Isaiah 17:13

Hebrew Bible

12 Beware, you many nations massing together, those who make a commotion as loud as the roaring of the sea’s waves. Beware, you people making such an uproar, those who make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves. 13 Though these people make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves, when he shouts at them, they will flee to a distant land, driven before the wind like dead weeds on the hills or like dead thistles before a strong gale. 14 In the evening there is sudden terror; by morning they vanish. This is the fate of those who try to plunder us, the destiny of those who try to loot us!

Psalm 83:13

Hebrew Bible

11 Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb, and all their rulers like Zebah and Zalmunna, 12 who said, “Let’s take over the pastures of God.” 13 O my God, make them like dead thistles, like dead weeds blown away by the wind. 14 Like the fire that burns down the forest,or the flames that consume the mountainsides, 15 chase them with your gale windsand terrify them with your windstorm.

 Notes and References

"... Job is not just distressed at the offensive behavior of his critics; he sees in their attack a cosmic assault upon him, in which malign superhuman forces are ranged against him (it is not that he has nightmares of being attacked by the desert dwellers of verses 2–8, with their “loathsome appearance and repulsive manners,” as Hartley). For the image of the wind driving objects away, see Psalm 1:4; and for that of the cloud that vanishes, compare 7:9–10. It is usually insubstantial and light objects that are driven away by the wind, stubble (Psalm 83:13; Jeremiah 13:24) or chaff (Isaiah 17:13; Psalm 1:4; 35:5) or dust (Psalm 18:42) or locusts (Exodus 10:13, 19). And as for the cloud that vanishes, its significance is that it is never again seen (7:9; compare Hosea 13:3). Job can only mean that what he once prized so highly, his dignity and his security, were, in the end, of little consequence and no permanence ..."

Clines, David J. A. Word Biblical Commentary: Job 21-37 (p. 680) Word Books, 2006

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