Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G MessageLike a dream that dissolves at dawn, O Lord — when You rise up and act, You will dismiss their very image as nothing.
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.GLike a dream at waking, Adonai—when You arise, You will despise their phantom form.
KJV
King James VersionAs a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image.
BSB
Berean Standard BibleLike one waking from a dream, so You, O Lord, awaken and despise their form.
Footnotes
כַּחֲלוֹם מֵהָקִיץ (kachalon mehakets — 'like a dream upon awakening') is a striking simile: the apparent solidity of the wicked's prosperity is as insubstantial as a dream the moment one wakes. צַלְמָם (tsalmam — 'their image/phantom/form') uses the same root as צֶלֶם (tselem — 'image') in Genesis 1:26, the term for the divine image in humanity. Here it is stripped of all dignity — what was once image-bearer language becomes 'phantom.' FOG renders 'phantom form' to capture this eerie insubstantiality; FOG Message renders 'image as nothing' to draw out the irony: those who lived as though God did not exist are ultimately dismissed by Him as if they were nothing.