Psalms 39:6

39:6 Surely people go through life as mere ghosts. ¹ 

Surely they accumulate worthless wealth

without knowing who will eventually haul it away.” ² 

Psalms 73:20

73:20 They are like a dream after one wakes up. ³ 

O Lord, when you awake ⁴  you will despise them. ⁵ 

Ecclesiastes 1:4

1:4 A generation comes ⁶  and a generation goes, ⁷ 

but the earth remains ⁸  the same ⁹  through the ages. ¹⁰ 

James 1:10-11

1:10 But the rich person’s pride should be in his humiliation, because he will pass away like a wildflower in the meadow. 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. ¹²  So also the rich person in the midst of his pursuits will wither away.

James 4:14

4:14 You ¹³  do not know about tomorrow. What is your life like? ¹⁴  For you are a puff of smoke ¹⁵  that appears for a short time and then vanishes.

James 4:1

Passions and Pride

4:1 Where do the conflicts and where ¹⁶  do the quarrels among you come from? Is it not from this, ¹⁷  from your passions that battle inside you? ¹⁸ 

James 1:24

1:24 For he gazes at himself and then goes out and immediately forgets ¹⁹  what sort of person he was.

James 4:7

4:7 So submit to God. But resist the devil and he will flee from you.

James 4:1

Passions and Pride

4:1 Where do the conflicts and where ²⁰  do the quarrels among you come from? Is it not from this, ²¹  from your passions that battle inside you? ²² 

James 2:17

2:17 So also faith, if it does not have works, is dead being by itself.

[39:6]  ¹ tn Heb “surely, as an image man walks about.” The preposition prefixed to “image” indicates identity here.

[39:6]  ² tc Heb “Surely [in] vain they strive, he accumulates and does not know who gathers them.” The MT as it stands is syntactically awkward. The verb forms switch from singular (“walks about”) to plural (“they strive”) and then back to singular (“accumulates and does not know”), even though the subject (generic “man”) remains the same. Furthermore there is no object for the verb “accumulates” and no plural antecedent for the plural pronoun (“them”) attached to “gathers.” These problems can be removed if one emends the text from הֶבֶל יֶהֱמָיוּן (hevel yehemaun, “[in] vain they strive”) to הֶבְלֵי הָמוֹן (hevley hamon, “vain things of wealth”). This assumes a misdivision in the MT and a virtual dittography of vav (ו) between the mem and nun of המון. The present translation follows this emendation.

[73:20]  ³ tn Heb “like a dream from awakening.” They lack any real substance; their prosperity will last for only a brief time.

[73:20]  ⁴ sn When you awake. The psalmist compares God’s inactivity to sleep and the time of God’s judgment to his awakening from sleep.

[73:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “you will despise their form.” The Hebrew term צֶלֶם (tselem, “form; image”) also suggests their short-lived nature. Rather than having real substance, they are like the mere images that populate one’s dreams. Note the similar use of the term in Ps 39:6.

[1:4]  ⁶ tn The participle הֹלֵךְ (holekh, “to walk, to go”) emphasizes continual, durative, uninterrupted action (present universal use of participle). The root הָלַךְ (halakh) is repeated in this section (1:4a, 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b, 7c) to emphasize the continual action and constant motion of everything in nature. Despite the continual action of everything in nature, there is no completion, attainment or rest for anything. The first use of הָלַךְ is in reference to man; all subsequent usages are in reference to nature – illustrations of the futility of human endeavor. Note: All the key terms used in 1:4 to describe the futility of human endeavor are repeated in 1:5-11 as illustrations from nature. The literary monotony in 1:4-11 mirrors the actual monotony of human action that repeats itself with no real change.

[1:4]  ⁷ tn The participle בָּא (ba’, “to go”) emphasizes continual, durative, uninterrupted action (present universal use of participle). The term is repeated in 1:4-5 to compare the futility of secular human accomplishments with the futile actions in nature: everything is in motion, but there is nothing new accomplished.

[1:4]  ⁸ tn The participle עֹמָדֶת (’omadet, “to stand”) emphasizes a continual, durative, uninterrupted state (present universal condition). Man, despite all his secular accomplishments in all generations, makes no ultimate impact on the earth.

[1:4]  ⁹ tn The term “the same” does not appear in Hebrew, but is supplied in the translation for clarity and smoothness.

[1:4]  ¹⁰ tn The term עוֹלָם (’olam) has a wide range of meanings: (1) indefinite time: “long time, duration,” often “eternal” or “eternity”; (2) future time: “things to come”; and (3) past time: “a long time back,” that is, the dark age of prehistory (HALOT 798–99 s.v. עוֹלָם; BDB 761–63 s.v. III עלם). It may also denote an indefinite period of “continuous existence” (BDB 762 s.v. III עלם 2.b). It is used in this sense in reference to things that remain the same for long periods: the earth (Eccl 1:4), the heavens (Ps 148:6), ruined cities (Isa 25:2; 32:14), ruined lands (Jer 18:16), nations (Isa 47:7), families (Ps 49:12; Isa 14:20), the dynasty of Saul (1 Sam 13:13), the house of Eli (2 Sam 2:30), continual enmity between nations (Ezek 25:15; 35:5), the exclusion of certain nations from the assembly (Deut 23:4; Neh 13:1), a perpetual reproach (Ps 78:66).

[1:10]  ¹¹ tn Grk “a flower of grass.”

[1:11]  ¹² tn Or “perishes,” “is destroyed.”

[4:14]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ tn Or “you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.”

[4:14]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ tn The word “where” is repeated in Greek for emphasis.

[4:1]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “from here.”

[4:1]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “in your members [i.e., parts of the body].”

[1:24]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “and he has gone out and immediately has forgotten.”

[4:1]  ²⁰ tn The word “where” is repeated in Greek for emphasis.

[4:1]  ²¹ tn Grk “from here.”

[4:1]  ²² tn Grk “in your members [i.e., parts of the body].”