Job 20:8

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

Job 20:8 in Other Translations

8 He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.

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

8 They will fade like a dream and not be found. They will vanish like a vision in the night.

8 They fly off like a dream that can't be remembered, like a shadowy illusion that vanishes in the light.

8 He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: Yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.

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

8 He will fly away like a dream and never be found; he will be chased away like a vision in the night.

8 Like a dream they will fly away. They will never be seen again. They will be driven away like visions in the night.

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 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.

10 His children must make amends to the poor; his own hands must give back his wealth.

Cross References

• 1. Psalms 73:20; Ecclesiastes 5:3
• 2. Psalms 90:10; Ecclesiastes 6:12; Ecclesiastes 12:7; Job 27:21-23
• 3. S Job 18:11; Job 18:18
• 4. Job 27:20; Job 34:20; Psalms 90:5; Isaiah 17:14; Isaiah 29:7