90:5 You bring their lives to an end and they “fall asleep.” 1
In the morning they are like the grass that sprouts up;
90:6 in the morning it glistens 2 and sprouts up;
at evening time it withers 3 and dries up.
90:7 Yes, 4 we are consumed by your anger;
we are terrified by your wrath.
90:8 You are aware of our sins; 5
you even know about our hidden sins. 6
90:9 Yes, 7 throughout all our days we experience your raging fury; 8
the years of our lives pass quickly, like a sigh. 9
1 tn Heb “you bring them to an end [with] sleep.” The Hebrew verb זָרַם (zaram) has traditionally been taken to mean “flood” or “overwhelm” (note the Polel form of a root זרם in Ps 77:17, where the verb is used of the clouds pouring down rain). However, the verb form here is Qal, not Polel, and is better understood as a homonym meaning “to make an end [of life].” The term שֵׁנָה (shenah, “sleep”) can be taken as an adverbial accusative; it is a euphemism here for death (see Ps 76:5-6).
2 tn Or “flourishes.” The verb is used of a crown shining in Ps 132:18. Perhaps here in Ps 90:6 it refers to the glistening of the grass in the morning dew.
3 tn The Polel form of this verb occurs only here. Perhaps the form should be emended to a Qal (which necessitates eliminating the final lamed [ל] as dittographic). See Ps 37:2.
4 tn Or “for.”
5 tn Heb “you set our sins in front of you.”
6 tn Heb “what we have hidden to the light of your face.” God’s face is compared to a light or lamp that exposes the darkness around it.
7 tn Or “for.”
8 tn Heb “all our days pass by in your anger.”
9 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.”