Mazmur 32:4

32:4 For day and night you tormented me; ¹ 

you tried to destroy me ²  in the intense heat ³  of summer. ⁴  (Selah)

Mazmur 38:4

38:4 For my sins overwhelm me; ⁵ 

like a heavy load, they are too much for me to bear.

Mazmur 90:7-10

90:7 Yes, ⁶  we are consumed by your anger;

we are terrified by your wrath.

90:8 You are aware of our sins; ⁷ 

you even know about our hidden sins. ⁸ 

90:9 Yes, ⁹  throughout all our days we experience your raging fury; ¹⁰ 

the years of our lives pass quickly, like a sigh. ¹¹ 

90:10 The days of our lives add up to seventy years, ¹² 

or eighty, if one is especially strong. ¹³ 

But even one’s best years are marred by trouble and oppression. ¹⁴ 

Yes, ¹⁵  they pass quickly ¹⁶  and we fly away. ¹⁷ 

[32:4]  ¹ tn Heb “your hand was heavy upon me.”

[32:4]  ² tc Heb “my [?] was turned.” The meaning of the Hebrew term לְשַׁד (lÿshad) is uncertain. A noun לָשָׁד (lashad, “cake”) is attested in Num 11:8, but it would make no sense to understand that word in this context. It is better to emend the form to לְשֻׁדִּי (lÿshuddiy, “to my destruction”) and understand “your hand” as the subject of the verb “was turned.” In this case the text reads, “[your hand] was turned to my destruction.” In Lam 3:3 the author laments that God’s “hand” was “turned” (הָפַךְ, hafakh) against him in a hostile sense.

[32:4]  sn You tried to destroy me. The psalmist’s statement reflects his perspective. As far as he was concerned, it seemed as if the Lord was trying to kill him.

[32:4]  ³ tn The translation assumes that the plural form indicates degree. If one understands the form as a true plural, then one might translate, “in the times of drought.”

[32:4]  ⁴ sn Summer. Perhaps the psalmist suffered during the hot season and perceived the very weather as being an instrument of divine judgment. Another option is that he compares his time of suffering to the uncomfortable and oppressive heat of summer.

[38:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “pass over my head.”

[90:7]  ⁶ tn Or “for.”

[90:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “you set our sins in front of you.”

[90:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “what we have hidden to the light of your face.” God’s face is compared to a light or lamp that exposes the darkness around it.

[90:9]  ⁹ tn Or “for.”

[90:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “all our days pass by in your anger.”

[90:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “we finish our years like a sigh.” In Ezek 2:10 the word הֶגֶה (hegeh) elsewhere refers to a grumbling or moaning sound. Here a brief sigh or moan is probably in view. If so, the simile pictures one’s lifetime as transient. Another option is that the simile alludes to the weakness that characteristically overtakes a person at the end of one’s lifetime. In this case the phrase could be translated, “we end our lives with a painful moan.”

[90:10]  ¹² tn Heb “the days of our years, in them [are] seventy years.”

[90:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “or if [there is] strength, eighty years.”

[90:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and their pride [is] destruction and wickedness.” The Hebrew noun רֹהַב (rohav) occurs only here. BDB 923 s.v. assigns the meaning “pride,” deriving the noun from the verbal root רהב (“to act stormily [boisterously, arrogantly]”). Here the “pride” of one’s days (see v. 9) probably refers to one’s most productive years in the prime of life. The words translated “destruction and wickedness” are also paired in Ps 10:7. They also appear in proximity in Pss 7:14 and 55:10. The oppressive and abusive actions of evil men are probably in view (see Job 4:8; 5:6; 15:35; Isa 10:1; 59:4).

[90:10]  ¹⁵ tn or “for.”

[90:10]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “it passes quickly.” The subject of the verb is probably “their pride” (see the preceding line). The verb גּוּז (guz) means “to pass” here; it occurs only here and in Num 11:31.

[90:10]  ¹⁷ sn We fly away. The psalmist compares life to a bird that quickly flies off (see Job 20:8).