Job 20:7

7 he will perish forever like his own ¹dung; those who have seen him will say, ²'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 ) .

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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 exulting of the wicked is short, and the joy of the godless but for a moment?

6 Though his height mount up to the heavens, and his head reach to the clouds,

7 he will perish forever like his own dung; those who have seen him will say, 'Where is he?'

8 He will fly away like a dream and not be found; he will be chased away like a vision of the night.

9 The eye that saw him will see him no more, nor will his place any more behold him.

Cross References

• 1. Psalms 83:10; Zephaniah 1:17; [1 Kings 14:10; 2 Kings 9:37]
• 2. Job 14:10