Job 20:7

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

Job 20:7 in Other Translations

7 Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where is he?

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

7 yet they will vanish forever, thrown away like their own dung. Those who knew them will ask, ‘Where are they?’

7 But still end up in a pile of dung. Acquaintances look at them with disgust and say, 'What's that?'

7 he will vanish forever like his own dung. Those who know him will ask, "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 mirth of the wicked is brief, the joy of the godless lasts but a moment.

6 Though the pride of the godless person reaches to the heavens and his head touches the clouds,

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

8 Like a dream he flies away, no more to be found, banished like a vision of the night.

9 The eye that saw him will not see him again; his place will look on him no more.

Cross References

• 1. S Job 4:20
• 2. S Job 7:8; S Job 14:20; Job 7:10; Job 8:18