Job 14:2

14:2 He grows up ¹  like a flower and then withers away; ² 

he flees like a shadow, and does not remain. ³ 

Psalms 90:9

90:9 Yes, ⁴  throughout all our days we experience your raging fury; ⁵ 

the years of our lives pass quickly, like a sigh. ⁶ 

Psalms 102:11

102:11 My days are coming to an end, ⁷ 

and I am withered like grass.

Psalms 144:4

144:4 People ⁸  are like a vapor,

their days like a shadow that disappears. ⁹ 

Ecclesiastes 6:12

6:12 For no one knows what is best for a person during his life ¹⁰  –

during the few days of his fleeting life –

for ¹¹  they pass away ¹²  like a shadow.

Nor can anyone tell him what the future will hold for him on earth. ¹³ 

Isaiah 40:6-8

40:6 A voice says, “Cry out!”

Another asks, ¹⁴  “What should I cry out?”

The first voice responds: ¹⁵  “All people are like grass, ¹⁶ 

and all their promises ¹⁷  are like the flowers in the field.

40:7 The grass dries up,

the flowers wither,

when the wind sent by the Lord ¹⁸  blows on them.

Surely humanity ¹⁹  is like grass.

40:8 The grass dries up,

the flowers wither,

but the decree of our God is forever reliable.” ²⁰ 

James 4:14

4:14 You ²¹  do not know about tomorrow. What is your life like? ²²  For you are a puff of smoke ²³  that appears for a short time and then vanishes.

[14:2]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ 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.

[90:9]  ⁴ tn Or “for.”

[90:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “all our days pass by in your anger.”

[90:9]  ⁶ 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.”

[102:11]  ⁷ 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.

[144:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “man,” or “mankind.”

[144:4]  ⁹ 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.

[6:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “For who knows what is good for a man in life?” The rhetorical question (“For who knows…?”) is a negative affirmation, expecting a negative answer: “For no one knows…!” (see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 949-51). The translation renders this rhetorical device as a positive affirmation.

[6:12]  ¹¹ tn The vav prefixed to וְיַעֲשֵׂם (vÿya’asem, conjunction + Qal imperfect 3rd person masculine singular from עָשַׂה, ’asah, “to do” + 3rd person masculine plural suffix) functions in an explanatory or epexegetical sense (“For …”).

[6:12]  ¹² tn The 3rd person masculine plural suffix on the verb וְיַעֲשֵׂם (vÿya’asem, conjunction + Qal imperfect 3rd person masculine singular from ָָעשַׂה, ’asah, “to do” + 3rd person masculine plural suffix) refers to מִסְפַּר יְמֵי־חַיֵּי הֶבְלוֹ (mispar yÿme-khayye hevlo, “the few days of his fleeting life”). The suffix may be taken as an objective genitive: “he spends them [i.e., the days of his life] like a shadow” (HALOT 891 s.v. I ָָעשַׂה 8) or as a subjective genitive: “they [i.e., the days of his life] pass like a shadow” (BDB 795 s.v. ָָעשַׂה II.11).

[6:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “Who can tell the man what shall be after him under the sun?” The rhetorical question (“For who can tell him…?”) is a negative affirmation, expecting a negative answer: “For no one can tell him…!” (see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 949-51). The translation renders this rhetorical device as a positive affirmation.

[40:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and he says.” Apparently a second “voice” responds to the command of the first “voice.”

[40:6]  ¹⁵ tn The words “the first voice responds” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The first voice tells the second one what to declare.

[40:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “all flesh is grass.” The point of the metaphor is explained in v. 7.

[40:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and all his loyalty.” The antecedent of the third masculine suffix is בָּשָׂר (basar, “flesh”), which refers collectively to mankind. The LXX, apparently understanding the antecedent as “grass,” reads “glory,” but חֶסֶד (khesed) rarely, if ever, has this nuance. The normal meaning of חֶסֶד (“faithfulness, loyalty, devotion”) fits very well in the argument. Human beings and their faithfulness (verbal expressions of faithfulness are specifically in view; cf. NRSV “constancy”) are short-lived and unreliable, in stark contrast to the decrees and promises of the eternal God.

[40:7]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew text has רוּחַ יְהוָה (ruakh yehvah), which in this context probably does not refer to the Lord’s personal Spirit. The phrase is better translated “the breath of the Lord,” or “the wind of [i.e., sent by] the Lord.” The Lord’s sovereign control over nature, including the hot desert winds that dry up vegetation, is in view here (cf. Ps 147:18; Isa 59:19).

[40:7]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the people” (so KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[40:8]  ²⁰ tn Heb “but the word of our God stands forever.” In this context the divine “word” specifically refers to his decreed promise assuring Jerusalem that her suffering is over and his glorious return imminent (vv. 1-5).

[4:14]  ²¹ 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]  ²² tn Or “you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.”

[4:14]  ²³ 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).