gazed at him, in his prosperity, with wonder and amazement at his grandeur and greatness, now being removed from his outward splendour, or from the world, by death, ask where he is, not being able to see him in his former lustre, nor in the land of the living; see ( Job 14:10 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F9 Heraclitus apud Strabo. Geograph. l. 16. p. 539.
F11 Strabo, ib.
F12 Pineda in loc.

Job 20:7 In-Context

5 that the praising of wicked men is short(-lived), and the joy of an hypocrite is at the likeness of a point soon passing (away).
6 Though his pride go up into (the) heaven(s), and his head toucheth the clouds,
7 he shall be lost in the end, as a dunghill; and, they that have seen him, shall say, Where is he? (he shall be discarded in the end, like his own dung; and then they who have seen him, shall say, Where is he?)
8 As a dream flying away, or soon forgotten, he shall not be found; he shall pass as the sight of nights. (Like a dream flying away, or soon forgotten, he shall not be found; he shall pass away like a vision in the night.)
9 The eye that saw him shall not see him again; and his place shall no more behold him.
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.