חָזַר כִּלְעֻומַּת שֶׁבָּא

ביטוי (אנגלית)

Returned as he came/ a fruitless journey/ to fail in one's mission

הגדרה (אנגלית)

Like he came, so he returned. Figuratively: he arrived in vain and was forced to retrace his steps.

("And this too is a grievous evil: just as he came, so shall he go, and what profit has he who labors for the wind" - Ecclesiastes 5:15, and likewise: "And in the portion allotted to them, your fists to the clouds and your eyes crying out to rain— / But the clouds of blessing will pass, all as they came, so they will go" - H.N. Bialik / "They called for the snakes, and likewise: 'Go...to visit the house of the stubborn Jerusalemite...and afterward they went away as they came'" - H. Be'er / Nozot, 127)