Psalms 39:5

39:5 Look, you make my days short-lived, ¹ 

and my life span is nothing from your perspective. ² 

Surely all people, even those who seem secure, are nothing but vapor. ³ 

Psalms 39:11

39:11 You severely discipline people for their sins; ⁴ 

like a moth you slowly devour their strength. ⁵ 

Surely all people are a mere vapor. (Selah)

Psalms 89:47

89:47 Take note of my brief lifespan! ⁶ 

Why do you make all people so mortal? ⁷ 

Psalms 90:9-10

90:9 Yes, ⁸  throughout all our days we experience your raging fury; ⁹ 

the years of our lives pass quickly, like a sigh. ¹⁰ 

90:10 The days of our lives add up to seventy years, ¹¹ 

or eighty, if one is especially strong. ¹² 

But even one’s best years are marred by trouble and oppression. ¹³ 

Yes, ¹⁴  they pass quickly ¹⁵  and we fly away. ¹⁶ 

James 4:14

4:14 You ¹⁷  do not know about tomorrow. What is your life like? ¹⁸  For you are a puff of smoke ¹⁹  that appears for a short time and then vanishes.

[39:5]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Heb “is like nothing before you.”

[39:5]  ³ 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.”

[39:11]  ⁴ tn “with punishments on account of sin you discipline a man.”

[39:11]  ⁵ tc Heb “you cause to dissolve, like a moth, his desired [thing].” The translation assumes an emendation of חֲמוּדוֹ (khamudo, “his desirable [thing]”) to חֶמְדוֹ (khemdo, “his loveliness” [or “beauty”]), a reading that is supported by a few medieval Hebrew mss.

[89:47]  ⁶ tn Heb “remember me, what is [my] lifespan.” The Hebrew term חֶלֶד (kheled) is also used of one’s lifespan in Ps 39:5. Because the Hebrew text is so awkward here, some prefer to emend it to read מֶה חָדֵל אָנִי (meh khadel ’aniy, “[remember] how transient [that is, “short-lived”] I am”; see Ps 39:4).

[89:47]  ⁷ tn Heb “For what emptiness do you create all the sons of mankind?” In this context the term שָׁוְא (shavah) refers to mankind’s mortal nature and the brevity of life (see vv. 45, 48).

[90:9]  ⁸ tn Or “for.”

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

[90:9]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the days of our years, in them [are] seventy years.”

[90:10]  ¹² tn Heb “or if [there is] strength, eighty years.”

[90:10]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ tn or “for.”

[90:10]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ sn We fly away. The psalmist compares life to a bird that quickly flies off (see Job 20:8).

[4:14]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ tn Or “you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.”

[4:14]  ¹⁹ 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).