Job 22:16

men ¹  who were carried off ²  before their time, ³  when the flood ⁴  was poured out ⁵  on their foundations? ⁶ 

They were carried off before their time, their foundations washed away by a flood.

Who were snatched away before their time, Whose foundations were washed away by a river?

They were snatched away in the prime of life, and the foundations of their lives were washed away forever.

Where did it get them? They died young, flash floods sweeping them off to their doom.

Who were violently taken away before their time, who were overcome by the rush of waters:

They were snatched away before their time; their foundation was washed away by a flood.

Who were cut down before their time, Whose foundations were swept away by a flood?

men ¹  who were carried off ²  before their time, ³  when the flood ⁴  was poured out ⁵  on their foundations? ⁶ 

¹ tn The word “men” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied to clarify the relative pronoun “who.”

² tn The verb קָמַט (qamat) basically means “to seize; to tie together to make a bundle.” So the Pual will mean “to be bundled away; to be carried off.”

³ tn The clause has “and [it was] not the time.” It may be used adverbially here.

⁴ tn The word is נָהַר (nahar, “river” or “current”); it is taken here in its broadest sense of the waters on the earth that formed the current of the flood (Gen 7:6, 10).

⁵ tn The verb יָצַק (yatsaq) means “to pour out; to shed; to spill; to flow.” The Pual means “to be poured out” (as in Lev 21:10 and Ps 45:3).

⁶ tn This word is then to be taken as an adverbial accusative of place. Another way to look at this verse is what A. B. Davidson (Job, 165) proposes “whose foundation was poured away and became a flood.” This would mean that that on which they stood sank away.