14:18 But as 1 a mountain falls away and crumbles, 2
and as a rock will be removed from its place,
14:19 as water wears away stones,
and torrents 3 wash away the soil, 4
so you destroy man’s hope. 5
1 tn The indication that this is a simile is to be obtained from the conjunction beginning 19c (see GKC 499 §161.a).
2 tn The word יִבּוֹל (yibbol) usually refers to a flower fading and so seems strange here. The LXX and the Syriac translate “and will fall”; most commentators accept this and repoint the preceding word to get “and will surely fall.” Duhm retains the MT and applies the image of the flower to the falling mountain. The verb is used of the earth in Isa 24:4, and so NIV, RSV, and NJPS all have the idea of “crumble away.”
3 tn Heb “the overflowings of it”; the word סְפִיחֶיהָ (sÿfikheyha) in the text is changed by just about everyone. The idea of “its overflowings” or more properly “its aftergrowths” (Lev 25:5; 2 Kgs 19:29; etc.) does not fit here at all. Budde suggested reading סְחִפָה (sÿkhifah), which is cognate to Arabic sahifeh, “torrential rain, rainstorm” – that which sweeps away” the soil. The word סָחַף (sakhaf) in Hebrew might have a wider usage than the effects of rain.
4 tn Heb “[the] dust of [the] earth.”
5 sn The meaning for Job is that death shatters all of man’s hopes for the continuation of life.