11:20 But the eyes of the wicked fail, 1
and escape 2 eludes them;
their one hope 3 is to breathe their last.” 4
1 tn The verb כָּלָה (kalah) means “to fail, cease, fade away.” The fading of the eyes, i.e., loss of sight, loss of life’s vitality, indicates imminent death.
2 tn Heb a “place of escape” (with this noun pattern). There is no place to escape to because they all perish.
3 tn The word is to be interpreted as a metonymy; it represents what is hoped for.
4 tn Heb “the breathing out of the soul”; cf. KJV, ASV “the giving up of the ghost.” The line is simply saying that the brightest hope that the wicked have is death.