Job 20:8

8 "He flies away like a ¹dream, and they cannot find him; Even like a vision of the night he is ²chased away.

Job 20:8 Meaning and Commentary

Job 20:8

He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found
Either as a dream which is forgotten, as Nebuchadnezzar's was, and cannot be recovered; or as the matter and substance of a dream, which, though remembered, is a mere illusion; as when a hungry or thirsty man dreams he eats or drinks, but, awaking, finds himself empty, and not at all refreshed; what he fancied is fled and gone ^F13, and indeed never had any existence but in his imagination, ( Isaiah 29:8 ) ;

yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night;
either the same as a nocturnal dream, or what a man fancies he sees in his dream; or like a mere spectre or apparition, which is a mere phantom, and, when followed and pursued, vanishes and disappears; so such a man before described is chased out of the world, and is seen in it no more, see ( Job 18:18 ) ; the first clause, according to Sephorno, refers to the generation of the flood, and the second to the slaying of the firstborn of Egypt in the night.

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FOOTNOTES:

F13 (skiav onar anyrwpoi) , Pindar. Pythia, Ode 8.

Job 20:8 In-Context

6 "Though his loftiness reaches the heavens, And his head touches the clouds,

7 He perishes forever like his refuse; Those who have seen him will say, 'Where is he?'

8 "He flies away like a dream, and they cannot find him; Even like a vision of the night he is chased away.

9 "The eye which saw him sees him no longer, And his place no longer beholds him.

10 "His sons favor the poor, And his hands give back his wealth.

Cross References

• 1. Psalms 73:20; Psalms 90:5
• 2. Job 18:18; Job 27:21-23