Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G MessageHe builds his house as fragile as a moth's cocoon, as temporary as a watchman's hut thrown up for a harvest season.
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.GHe builds his house like a moth builds — like a booth that a watchman throws together for a season.
KJV
King James VersionHe buildeth his house as a moth, and as a booth that the keeper maketh.
BSB
Berean Standard BibleThe house he built is like a moth’s cocoon, like a hut set up by a watchman.
Footnotes
*'Ash* (עָשׁ, moth) presents an interpretive puzzle: moths do not build houses — they *consume* them. Several commentators and the LXX suggest "spider" (reading *'akkabish*), whose web is a better structural parallel. However, the point may be that a moth's "dwelling" is the very fabric it destroys — the house is inherently self-consuming. The *sukkah* (סֻכָּה, booth/shelter) of a watchman (*notsér*) is deliberately impermanent — built only to last a growing season. The two images together picture a structure that is simultaneously fragile and intentionally temporary. FOG preserves the raw imagery; FOG Message draws out the theological implication of built-in obsolescence.