Genesis 47:9

47:9 Jacob said to Pharaoh, “All ¹  the years of my travels ²  are 130. All ³  the years of my life have been few and painful; ⁴  the years of my travels are not as long as those of my ancestors.” ⁵ 

Job 14:14

14:14 If a man dies, will he live again? ⁶ 

All the days of my hard service ⁷  I will wait ⁸ 

until my release comes. ⁹ 

Psalms 90:9-12

90:9 Yes, ¹⁰  throughout all our days we experience your raging fury; ¹¹ 

the years of our lives pass quickly, like a sigh. ¹² 

90:10 The days of our lives add up to seventy years, ¹³ 

or eighty, if one is especially strong. ¹⁴ 

But even one’s best years are marred by trouble and oppression. ¹⁵ 

Yes, ¹⁶  they pass quickly ¹⁷  and we fly away. ¹⁸ 

90:11 Who can really fathom the intensity of your anger? ¹⁹ 

Your raging fury causes people to fear you. ²⁰ 

90:12 So teach us to consider our mortality, ²¹ 

so that we might live wisely. ²² 

[47:9]  ¹ tn Heb “the days of.”

[47:9]  ² tn Heb “sojournings.” Jacob uses a term that depicts him as one who has lived an unsettled life, temporarily residing in many different places.

[47:9]  ³ tn Heb “the days of.”

[47:9]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew word רַע (ra’) can sometimes mean “evil,” but that would give the wrong connotation here, where it refers to pain, difficulty, and sorrow. Jacob is thinking back through all the troubles he had to endure to get to this point.

[47:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “and they have not reached the days of the years of my fathers in the days of their sojournings.”

[14:14]  ⁶ tc The LXX removes the interrogative and makes the statement affirmative, i.e., that man will live again. This reading is taken by D. H. Gard (“The Concept of the Future Life according to the Greek Translator of the Book of Job,” JBL 73 [1954]: 137-38). D. J. A. Clines follows this, putting both of the expressions in the wish clause: “if a man dies and could live again…” (Job [WBC], 332). If that is the way it is translated, then the verbs in the second half of the verse and in the next verse would all be part of the apodosis, and should be translated “would.” The interpretation would not greatly differ; it would be saying that if there was life after death, Job would long for his release – his death. If the traditional view is taken and the question was raised whether there was life after death (the implication of the question being that there is), then Job would still be longing for his death. The point the line is making is that if there is life after death, that would be all the more reason for Job to eagerly expect, to hope for, his death.

[14:14]  ⁷ tn See Job 7:1.

[14:14]  ⁸ tn The verb אֲיַחֵל (’ayakhel) may be rendered “I will/would wait” or “I will/would hope.” The word describes eager expectation and longing hope.

[14:14]  ⁹ tn The construction is the same as that found in the last verse: a temporal preposition עַד (’ad) followed by the infinitive construct followed by the subjective genitive “release/relief.” Due, in part, to the same verb (חָלַף, khalaf) having the meaning “sprout again” in v. 7, some take “renewal” as the meaning here (J. E. Hartley, Alden, NIV, ESV).

[90:9]  ¹⁰ tn Or “for.”

[90:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “all our days pass by in your anger.”

[90:9]  ¹² 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.”

[90:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “the days of our years, in them [are] seventy years.”

[90:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “or if [there is] strength, eighty years.”

[90:10]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ tn or “for.”

[90:10]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ sn We fly away. The psalmist compares life to a bird that quickly flies off (see Job 20:8).

[90:11]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Who knows the strength of your anger?”

[90:11]  ²⁰ 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]  ²¹ tn Heb “to number our days,” that is, to be aware of how few they really are.

[90:12]  ²² 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.