Mazmur 102:11

102:11 My days are coming to an end, ¹ 

and I am withered like grass.

Mazmur 103:15-16

103:15 A person’s life is like grass. ² 

Like a flower in the field it flourishes,

103:16 but when the hot wind ³  blows by, it disappears,

and one can no longer even spot the place where it once grew.

Mazmur 109:23

109:23 I am fading away like a shadow at the end of the day; ⁴ 

I am shaken off like a locust.

Mazmur 109:2

109:2 For they say cruel and deceptive things to me;

they lie to me. ⁵ 

1 Samuel 14:14

14:14 In this initial skirmish Jonathan and his armor bearer struck down about twenty men in an area that measured half an acre.

1 Samuel 14:1

14:1 Then one day Jonathan son of Saul said to his armor bearer, ⁶  “Come on, let’s go over to the Philistine garrison that is opposite us.” But he did not let his father know.

1 Samuel 29:1

David Is Rejected by the Philistine Leaders

29:1 The Philistines assembled all their troops ⁷  at Aphek, while Israel camped at the spring that is in Jezreel.

Ayub 8:9

8:9 For we were born yesterday ⁸  and do not have knowledge,

since our days on earth are but a shadow. ⁹ 

Pengkhotbah 8:13

8:13 But it will not go well with the wicked,

nor will they ¹⁰  prolong their ¹¹  days like a shadow, ¹² 

because they ¹³  do not stand in fear ¹⁴  before God.

[102:11]  ¹ tn Heb “my days [are] like an extended [or “lengthening”] shadow,” that is, like a late afternoon shadow made by the descending sun that will soon be swallowed up by complete darkness.

[103:15]  ² tn Heb “[as for] mankind, like grass [are] his days.” The Hebrew noun אֱנוֹשׁ (’enosh) is used here generically of human beings. What is said is true of all mankind.

[103:16]  ³ tn Heb “[the] wind.” The word “hot” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[109:23]  ⁴ tn Heb “like a shadow when it is extended I go.” He is like a late afternoon shadow made by the descending sun that will soon be swallowed up by complete darkness. See Ps 102:11.

[109:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “for a mouth of evil and a mouth of deceit against me they open, they speak with me [with] a tongue of falsehood.”

[14:1]  ⁶ tn Or “the servant who was carrying his military equipment” (likewise in vv. 6, 7, 12, 13, 14).

[29:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “camps.”

[8:9]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew has “we are of yesterday,” the adverb functioning as a predicate. Bildad’s point is that they have not had time to acquire great knowledge because they are recent.

[8:9]  ⁹ tn E. Dhorme (Job, 116) observes that the shadow is the symbol of ephemeral things (14:2; 17:7; Ps 144:4). The shadow passes away quickly (116).

[8:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “he.”

[8:13]  ¹¹ tn The word “their” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for smoothness.

[8:13]  ¹² tn The phrase “like a shadow” (כַּצֵּל, katsel) modifies the verb (“prolong”) rather than the noun (“days”). Several English versions misconstrue the line: “he will not prolong his days, [which are] like a shadow” (KJV, ASV); “the man who does not fear God is like a shadow” (NEB); and “he will not prolong his shadowy days” (NAB). It should be rendered “he will not prolong his days like a shadow” (RSV, NRSV, NASB, MLB, NIV). Unlike a shadow that lengthens at sunset, the wicked do not normally live long.

[8:13]  ¹³ tn Heb “he.”

[8:13]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “they do not fear.”