146:4 Their life’s breath departs, they return to the ground;
on that day their plans die. 1
34:14 If God 2 were to set his heart on it, 3
and gather in his spirit and his breath,
34:15 all flesh would perish together
and human beings would return to dust.
12:7 and the dust returns to the earth as it was,
and the life’s breath 4 returns to God who gave it.
1 tn Heb “his spirit goes out, it returns to his ground; in that day his plans die.” The singular refers to the representative man mentioned in v. 3b.
2 tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
3 tc This is the reading following the Qere. The Kethib and the Syriac and the LXX suggest a reading יָשִׂים (yasim, “if he [God] recalls”). But this would require leaving out “his heart,” and would also require redividing the verse to make “his spirit” the object. It makes better parallelism, but may require too many changes.
4 tn Or “spirit.” The likely referent is the life’s breath that originates with God. See Eccl 3:19, as well as Gen 2:7; 6:17; 7:22.
5 tn L&N 57.45 has “nor does he need anything more that people can supply by working for him.”
6 tn Grk “he himself gives to all [people] life and breath and all things.”