Mazmur 39:5

39:5 Look, you make my days short-lived, ¹ 

and my life span is nothing from your perspective. ² 

Surely all people, even those who seem secure, are nothing but vapor. ³ 

Mazmur 89:47-48

89:47 Take note of my brief lifespan! ⁴ 

Why do you make all people so mortal? ⁵ 

89:48 No man can live on without experiencing death,

or deliver his life from the power of Sheol. ⁶  (Selah)

Mazmur 90:3-12

90:3 You make mankind return ⁷  to the dust, ⁸ 

and say, “Return, O people!”

90:4 Yes, ⁹  in your eyes a thousand years

are like yesterday that quickly passes,

or like one of the divisions of the nighttime. ¹⁰ 

90:5 You bring their lives to an end and they “fall asleep.” ¹¹ 

In the morning they are like the grass that sprouts up;

90:6 in the morning it glistens ¹²  and sprouts up;

at evening time it withers ¹³  and dries up.

90:7 Yes, ¹⁴  we are consumed by your anger;

we are terrified by your wrath.

90:8 You are aware of our sins; ¹⁵ 

you even know about our hidden sins. ¹⁶ 

90:9 Yes, ¹⁷  throughout all our days we experience your raging fury; ¹⁸ 

the years of our lives pass quickly, like a sigh. ¹⁹ 

90:10 The days of our lives add up to seventy years, ²⁰ 

or eighty, if one is especially strong. ²¹ 

But even one’s best years are marred by trouble and oppression. ²² 

Yes, ²³  they pass quickly ²⁴  and we fly away. ²⁵ 

90:11 Who can really fathom the intensity of your anger? ²⁶ 

Your raging fury causes people to fear you. ²⁷ 

90:12 So teach us to consider our mortality, ²⁸ 

so that we might live wisely. ²⁹ 

[39:5]  ¹ tn Heb “Look, handbreadths you make my days.” The “handbreadth” (equivalent to the width of four fingers) was one of the smallest measures used by ancient Israelites. See P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 309.

[39:5]  ² tn Heb “is like nothing before you.”

[39:5]  ³ tn Heb “surely, all vapor [is] all mankind, standing firm.” Another option is to translate, “Surely, all mankind, though seemingly secure, is nothing but a vapor.”

[89:47]  ⁴ tn Heb “remember me, what is [my] lifespan.” The Hebrew term חֶלֶד (kheled) is also used of one’s lifespan in Ps 39:5. Because the Hebrew text is so awkward here, some prefer to emend it to read מֶה חָדֵל אָנִי (meh khadel ’aniy, “[remember] how transient [that is, “short-lived”] I am”; see Ps 39:4).

[89:47]  ⁵ tn Heb “For what emptiness do you create all the sons of mankind?” In this context the term שָׁוְא (shavah) refers to mankind’s mortal nature and the brevity of life (see vv. 45, 48).

[89:48]  ⁶ tn Heb “Who [is] the man [who] can live and not see death, [who] can deliver his life from the hand of Sheol?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “No one!”

[90:3]  ⁷ tn In this context the shortened prefix form does not function as a preterite, but indicates what is typical of the world.

[90:3]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew term דַּכָּא (daka’) carries the basic sense of “crushed.” Elsewhere it refers to those who are “crushed” in spirit or contrite of heart (see Ps 34:18; Isa 57:15). If one understands this nuance here, then v. 3 is observing that God leads mankind to repentance (the term שׁוּב, shuv, “return,” which appears twice in this verse, is sometimes used of repentance.) However, the following context laments mankind’s mortality and the brevity of life, so it is doubtful if v. 3 should be understood so positively. It is more likely that דַּכָּא here refers to “crushed matter,” that is, the dust that fills the grave (see HALOT 221 s.v. s.v. I דַּכָּא; BDB 194 s.v. דַּכָּא). In this case one may hear an echo of Gen 3:19.

[90:4]  ⁹ tn Or “for.”

[90:4]  ¹⁰ sn The divisions of the nighttime. The ancient Israelites divided the night into distinct periods, or “watches.”

[90:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “you bring them to an end [with] sleep.” The Hebrew verb זָרַם (zaram) has traditionally been taken to mean “flood” or “overwhelm” (note the Polel form of a root זרם in Ps 77:17, where the verb is used of the clouds pouring down rain). However, the verb form here is Qal, not Polel, and is better understood as a homonym meaning “to make an end [of life].” The term שֵׁנָה (shenah, “sleep”) can be taken as an adverbial accusative; it is a euphemism here for death (see Ps 76:5-6).

[90:6]  ¹² tn Or “flourishes.” The verb is used of a crown shining in Ps 132:18. Perhaps here in Ps 90:6 it refers to the glistening of the grass in the morning dew.

[90:6]  ¹³ tn The Polel form of this verb occurs only here. Perhaps the form should be emended to a Qal (which necessitates eliminating the final lamed [ל] as dittographic). See Ps 37:2.

[90:7]  ¹⁴ tn Or “for.”

[90:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “you set our sins in front of you.”

[90:8]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ tn Or “for.”

[90:9]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “all our days pass by in your anger.”

[90:9]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the days of our years, in them [are] seventy years.”

[90:10]  ²¹ tn Heb “or if [there is] strength, eighty years.”

[90:10]  ²² 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]  ²³ tn or “for.”

[90:10]  ²⁴ 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]  ²⁵ sn We fly away. The psalmist compares life to a bird that quickly flies off (see Job 20:8).

[90:11]  ²⁶ tn Heb “Who knows the strength of your anger?”

[90:11]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and like your fear [is] your raging fury.” Perhaps one should emend וּכְיִרְאָתְךְ (ukhyir’otekh, “and like your fear”) to יִרְאָתְךְ (yir’otkh, “your fear”), understanding a virtual dittography (אַפֶּךָ וּכְיִרְאָתְךְ, ’apekha ukhyir’otekh) to have occurred. In this case the psalmist asserts “your fear [is] your raging fury,” that is, your raging fury is what causes others to fear you. The suffix on “fear” is understood as objective.

[90:12]  ²⁸ tn Heb “to number our days,” that is, to be aware of how few they really are.

[90:12]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and we will bring a heart of wisdom.” After the imperative of the preceding line, the prefixed verbal form with the conjunction indicates purpose/result. The Hebrew term “heart” here refers to the center of one’s thoughts, volition, and moral character.