Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G MessageHe will be like a scraggly bush in the wasteland — never seeing when good arrives, dwelling on parched rocks in the wilderness, in a salt flat where no one lives.
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.GHe will be like a stunted shrub in the steppe — he will never see when good comes; he will dwell on the scorched crags of the wilderness, in a salt-flats land where no one settles.
KJV
King James VersionFor he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.
BSB
Berean Standard BibleHe will be like a shrub in the desert; he will not see when prosperity comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.
Footnotes
*Ar'ar* (עַרְעָר) is likely a juniper or desert tamarisk — a scrubby, isolated plant, a powerful image of fruitlessness and exile from blessing. The deliberate contrast with the flourishing tree in v. 8 is structural: same heat, same drought, entirely different outcome based solely on where roots are anchored. *Melekhah* (מְלֵחָה, 'salt land') evokes the cursed aftermath of conquest (cf. Judg. 9:45; Deut. 29:23) — a desolate landscape where nothing grows and no covenant community can thrive. FOG uses 'stunted shrub' and 'salt-flats'; FOG Message 'scraggly bush' and 'salt flat' to evoke the same barrenness.