the Fourth Week after Easter
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Contemporary English Version
Job 24:20
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The womb forgets them;worms feed on them;they are remembered no more.So injustice is broken like a tree.
The womb shall forget him. The worm shall feed sweetly on him. He shall be no more remembered. Unrighteousness shall be broken as a tree.
The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree.
The womb forgets them; the worm finds them sweet; they are no longer remembered, so wickedness is broken like a tree.'
Their mothers forget them, and worms will eat their bodies. They will not be remembered, so wickedness is broken in pieces like a stick.
The womb forgets him, the worm feasts on him, no longer will he be remembered. Like a tree, wickedness will be broken down.
"A mother will forget him; The worm feeds on him until he is no longer remembered. And wickedness will be broken like a tree [which cannot be restored].
"A mother will forget him; The maggot feeds sweetly until he is no longer remembered. And injustice will be broken like a tree.
The womb shall forget him. The worm shall feed sweetly on him. He shall be no more remembered. Unrighteousness shall be broken as a tree.
The pitifull man shall forget him: the worme shal feele his sweetenes: he shalbe no more remebred, & the wicked shalbe broke like a tree.
A mother will forget him;The worm feasts sweetly till he is no longer remembered.And unrighteousness will be broken like a tree.
The womb forgets them; the worm feeds on them; they are remembered no more. So injustice is like a broken tree.
May the womb forget them, may worms find them sweet, may they no longer be remembered — thus may iniquity be snapped like a stick.
The womb forgetteth him; the worm feedeth sweetly on him: he shall be no more remembered; and unrighteousness is broken as a tree,—
Their own mothers will forget them. Only the worms will want them. No one will remember them. They will be broken like a rotten stick!
They have gone astray from the womb; the worm shall suck them; after death they shall be remembered no more; and the wicked shall be broken like a piece of wood.
Not even their mothers remember them now; they are eaten by worms and destroyed like fallen trees.
The womb forgets him. The maggot feasts on him until he is no longer remembered, and wickedness is broken like a tree.
The womb shall forget him; the worm shall suck on him; he shall be remembered no more; and injustice shall be broken like a tree.
O yt all copassion vpon the were forgotte: yt their daynties were wormes: that they were clene put out of remembraunce, & vtterly hewe downe like an vnfrutefull tre.
The womb shall forget him; The worm shall feed sweetly on him; He shall be no more remembered; And unrighteousness shall be broken as a tree.
The public place of his town has no more knowledge of him, and his name has gone from the memory of men: he is rooted up like a dead tree.
The womb forgetteth him; the worm feedeth sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered;
The wombe shall forget him, the worme shall feed sweetly on him, hee shall be no more remembred, and wickednes shalbe broken as a tree.
The pitifull man shall forget hym, he shalbe sweete to the wormes, he shalbe no more remembred, & his wickednesse shalbe broken as a tree.
Then is his sin brought to remembrance, and he vanishes like a vapour of dew: but let what he has done be recompensed to him, and let every unrighteous one be crushed like rotten wood.
The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered: and unrighteousness shall be broken as a tree.
Merci foryete hym; his swetnesse be a worm; be he not in mynde, but be he al to-brokun as `a tre vnfruytful.
The womb shall forget him; The worm shall feed sweetly on him; He shall be remembered no more; And unrighteousness shall be broken as a tree.
The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree.
The womb should forget him, The worm should feed sweetly on him; He should be remembered no more, And wickedness should be broken like a tree.
Their own mothers will forget them. Maggots will find them sweet to eat. No one will remember them. Wicked people are broken like a tree in the storm.
A mother will forget him. The worm is pleased to eat him until he is remembered no more. Sin will be broken like a tree.
The womb forgets them; the worm finds them sweet; they are no longer remembered; so wickedness is broken like a tree.
Maternal love shall forget him, the worm shall find him sweet, No more shall he be remembered, but perversity shall be shivered like a tree.
Let mercy forget him: may worms be his sweetness: let him be remembered no more, but be broken in pieces as an unfruitful tree.
The squares of the town forget them; their name is no longer remembered; so wickedness is broken like a tree.'
Forget him doth the womb, Sweeten [on] him doth the worm, No more is he remembered, And broken as a tree is wickedness.
"A mother will forget him; The worm feeds sweetly till he is no longer remembered. And wickedness will be broken like a tree.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
the worm: Job 17:14, Job 19:26
he shall be: Proverbs 10:7, Ecclesiastes 8:10, Isaiah 26:14
wickedness: Job 14:7-10, Job 18:16, Job 18:17, Daniel 4:14, Matthew 3:10
Reciprocal: Job 7:5 - flesh Job 19:10 - mine hope Psalms 49:14 - death Psalms 73:4 - no Isaiah 14:11 - the worm
Gill's Notes on the Bible
The womb shall forget him,.... His mother that bore him; or his wife, by whom he had many children; or his friend, as Gersom, who had a tender and affectionate respect for him; these all, and each of them, either because of his wicked life and infamous death, care not to speak of him, but bury him in oblivion; or because of his quiet and easy death, are not distressed with it, but soon forget him; unless this is to be understood of the womb of the earth, in which being buried, he lies forgotten, to which the next clause agrees; though some interpret it of God himself the word having the signification of mercy b; who, though mercy itself, is rich and abundant in it, yet has no mercy for, nor shows any favour to, such men; but they lie in the grave among those whom he remembers no more in a way of grace and favour,
Psalms 85:5;
the worm shall feed sweetly on him; for being brought to the grave at once, without any wasting distemper, is a fine repast for worms, his breasts being full of milk, and his bones moistened with marrow, and full of flesh; or "the worm [is] sweet unto him" c; he feels no pain by its feeding on him, and so the sense is just the same with that expression, "the clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him",
Job 21:33;
he shall be no more remembered; with any mark of honour and respect; his memory shall rot with him, while the righteous are had in everlasting remembrance; or rather dying a common death, and not made a public example of:
and wickedness shall be broken as a tree; that is, wicked men, who are wickedness itself, extremely wicked, and are like to a tree, sometimes flourishing in external prosperity, having an affluence of the things of this world, and always like barren and unfruitful trees, with respect to grace and good works; these, when the axe of death is laid to the root of them, they are cut down, and their substance comes to nothing, and their families are destroyed, and so they become like trees struck with thunder and lightning, and broken into ten thousand shivers; or as the trees in Egypt were broken to pieces by the plague of hail, Exodus 9:25.
b רחם "misericordia", V. L. "miseratio", Montanus, Bolducius; so Tigurine version, Grotius. c מתקו "dulcescit ei", Beza, Piscator; "suavis", Cocceius; so Michaelis, Schultens.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
The womb shall forget him - His mother who bare him shall forget him. The idea here seems to be, that he shall fade out of the memory, just as other persons do. He shall not be overtaken with any disgraceful punishment, thus giving occasion to remember him by a death of ignominy. At first view it would seem to be a calamity to be soon forgotten by a mother; but if the above interpretation be correct, then it means that the condition of his death would be such that there would be no occasion for a mother to remember him with sorrow and shame, as she would one who was ignominiously executed for his crimes. This interpretation was proposed by Mercer, and has been adopted by Rosenmuller, Noyes, and others. It accords with the general scope of the passage, and is probably correct. Various other interpretations, however, have been proposed, which may be seen in Good, and in the Critici Sacri.
The worm shall feed sweetly on him - As on others. He shall die and be buried in the usual manner. He shall lie quietly in the grave, and there return to his native dust. He shall not be suspended on a gibbet, or torn and devoured by wild beasts; but his death and burial shall be peaceful and calm; see Job 21:26, note; Job 19:26, note.
He shall be no more remembered - As having been a man of eminent guilt, or as ignominiously punished. The meaning is, that there is nothing marked and distinguishing in his death. There is no special manifestation of the divine displeasure. There is some truth in this, that the wicked cease to be remembered. People hasten to forget them; and having done no good that makes them the objects of grateful reminiscence, their memory fades away. This, so far from being a calamity and a curse, Job regards as a favor. It would be a calamity to be remembered as a bad man, and as having died an ignominious death.
And wickedness shall be broken as a tree - Evil here or wickedness (עולה ‛avlâh) means an evil or wicked man. The idea seems to be, that such a man would die as a tree that is stripped of its leaves and branches is broken down. He is not like a green tree that is violently torn up by the roots in a storm, or twisted off in a tempest, but like a dry tree that begins to decay, and that falls down gently by its own weight. It lives to be old, and then quietly sinks on the ground and dies. So Job says it is with the wicked. They are not swept away by the divine judgments, as the trees of the forest are torn up by the roots or twisted off by the tornado.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Job 24:20. The womb shall forget him — The mother that bare him shall have no affection for him, nor be afflicted at his death. But the word רחם rechem signifies compassion, mercy. Mercy shall be unmindful of him. How dreadful such a state! When mercy itself forgets the sinner, his perdition slumbereth not.
The worm shall feed sweetly on him — The Chaldee has, "The cruel, who have neglected to commiserate the poor, shall be sweet to the worms." He shall be brought into a state of the greatest degradation, and shall be no more remembered.
And wickedness shall be broken as a tree. — He shall be as a rotten or decayed tree, easily broken to pieces. If it were clear that עולה avlah, here rendered wickedness, has the same sense as עלה aleh, a leaf, sucker, or shoot, then we might translate according to the ingenious version of Mr. Good; viz., But the shoot shall be broken off as a tree; which might, in this case, be supposed to refer to illicit commerce, the fruit of the womb becoming abortive.
