37:4 After that a voice roars;
he thunders with an exalted voice,
and he does not hold back his lightning bolts 1
when his voice is heard.
37:5 God thunders with his voice in marvelous ways; 2
he does great things beyond our understanding. 3
39:3 my anxiety intensified. 4
As I thought about it, I became impatient. 5
Finally I spoke these words: 6
39:4 “O Lord, help me understand my mortality
and the brevity of life! 7
Let me realize how quickly my life will pass! 8
39:5 Look, you make my days short-lived, 9
and my life span is nothing from your perspective. 10
Surely all people, even those who seem secure, are nothing but vapor. 11
39:6 Surely people go through life as mere ghosts. 12
Surely they accumulate worthless wealth
without knowing who will eventually haul it away.” 13
39:7 But now, O Lord, upon what am I relying?
You are my only hope! 14
39:8 Deliver me from all my sins of rebellion!
Do not make me the object of fools’ insults!
39:9 I am silent and cannot open my mouth
because of what you have done. 15
1 tn The verb simply has the pronominal suffix, “them.” The idea must be that when God brings in all the thunderings he does not hold back his lightning bolts either.
2 tn The form is the Niphal participle, “wonders,” from the verb פָּלָא (pala’, “to be wonderful; to be extraordinary”). Some commentators suppress the repeated verb “thunders,” and supply other verbs like “shows” or “works,” enabling them to make “wonders” the object of the verb rather than leaving it in an adverbial role. But as H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 236) notes, no change is needed, for one is not surprised to find repetition in Elihu’s words.
3 tn Heb “and we do not know.”
4 tn Heb “my heart was hot within me.”
5 tn Heb “In my reflection fire burned.” The prefixed verbal form is either a preterite (past tense) or an imperfect being used in a past progressive or customary sense (“fire was burning”).
6 tn Heb “I spoke with my tongue.” The phrase “these words” is supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.
7 tn Heb “Cause me to know, O
8 tn Heb “Let me know how transient I am!”
9 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.
10 tn Heb “is like nothing before you.”
11 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.”
12 tn Heb “surely, as an image man walks about.” The preposition prefixed to “image” indicates identity here.
13 tc Heb “Surely [in] vain they strive, he accumulates and does not know who gathers them.” The MT as it stands is syntactically awkward. The verb forms switch from singular (“walks about”) to plural (“they strive”) and then back to singular (“accumulates and does not know”), even though the subject (generic “man”) remains the same. Furthermore there is no object for the verb “accumulates” and no plural antecedent for the plural pronoun (“them”) attached to “gathers.” These problems can be removed if one emends the text from הֶבֶל יֶהֱמָיוּן (hevel yehemaun, “[in] vain they strive”) to הֶבְלֵי הָמוֹן (hevley hamon, “vain things of wealth”). This assumes a misdivision in the MT and a virtual dittography of vav (ו) between the mem and nun of המון. The present translation follows this emendation.
14 tn Heb “my hope, for you it [is].”
15 tn Heb “because you acted.” The psalmist has in mind God’s disciplinary measures (see vv. 10-13).