Mazmur 90:9

90:9 Yes, ¹  throughout all our days we experience your raging fury; ² 

the years of our lives pass quickly, like a sigh. ³ 

Mazmur 102:3

102:3 For my days go up in smoke, ⁴ 

and my bones are charred like a fireplace. ⁵ 

[90:9]  ¹ tn Or “for.”

[90:9]  ² tn Heb “all our days pass by in your anger.”

[90:9]  ³ 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.”

[102:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “for my days come to an end in smoke.”

[102:3]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew noun מוֹ־קֵד (mo-qed, “fireplace”) occurs only here, in Isa 33:14 (where it refers to the fire itself), and perhaps in Lev 6:2.