4:19 how much more to those who live in houses of clay, 1
whose foundation is in the dust,
who are crushed 2 like 3 a moth?
12:6 But 4 the tents of robbers are peaceful,
and those who provoke God are confident 5 –
who carry their god in their hands. 6
24:13 There are those 7 who rebel against the light;
they do not know its ways
and they do not stay on its paths.
24:19 The drought as well as the heat carry away
the melted snow; 8
so the grave 9 takes away those who have sinned. 10
30:1 “But now they mock me, those who are younger 11 than I,
whose fathers I disdained too much 12
to put with my sheep dogs. 13
1 sn Those who live in houses of clay are human beings, for the human body was made of clay (Job 10:9; 33:6; and Isa 64:7). In 2 Cor 4:7 the body is an “earthen vessel” – a clay pot. The verse continues the analogy: houses have foundations, and the house of clay is founded on dust, and will return to dust (Gen 3:19; Ps 103:14). The reasoning is that if God finds defects in angels, he will surely find them in humans who are inferior to the angels because they are but dust. In fact, they are easily crushed like the moth.
2 tn The imperfect verb is in the plural, suggesting “they crush.” But since there is no subject expressed, the verb may be given an impersonal subject, or more simply, treated as a passive (see GKC 460 §144.g).
3 tn The prepositional compound לִפְנֵי (lifne) normally has the sense of “before,” but it has been used already in 3:24 in the sense of “like.” That is the most natural meaning of this line. Otherwise, the interpretation must offer some explanation of a comparison between how quickly a moth and a human can be crushed. There are suggestions for different readings here; see for example G. R. Driver, “Linguistic and Textual Problems: Jeremiah,” JQR 28 (1937/38): 97-129 for a change to “bird’s nest”; and J. A. Rimbach, “‘Crushed before the Moth’ (Job 4:19),” JBL 100 (1981): 244-46, for a change of the verb to “they are pure before their Maker.” However, these are unnecessary emendations.
4 tn The verse gives the other side of the coin now, the fact that the wicked prosper.
5 tn The plural is used to suggest the supreme degree of arrogant confidence (E. Dhorme, Job, 171).
6 sn The line is perhaps best understood as describing one who thinks he is invested with the power of God.
7 tn Heb “They are among those who.”
8 tn Heb “the waters of the snow.”
9 tn Or “so Sheol.”
10 tn This is the meaning of the verse, which in Hebrew only has “The grave / they have sinned.”
11 tn Heb “smaller than I for days.”
12 tn Heb “who I disdained their fathers to set…,” meaning “whose fathers I disdained to set.” The relative clause modifies the young fellows who mock; it explains that Job did not think highly enough of them to put them with the dogs. The next verse will explain why.
13 sn Job is mocked by young fellows who come from low extraction. They mocked their elders and their betters. The scorn is strong here – dogs were despised as scavengers.