14:7 “But there is hope for 1 a tree: 2
If it is cut down, it will sprout again,
and its new shoots will not fail.
24:20 The womb 3 forgets him,
the worm feasts on him,
no longer will he be remembered.
Like a tree, wickedness will be broken down.
30:4 By the brush 4 they would gather 5 herbs from the salt marshes, 6
and the root of the broom tree was their food.
1 tn The genitive after the construct is one of advantage – it is hope for the tree.
2 sn The figure now changes to a tree for the discussion of the finality of death. At least the tree will sprout again when it is cut down. Why, Job wonders, should what has been granted to the tree not also be granted to humans?
3 tn Here “womb” is synecdoche, representing one’s mother.
4 tn Or “the leaves of bushes” (ESV), a possibility dating back to Saadia and discussed by G. R. Driver and G. B. Gray (Job [ICC], 2:209) in their philological notes.
5 tn Here too the form is the participle with the article.
6 tn Heb “gather mallow,” a plant which grows in salt marshes.