Job 30:23

30:23 I know that you are bringing ¹  me to death,

to the meeting place for all the living.

Genesis 3:19

3:19 By the sweat of your brow ²  you will eat food

until you return to the ground, ³ 

for out of it you were taken;

for you are dust, and to dust you will return.” ⁴ 

Psalms 90:3-10

90:3 You make mankind return ⁵  to the dust, ⁶ 

and say, “Return, O people!”

90:4 Yes, ⁷  in your eyes a thousand years

are like yesterday that quickly passes,

or like one of the divisions of the nighttime. ⁸ 

90:5 You bring their lives to an end and they “fall asleep.” ⁹ 

In the morning they are like the grass that sprouts up;

90:6 in the morning it glistens ¹⁰  and sprouts up;

at evening time it withers ¹¹  and dries up.

90:7 Yes, ¹²  we are consumed by your anger;

we are terrified by your wrath.

90:8 You are aware of our sins; ¹³ 

you even know about our hidden sins. ¹⁴ 

90:9 Yes, ¹⁵  throughout all our days we experience your raging fury; ¹⁶ 

the years of our lives pass quickly, like a sigh. ¹⁷ 

90:10 The days of our lives add up to seventy years, ¹⁸ 

or eighty, if one is especially strong. ¹⁹ 

But even one’s best years are marred by trouble and oppression. ²⁰ 

Yes, ²¹  they pass quickly ²²  and we fly away. ²³ 

Ecclesiastes 12:7

12:7 and the dust returns to the earth as it was,

and the life’s breath ²⁴  returns to God who gave it.

Isaiah 27:4

27:4 I am not angry.

I wish I could confront some thorns and briers!

Then I would march against them ²⁵  for battle;

I would set them ²⁶  all on fire,

Isaiah 57:16

57:16 For I will not be hostile ²⁷  forever

or perpetually angry,

for then man’s spirit would grow faint before me, ²⁸ 

the life-giving breath I created.

[30:23]  ¹ tn The imperfect verb would be a progressive imperfect, it is future, but it is also already underway.

[3:19]  ² tn The expression “the sweat of your brow” is a metonymy, the sweat being the result of painful toil in the fields.

[3:19]  ³ sn Until you return to the ground. The theme of humankind’s mortality is critical here in view of the temptation to be like God. Man will labor painfully to provide food, obviously not enjoying the bounty that creation promised. In place of the abundance of the orchard’s fruit trees, thorns and thistles will grow. Man will have to work the soil so that it will produce the grain to make bread. This will continue until he returns to the soil from which he was taken (recalling the creation in 2:7 with the wordplay on Adam and ground). In spite of the dreams of immortality and divinity, man is but dust (2:7), and will return to dust. So much for his pride.

[3:19]  ⁴ sn In general, the themes of the curse oracles are important in the NT teaching that Jesus became the cursed one hanging on the tree. In his suffering and death, all the motifs are drawn together: the tree, the sweat, the thorns, and the dust of death (see Ps 22:15). Jesus experienced it all, to have victory over it through the resurrection.

[90:3]  ⁵ tn In this context the shortened prefix form does not function as a preterite, but indicates what is typical of the world.

[90:3]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew term דַּכָּא (daka’) carries the basic sense of “crushed.” Elsewhere it refers to those who are “crushed” in spirit or contrite of heart (see Ps 34:18; Isa 57:15). If one understands this nuance here, then v. 3 is observing that God leads mankind to repentance (the term שׁוּב, shuv, “return,” which appears twice in this verse, is sometimes used of repentance.) However, the following context laments mankind’s mortality and the brevity of life, so it is doubtful if v. 3 should be understood so positively. It is more likely that דַּכָּא here refers to “crushed matter,” that is, the dust that fills the grave (see HALOT 221 s.v. s.v. I דַּכָּא; BDB 194 s.v. דַּכָּא). In this case one may hear an echo of Gen 3:19.

[90:4]  ⁷ tn Or “for.”

[90:4]  ⁸ sn The divisions of the nighttime. The ancient Israelites divided the night into distinct periods, or “watches.”

[90:5]  ⁹ 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).

[90:6]  ¹⁰ 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.

[90:6]  ¹¹ 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.

[90:7]  ¹² tn Or “for.”

[90:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “you set our sins in front of you.”

[90:8]  ¹⁴ 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.

[90:9]  ¹⁵ tn Or “for.”

[90:9]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “all our days pass by in your anger.”

[90:9]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the days of our years, in them [are] seventy years.”

[90:10]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “or if [there is] strength, eighty years.”

[90:10]  ²⁰ 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]  ²¹ tn or “for.”

[90:10]  ²² 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]  ²³ sn We fly away. The psalmist compares life to a bird that quickly flies off (see Job 20:8).

[12:7]  ²⁴ 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.

[27:4]  ²⁵ tn Heb “it.” The feminine singular suffix apparently refers back to the expression “thorns and briers,” understood in a collective sense. For other examples of a cohortative expressing resolve after a hypothetical statement introduced by נָתַן with מִי (miwith natan), see Judg 9:29; Jer 9:1-2; Ps 55:6.

[27:4]  ²⁶ tn Heb “it.” The feminine singular suffix apparently refers back to the expression “thorns and briers,” understood in a collective sense.

[57:16]  ²⁷ tn Or perhaps, “argue,” or “accuse” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[57:16]  ²⁸ tn Heb “for a spirit from before me would be faint.”