15:32 Before his time 1 he will be paid in full, 2
and his branches will not flourish. 3
55:23 But you, O God, will bring them 4 down to the deep Pit. 5
Violent and deceitful people 6 will not live even half a normal lifespan. 7
But as for me, I trust in you.
102:24 I say, “O my God, please do not take me away in the middle of my life! 8
You endure through all generations. 9
7:17 Do not be excessively wicked and do not be a fool;
otherwise 10 you might die before your time.
1 tn Heb “before his day.”
2 tn Those who put the last colon of v. 31 with v. 32 also have to change the verb תִּמָּלֵא (timmale’, “will be fulfilled”). E. Dhorme (Job, 225) says, “a mere glance at the use of yimmal…abundantly proves that the original text had timmal (G, Syr., Vulg), which became timmale’ through the accidental transposition of the ‘alep of bÿsi’o…in verse 31….” This, of course, is possible, if all the other changes up to now are granted. But the meaning of a word elsewhere in no way assures it should be the word here. The LXX has “his harvest shall perish before the time,” which could translate any number of words that might have been in the underlying Hebrew text. A commercial metaphor is not out of place here, since parallelism does not demand that the same metaphor appear in both lines.
3 tn Now, in the second half of the verse, the metaphor of a tree with branches begins.
4 tn The pronominal suffix refers to the psalmist’s enemies (see v. 19).
5 tn Heb “well of the pit.” The Hebrew term שַׁחַת (shakhat, “pit”) is often used as a title for Sheol (see Pss 16:10; 30:9; 49:9; 103:4).
6 tn Heb “men of bloodshed and deceit.”
7 tn Heb “will not divide in half their days.”
8 tn Heb “do not lift me up in the middle of my days.”
9 tn Heb “in a generation of generations [are] your years.”
10 tn Heb “Why?” The question is rhetorical.