Psalms 73:20

They are like a dream after one wakes up. ¹  O Lord, when you awake ²  you will despise them. ³ 

Job 20:8; Ps 7:6; Ps 39:6; Ps 78:65; Ps 90:5; Isa 29:7,8

¹ tn Heb “like a dream from awakening.” They lack any real substance; their prosperity will last for only a brief time.

² sn When you awake. The psalmist compares God’s inactivity to sleep and the time of God’s judgment to his awakening from sleep.

³ tn Heb “you will despise their form.” The Hebrew term צֶלֶם (tselem, “form; image”) also suggests their short-lived nature. Rather than having real substance, they are like the mere images that populate one’s dreams. Note the similar use of the term in Ps 39:6.