Job 9:25

Renewed Complaint

9:25 “My days ¹  are swifter than a runner, ² 

they speed by without seeing happiness.

Job 16:22

16:22 For the years that lie ahead are few, ³ 

and then I will go on the way of no return. ⁴ 

Job 17:11

17:11 My days have passed, my plans ⁵  are shattered,

even ⁶  the desires ⁷  of my heart.

Psalms 90:5-6

90:5 You bring their lives to an end and they “fall asleep.” ⁸ 

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

90:6 in the morning it glistens ⁹  and sprouts up;

at evening time it withers ¹⁰  and dries up.

Psalms 102:11

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

and I am withered like grass.

Psalms 103:15-16

103:15 A person’s life is like grass. ¹² 

Like a flower in the field it flourishes,

103:16 but when the hot wind ¹³  blows by, it disappears,

and one can no longer even spot the place where it once grew.

Psalms 144:4

144:4 People ¹⁴  are like a vapor,

their days like a shadow that disappears. ¹⁵ 

Isaiah 38:12-13

38:12 My dwelling place ¹⁶  is removed and taken away ¹⁷  from me

like a shepherd’s tent.

I rolled up my life like a weaver rolls cloth; ¹⁸ 

from the loom he cuts me off. ¹⁹ 

You turn day into night and end my life. ²⁰ 

38:13 I cry out ²¹  until morning;

like a lion he shatters all my bones;

you turn day into night and end my life. ²² 

Isaiah 40:6-7

40:6 A voice says, “Cry out!”

Another asks, ²³  “What should I cry out?”

The first voice responds: ²⁴  “All people are like grass, ²⁵ 

and all their promises ²⁶  are like the flowers in the field.

40:7 The grass dries up,

the flowers wither,

when the wind sent by the Lord ²⁷  blows on them.

Surely humanity ²⁸  is like grass.

James 1:11

1:11 For the sun rises with its heat and dries up the meadow; the petal of the flower falls off and its beauty is lost forever. ²⁹  So also the rich person in the midst of his pursuits will wither away.

James 4:14

4:14 You ³⁰  do not know about tomorrow. What is your life like? ³¹  For you are a puff of smoke ³²  that appears for a short time and then vanishes.

James 4:1

Passions and Pride

4:1 Where do the conflicts and where ³³  do the quarrels among you come from? Is it not from this, ³⁴  from your passions that battle inside you? ³⁵ 

James 1:24

1:24 For he gazes at himself and then goes out and immediately forgets ³⁶  what sort of person he was.

[9:25]  ¹ tn The text has “and my days” following the thoughts in the previous section.

[9:25]  ² sn Job returns to the thought of the brevity of his life (7:6). But now the figure is the swift runner instead of the weaver’s shuttle.

[16:22]  ³ tn The expression is “years of number,” meaning that they can be counted, and so “the years are few.” The verb simply means “comes” or “lie ahead.”

[16:22]  ⁴ tn The verbal expression “I will not return” serves here to modify the journey that he will take. It is “the road [of] I will not return.”

[17:11]  ⁵ tn This term usually means “plans; devices” in a bad sense, although it can be used of God’s plans (see e.g., Zech 8:15).

[17:11]  ⁶ tn Although not in the Hebrew text, “even” is supplied in the translation, because this line is in apposition to the preceding.

[17:11]  ⁷ tn This word has been linked to the root יָרַשׁ (yarash, “to inherit”) yielding a meaning “the possessions of my heart.” But it is actually to be connected to אָרַשׁ (’arash, “to desire”) cognate to the Akkadian eresu, “desire.” The LXX has “limbs,” which may come from an Aramaic word for “ropes.” An emendation based on the LXX would be risky.

[90:5]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ 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.

[102:11]  ¹¹ 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.

[103:15]  ¹² tn Heb “[as for] mankind, like grass [are] his days.” The Hebrew noun אֱנוֹשׁ (’enosh) is used here generically of human beings. What is said is true of all mankind.

[103:16]  ¹³ tn Heb “[the] wind.” The word “hot” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[144:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “man,” or “mankind.”

[144:4]  ¹⁵ 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.

[38:12]  ¹⁶ tn According to HALOT 217 s.v. דּוֹר this noun is a hapax legomenon meaning “dwelling place,” derived from a verbal root meaning “live” (see Ps 84:10). For an interpretation that understands the form as the well-attested noun meaning “generation,” see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:679, n. 4.

[38:12]  ¹⁷ tn The verb form appears to be a Niphal from גָּלָה (galah), which normally means “uncovered, revealed” in the Niphal. Because of the following reference to a shepherd’s tent, some prefer to emend the form to וְנָגַל, a Niphal from גָלָל (galal, “roll”) and translate “is rolled [or “folded”] up.”

[38:12]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “I rolled up, like a weaver, my life” (so ASV).

[38:12]  ¹⁹ sn For a discussion of the imagery employed here, see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:684.

[38:12]  ²⁰ tn Heb “from day to night you bring me to an end.”

[38:13]  ²¹ tn The verb form in the Hebrew text is a Piel from שָׁוַה (shavah). There are two homonyms שָׁוַה, one meaning in the Piel “level, smooth out,” the other “set, place.” Neither fits in v. 13. It is likely that the original reading was שִׁוַּעְתִּי (shivva’ti, “I cry out”) from the verbal root שָׁוַע (shava’), which occurs exclusively in the Piel.

[38:13]  ²² tn Heb “from day to night you bring me to an end.”

[40:6]  ²³ tn Heb “and he says.” Apparently a second “voice” responds to the command of the first “voice.”

[40:6]  ²⁴ 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]  ²⁵ tn Heb “all flesh is grass.” The point of the metaphor is explained in v. 7.

[40:6]  ²⁶ 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]  ²⁷ 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]  ²⁸ tn Heb “the people” (so KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[1:11]  ²⁹ tn Or “perishes,” “is destroyed.”

[4:14]  ³⁰ 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]  ³¹ tn Or “you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.”

[4:14]  ³² 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).

[4:1]  ³³ tn The word “where” is repeated in Greek for emphasis.

[4:1]  ³⁴ tn Grk “from here.”

[4:1]  ³⁵ tn Grk “in your members [i.e., parts of the body].”

[1:24]  ³⁶ tn Grk “and he has gone out and immediately has forgotten.”