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Job 4 says that humans die without attaining wisdom, highlighting their fragility. The Greek Septuagint goes further by specifying that their death is caused by their lack of wisdom, reflecting a Hellenistic Jewish philosophical perspective.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Job 4:21
Hebrew Bible
18 If God puts no trust in his servants and attributes folly to his angels, 19 how much more to those who live in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like a moth? 20 They are destroyed between morning and evening; they perish forever without anyone regarding it. 21 Is not their excess wealth taken away from them? They die, yet without attaining wisdom.’
Date: 500–401 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
LXX Job 4:21
Septuagint
18 Whereas he does not trust in his servants, and perceives perverseness in his angels. 19 But as for those who dwell in houses of clay, of whom we also are formed of the same clay, he strikes them like a moth. 20 And from the morning to evening they no longer exist: they have perished, because they cannot help themselves. 21 For he blows upon them, and they are withered: they have perished for lack of wisdom.
Date: 100–1 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... LXX-Job 4:20 prefers the philosophical expression, which also recalls the imagery of flowers in blossom for only one day ... (LXX-Job 4:20 compare 25:4). This is explained in the LXX with the imagery from the plant-kingdom: For he blew upon them, and they are withered, because they do not have any kind of wisdom in themselves. In this way, the LXX transforms Genesis 2:9 leaving two kinds of interpretation open: God’s breath of life upon man’s face also means the gift of wisdom. Human beings prefer, however, knowledge of good and evil more than divine wisdom and, therefore, they die. The Masoretic text does not only talk about a lack of wisdom (4:21), but also about the lack of a saviour ..."
Evangelia G. Dafni, “βρότος: A Favourite Word of Homer in the Septuagint Version of Job,” VE 28.1 (2007): 35–65.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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