Ayub 18:11

18:11 Terrors ¹  frighten him on all sides

and dog ²  his every step.

Yesaya 14:19

14:19 But you have been thrown out of your grave

like a shoot that is thrown away. ³ 

You lie among ⁴  the slain,

among those who have been slashed by the sword,

among those headed for ⁵  the stones of the pit, ⁶ 

as if you were a mangled corpse. ⁷ 

Yesaya 17:13

17:13 Though these people make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves, ⁸ 

when he shouts at ⁹  them, they will flee to a distant land,

driven before the wind like dead weeds on the hills,

or like dead thistles ¹⁰  before a strong gale.

[18:11]  ¹ sn Bildad is referring here to all the things that afflict a person and cause terror. It would then be a metonymy of effect, the cause being the afflictions.

[18:11]  ² tn The verb פּוּץ (puts) in the Hiphil has the meaning “to pursue” and “to scatter.” It is followed by the expression “at his feet.” So the idea is easily derived: they chase him at his feet. But some commentators have other proposals. The most far-fetched is that of Ehrlich and Driver (ZAW 24 [1953]: 259-60) which has “and compel him to urinate on his feet,” one of many similar readings the NEB accepted from Driver.

[14:19]  ³ tn Heb “like a shoot that is abhorred.” The simile seems a bit odd; apparently it refers to a small shoot that is trimmed from a plant and tossed away. Some prefer to emend נֵצֶר (netser, “shoot”); some propose נֵפֶל (nefel, “miscarriage”). In this case one might paraphrase: “like a horrible-looking fetus that is delivered when a woman miscarries.”

[14:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “are clothed with.”

[14:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “those going down to.”

[14:19]  ⁶ tn בּוֹר (bor) literally means “cistern”; cisterns were constructed from stones. On the metaphorical use of “cistern” for the underworld, see the note at v. 15.

[14:19]  ⁷ tn Heb “like a trampled corpse.” Some take this line with what follows.

[17:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “the peoples are in an uproar like the uproar of mighty waters.”

[17:13]  ⁹ tn Or “rebukes.” The verb and related noun are used in theophanies of God’s battle cry which terrifies his enemies. See, for example, Pss 18:15; 76:7; 106:9; Isa 50:2; Nah 1:4, and A. Caquot, TDOT 3:49-53.

[17:13]  ¹⁰ tn Or perhaps “tumbleweed” (NAB, NIV, CEV); KJV “like a rolling thing.”