Job 7:6

7:6 My days ¹  are swifter ²  than a weaver’s shuttle ³ 

and they come to an end without hope. ⁴ 

Genesis 47:9

47:9 Jacob said to Pharaoh, “All ⁵  the years of my travels ⁶  are 130. All ⁷  the years of my life have been few and painful; ⁸  the years of my travels are not as long as those of my ancestors.” ⁹ 

Genesis 47:1

Joseph’s Wise Administration

47:1 Joseph went and told Pharaoh, “My father, my brothers, their flocks and herds, and all that they own have arrived from the land of

Canaan. They are now ¹⁰  in the land of Goshen.”

Genesis 29:15

29:15 Then Laban said to Jacob, “Should you work ¹¹  for me for nothing because you are my relative? ¹²  Tell me what your wages should be.”

Psalms 39:5

39:5 Look, you make my days short-lived, ¹³ 

and my life span is nothing from your perspective. ¹⁴ 

Surely all people, even those who seem secure, are nothing but vapor. ¹⁵ 

Psalms 90:4

90:4 Yes, ¹⁶  in your eyes a thousand years

are like yesterday that quickly passes,

or like one of the divisions of the nighttime. ¹⁷ 

Psalms 102:11

102:11 My days are coming to an end, ¹⁸ 

and I am withered like grass.

Psalms 144:4

144:4 People ¹⁹  are like a vapor,

their days like a shadow that disappears. ²⁰ 

[7:6]  ¹ sn The first five verses described the painfulness of his malady, his life; now, in vv. 6-10 he will focus on the brevity of his life, and its extinction with death. He introduces the subject with “my days,” a metonymy for his whole life and everything done on those days. He does not mean individual days – they drag on endlessly.

[7:6]  ² tn The verb קָלַל (qalal) means “to be light” (40:4), and then by extension “to be swift; to be rapid” (Jer 4:13; Hab 1:8).

[7:6]  ³ sn The shuttle is the part which runs through the meshes of the web. In Judg 16:14 it is a loom (see BDB 71 s.v. אֶרֶג), but here it must be the shuttle. Hezekiah uses the imagery of the weaver, the loom, and the shuttle for the brevity of life (see Isa 38:12). The LXX used, “My life is lighter than a word.”

[7:6]  ⁴ tn The text includes a wonderful wordplay on this word. The noun is תִּקְוָה (tiqvah, “hope”). But it can also have the meaning of one of its cognate nouns, קַו (qav, “thread, cord,” as in Josh 2:18,21). He is saying that his life is coming to an end for lack of thread/for lack of hope (see further E. Dhorme, Job, 101).

[47:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “the days of.”

[47:9]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Heb “the days of.”

[47:9]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn Heb “and they have not reached the days of the years of my fathers in the days of their sojournings.”

[47:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Look they [are] in the land of Goshen.” Joseph draws attention to the fact of their presence in Goshen.

[29:15]  ¹¹ tn The verb is the perfect with the vav (ו) consecutive; the nuance in the question is deliberative.

[29:15]  ¹² tn Heb “my brother.” The term “brother” is used in a loose sense; actually Jacob was Laban’s nephew.

[39:5]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “is like nothing before you.”

[39:5]  ¹⁵ 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.”

[90:4]  ¹⁶ tn Or “for.”

[90:4]  ¹⁷ sn The divisions of the nighttime. The ancient Israelites divided the night into distinct periods, or “watches.”

[102:11]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “man,” or “mankind.”

[144:4]  ²⁰ 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.