Deuteronomy 4:40

4:40 Keep his statutes and commandments that I am setting forth 1  today so that it may go well with you and your descendants and that you may enjoy longevity in the land that the Lord your God is about to give you as a permanent possession.

Job 5:26

5:26 You will come to your grave in a full age, 2 

As stacks of grain are harvested in their season.

Psalms 34:12

34:12 Do you want to really live? 3 

Would you love to live a long, happy life? 4 

1 tn Heb “commanding” (so NRSV).

2 tn The word translated “in a full age” has been given an array of meanings: “health; integrity”; “like a new blade of corn”; “in your strength [or vigor].” The numerical value of the letters in the word בְכֶלָח (bÿkhelakh, “in old age”) was 2, 20, 30, and 8, or 60. This led some of the commentators to say that at 60 one would enter the ripe old age (E. Dhorme, Job, 73).

3 tn Heb “Who is the man who desires life?” The rhetorical question is used to grab the audience’s attention. “Life” probably refers here to quality of life, not just physical existence or even duration of life. See the following line.

4 tn Heb “[Who] loves days to see good?”