Job 15:21 — ExegesisTAB

The line begins with the verbless nominal clause qol-pechadim {קוֹל־פְּחָדִ֥ים | qōl-pəḥāḏîm} ‘sound of terrors’, which frontloads the sensory experience (“sound”) and then qualifies it with an abstract plural (“terrors”), portraying fear as an ever-present atmosphere. The prepositional phrase beoznav {בְּאָזְנָ֑יו | bəʾoznāyw} ‘in his ears’ localizes the dread as personally inescapable. The next prepositional phrase bashalom {בַּ֝שָּׁל֗וֹם | baššālôm} ‘in the peace’ functions adverbially, setting an ironic circumstance: danger intrudes precisely when conditions appear secure. The participle shoded {שׁוֹדֵ֥ד | šōḏēḏ} ‘destroyer’ serves as the subject, and the imperfect yevoennu {יְבוֹאֶֽנּוּ | yəḇōʾennû} ‘will come upon him’ supplies the impending action, creating a sharp movement from a static description of fear to a sudden arrival of threat. English keeps the two-part structure (present state, then future intrusion) to preserve the verse’s irony and escalation.