Ecclesiastes 8:13

8:13 But it will not go well with the wicked,

nor will they ¹  prolong their ²  days like a shadow, ³ 

because they ⁴  do not stand in fear ⁵  before God.

Ecclesiastes 9:6

9:6 What they loved, ⁶  as well as what they hated ⁷  and envied, ⁸  perished long ago,

and they no longer have a part in anything that happens on earth. ⁹ 

Ecclesiastes 9:1

Everyone Will Die

9:1 So I reflected on all this, ¹⁰  attempting to clear ¹¹  it all up.

I concluded that ¹²  the righteous and the wise, as well as their works, are in the hand of God;

whether a person will be loved or hated ¹³  –

no one knows what lies ahead. ¹⁴ 

Ecclesiastes 1:15

1:15 What is bent ¹⁵  cannot be straightened, ¹⁶ 

and what is missing ¹⁷  cannot be supplied. ¹⁸ 

Job 8:9

8:9 For we were born yesterday ¹⁹  and do not have knowledge,

since our days on earth are but a shadow. ²⁰ 

Job 14:2

14:2 He grows up ²¹  like a flower and then withers away; ²² 

he flees like a shadow, and does not remain. ²³ 

Psalms 39:5-6

39:5 Look, you make my days short-lived, ²⁴ 

and my life span is nothing from your perspective. ²⁵ 

Surely all people, even those who seem secure, are nothing but vapor. ²⁶ 

39:6 Surely people go through life as mere ghosts. ²⁷ 

Surely they accumulate worthless wealth

without knowing who will eventually haul it away.” ²⁸ 

Psalms 89:47

89:47 Take note of my brief lifespan! ²⁹ 

Why do you make all people so mortal? ³⁰ 

Psalms 90:10-12

90:10 The days of our lives add up to seventy years, ³¹ 

or eighty, if one is especially strong. ³² 

But even one’s best years are marred by trouble and oppression. ³³ 

Yes, ³⁴  they pass quickly ³⁵  and we fly away. ³⁶ 

90:11 Who can really fathom the intensity of your anger? ³⁷ 

Your raging fury causes people to fear you. ³⁸ 

90:12 So teach us to consider our mortality, ³⁹ 

so that we might live wisely. ⁴⁰ 

Psalms 102:11

102:11 My days are coming to an end, ⁴¹ 

and I am withered like grass.

Psalms 109:23

109:23 I am fading away like a shadow at the end of the day; ⁴² 

I am shaken off like a locust.

Psalms 144:4

144:4 People ⁴³  are like a vapor,

their days like a shadow that disappears. ⁴⁴ 

James 4:14

4:14 You ⁴⁵  do not know about tomorrow. What is your life like? ⁴⁶  For you are a puff of smoke ⁴⁷  that appears for a short time and then vanishes.

[8:13]  ¹ tn Heb “he.”

[8:13]  ² tn The word “their” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for smoothness.

[8:13]  ³ tn The phrase “like a shadow” (כַּצֵּל, katsel) modifies the verb (“prolong”) rather than the noun (“days”). Several English versions misconstrue the line: “he will not prolong his days, [which are] like a shadow” (KJV, ASV); “the man who does not fear God is like a shadow” (NEB); and “he will not prolong his shadowy days” (NAB). It should be rendered “he will not prolong his days like a shadow” (RSV, NRSV, NASB, MLB, NIV). Unlike a shadow that lengthens at sunset, the wicked do not normally live long.

[8:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “he.”

[8:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “they do not fear.”

[9:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “their love.”

[9:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “their hatred.”

[9:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “their envy.”

[9:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “under the sun.”

[9:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “I laid all this to my heart.”

[9:1]  ¹¹ tn The term וְלָבוּר (velavur, conjunction + Qal infinitive construct from בּוּר, bur, “to make clear”) denotes “to examine; to make clear; to clear up; to explain” (HALOT 116 s.v. בור; BDB 101 s.v. בּוּר). The term is related to Arabic baraw “to examine” (G. R. Driver, “Supposed Arabisms in the Old Testament,” JBL 55 [1936]: 108). This verb is related to the Hebrew noun בֹּר (bor, “cleanness”) and adjective בַּר (bar, “clean”). The term is used in the OT only in Ecclesiastes (1:13; 2:3; 7:25; 9:1). This use of the infinitive has a connotative sense (“attempting to”), and functions in a complementary sense, relative to the main verb.

[9:1]  ¹² tn The words “I concluded that” do not appear in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[9:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “whether love or hatred.”

[9:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “man does not know anything before them.”

[1:15]  ¹⁵ tn The term מְעֻוָּת, mÿ’uvvat (Pual participle masculine singular from עָוַת, ’avat, “to bend”) is used substantively (“what is bent; what is crooked”) in reference to irregularities in life and obstacles to human secular achievement accomplishing anything of ultimate value.

[1:15]  ¹⁶ tn A parallel statement occurs in 7:13 which employs the active form of עָוַת, (’avat, “to bend”) with God as the subject: “Who is able to strengthen what God bends?” The passive form occurs here: “No one is able to straighten what is bent” (מְעֻוָּת לֹא־יוּכַל לֹתְקֹן, mÿ’uvvat lo’-yukhal lotÿqon). In the light of 7:13, the personal agent of the passive form is God.

[1:15]  ¹⁷ tn The Hebrew noun חֶסְרוֹן (khesron) is used in the OT only here and means “what is lacking” (as an antonym to יִתְרוֹן [yitron], “what is profitable”; HALOT 339 s.v. חֶסְרוֹן; BDB 341 s.v. חֶסְרוֹן). It is an Aramaic loanword meaning “deficit.” The related verb חָסַר (khasar) means “to lack, to be in need of, to decrease, to lessen [in number]”; the related noun חֹסֶר (khoser) refers to “one in want of”; and the noun חֶסֶר (kheser) means “poverty, want” (HALOT 338 s.v. חֶסֶר; BDB 341 s.v. חֶסֶר). It refers to what is absent (zero in terms of quantity) rather than what is deficient (poor in terms of quality). The LXX misunderstood the term and rendered it as ὑστέρημα (usterhma, “deficiency”): “deficiency cannot be numbered.” It is also misunderstood by a few English versions: “nor can you count up the defects in life” (Moffatt); “the number of fools is infinite” (Douay). However, most English versions correctly understand it as referring to what is lacking in terms of quantity: “what is lacking” (RSV, MLB, NASB, NIV, NRSV), “a lack” (NJPS), “that which is wanting” (KJV, ASV), “what is not there” (NEB), and “what is missing” (NAB).

[1:15]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “cannot be counted” or “cannot be numbered.” The term הִמָּנוֹת (himmanot, Niphal infinitive construct from מָנָה, manah, “to count”) is rendered literally by most translations: “[cannot] be counted” or “[cannot] be numbered” (KJV, ASV, RSV, MLB, NEB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, JPS, NJPS). However, the nuance “count” might function as a metonymy of effect for cause, that is, “to supply.” What is absent cannot be supplied (cause) therefore, it cannot be counted as present (effect). NAB adopts this approach: “what is missing cannot be supplied.”

[8:9]  ¹⁹ tn The Hebrew has “we are of yesterday,” the adverb functioning as a predicate. Bildad’s point is that they have not had time to acquire great knowledge because they are recent.

[8:9]  ²⁰ tn E. Dhorme (Job, 116) observes that the shadow is the symbol of ephemeral things (14:2; 17:7; Ps 144:4). The shadow passes away quickly (116).

[14:2]  ²¹ tn Heb יָצָא (yatsa’, “comes forth”). The perfect verb expresses characteristic action and so is translated by the present tense (see GKC 329 §111.s).

[14:2]  ²² tn The verb וַיִּמָּל (vayyimmal) is from the root מָלַל (malal, “to languish; to wither”) and not from a different root מָלַל (malal, “to cut off”).

[14:2]  ²³ tn The verb is “and he does not stand.” Here the verb means “to stay fixed; to abide.” The shadow does not stay fixed, but continues to advance toward darkness.

[39:5]  ²⁴ 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.

[39:5]  ²⁵ tn Heb “is like nothing before you.”

[39:5]  ²⁶ 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.”

[39:6]  ²⁷ tn Heb “surely, as an image man walks about.” The preposition prefixed to “image” indicates identity here.

[39:6]  ²⁸ 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.

[89:47]  ²⁹ tn Heb “remember me, what is [my] lifespan.” The Hebrew term חֶלֶד (kheled) is also used of one’s lifespan in Ps 39:5. Because the Hebrew text is so awkward here, some prefer to emend it to read מֶה חָדֵל אָנִי (meh khadel ’aniy, “[remember] how transient [that is, “short-lived”] I am”; see Ps 39:4).

[89:47]  ³⁰ tn Heb “For what emptiness do you create all the sons of mankind?” In this context the term שָׁוְא (shavah) refers to mankind’s mortal nature and the brevity of life (see vv. 45, 48).

[90:10]  ³¹ tn Heb “the days of our years, in them [are] seventy years.”

[90:10]  ³² tn Heb “or if [there is] strength, eighty years.”

[90:10]  ³³ tn Heb “and their pride [is] destruction and wickedness.” The Hebrew noun רֹהַב (rohav) occurs only here. BDB 923 s.v. assigns the meaning “pride,” deriving the noun from the verbal root רהב (“to act stormily [boisterously, arrogantly]”). Here the “pride” of one’s days (see v. 9) probably refers to one’s most productive years in the prime of life. The words translated “destruction and wickedness” are also paired in Ps 10:7. They also appear in proximity in Pss 7:14 and 55:10. The oppressive and abusive actions of evil men are probably in view (see Job 4:8; 5:6; 15:35; Isa 10:1; 59:4).

[90:10]  ³⁴ tn or “for.”

[90:10]  ³⁵ tn Heb “it passes quickly.” The subject of the verb is probably “their pride” (see the preceding line). The verb גּוּז (guz) means “to pass” here; it occurs only here and in Num 11:31.

[90:10]  ³⁶ sn We fly away. The psalmist compares life to a bird that quickly flies off (see Job 20:8).

[90:11]  ³⁷ tn Heb “Who knows the strength of your anger?”

[90:11]  ³⁸ tn Heb “and like your fear [is] your raging fury.” Perhaps one should emend וּכְיִרְאָתְךְ (ukhyir’otekh, “and like your fear”) to יִרְאָתְךְ (yir’otkh, “your fear”), understanding a virtual dittography (אַפֶּךָ וּכְיִרְאָתְךְ, ’apekha ukhyir’otekh) to have occurred. In this case the psalmist asserts “your fear [is] your raging fury,” that is, your raging fury is what causes others to fear you. The suffix on “fear” is understood as objective.

[90:12]  ³⁹ tn Heb “to number our days,” that is, to be aware of how few they really are.

[90:12]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “and we will bring a heart of wisdom.” After the imperative of the preceding line, the prefixed verbal form with the conjunction indicates purpose/result. The Hebrew term “heart” here refers to the center of one’s thoughts, volition, and moral character.

[102:11]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “my days [are] like an extended [or “lengthening”] shadow,” that is, like a late afternoon shadow made by the descending sun that will soon be swallowed up by complete darkness.

[109:23]  ⁴² tn Heb “like a shadow when it is extended I go.” He is like a late afternoon shadow made by the descending sun that will soon be swallowed up by complete darkness. See Ps 102:11.

[144:4]  ⁴³ tn Heb “man,” or “mankind.”

[144:4]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “his days [are] like a shadow that passes away,” that is, like a late afternoon shadow made by the descending sun that will soon be swallowed up by complete darkness. See Ps 102:11.

[4:14]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “who” (continuing the description of the people of v. 13). Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[4:14]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.”

[4:14]  ⁴⁷ tn Or “a vapor.” The Greek word ἀτμίς (atmis) denotes a swirl of smoke arising from a fire (cf. Gen 19:28; Lev 16:13; Joel 2:30 [Acts 2:19]; Ezek 8:11).