Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G MessageLike a slug that melts away as it moves — like a stillborn child that never once glimpses the sun.
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.Glike a snail that dissolves as it goes — like a stillborn child that never sees the sun.
KJV
King James VersionAs a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away: like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun.
BSB
Berean Standard BibleLike a slug that dissolves in its slime, like a woman’s stillborn child, may they never see the sun.
Footnotes
*Shablul* (שַׁבְּלוּל) appears only here in the Hebrew Bible — a slug or snail, whose glistening trail the ancients thought was the creature literally dissolving itself as it moved. *Nefel* (נֵפֶל, 'stillborn/miscarriage') describes something that enters and exits existence without ever experiencing it — the bleakest possible image of a life that amounts to nothing. Together the two images speak of dissolution before full existence: the wicked, for all their ferocity, will end without leaving a trace. Both translations preserve both images; FOG Message expands the stillborn image slightly for emotional weight.
