Job 20:8

8 Il s'envolera comme un songe, et on ne le trouvera plus; il s'évanouira comme un rêve de la nuit.

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.


FOOTNOTES:

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

Job 20:8 In-Context

6 Quand son élévation monterait jusqu'aux cieux, et quand sa tête atteindrait les nues,
7 Il périra pour toujours, comme son ordure; ceux qui le voyaient diront: Où est-il?
8 Il s'envolera comme un songe, et on ne le trouvera plus; il s'évanouira comme un rêve de la nuit.
9 L'œil qui l'a vu ne le verra plus, et son lieu ne l'apercevra plus.
10 Ses enfants feront la cour aux pauvres, et ses propres mains restitueront ses biens.
The Ostervald translation is in the public domain.