Psalms 102:11

102:11 My days are coming to an end, ¹ 

and I am withered like grass.

Psalms 103:15-16

103:15 A person’s life is like grass. ² 

Like a flower in the field it flourishes,

103:16 but when the hot wind ³  blows by, it disappears,

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

Psalms 109:23

109:23 I am fading away like a shadow at the end of the day; ⁴ 

I am shaken off like a locust.

Psalms 109:2

109:2 For they say cruel and deceptive things to me;

they lie to me. ⁵ 

Psalms 14:1

Psalm 14 ⁶ 

For the music director; by David.

14:1 Fools say to themselves, ⁷  “There is no God.” ⁸ 

They sin and commit evil deeds; ⁹ 

none of them does what is right. ¹⁰ 

Psalms 14:1

Psalm 14 ¹¹ 

For the music director; by David.

14:1 Fools say to themselves, ¹²  “There is no God.” ¹³ 

They sin and commit evil deeds; ¹⁴ 

none of them does what is right. ¹⁵ 

Psalms 29:1

Psalm 29 ¹⁶ 

A psalm of David.

29:1 Acknowledge the Lord, you heavenly beings, ¹⁷ 

acknowledge the Lord’s majesty and power! ¹⁸ 

Job 8:9

8:9 For we were born yesterday ¹⁹  and do not have knowledge,

since our days on earth are but a shadow. ²⁰ 

Ecclesiastes 8:13

8:13 But it will not go well with the wicked,

nor will they ²¹  prolong their ²²  days like a shadow, ²³ 

because they ²⁴  do not stand in fear ²⁵  before God.

[102:11]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ tn Heb “[the] wind.” The word “hot” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[109:23]  ⁴ tn Heb “like a shadow when it is extended I go.” He is like a late afternoon shadow made by the descending sun that will soon be swallowed up by complete darkness. See Ps 102:11.

[109:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “for a mouth of evil and a mouth of deceit against me they open, they speak with me [with] a tongue of falsehood.”

[14:1]  ⁶ sn Psalm 14. The psalmist observes that the human race is morally corrupt. Evildoers oppress God’s people, but the psalmist is confident of God’s protection and anticipates a day when God will vindicate Israel.

[14:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “a fool says in his heart.” The singular is used here in a collective or representative sense; the typical fool is envisioned.

[14:1]  ⁸ sn “There is no God.” The statement is probably not a philosophical assertion that God does not exist, but rather a confident affirmation that God is unconcerned about how men live morally and ethically (see Ps 10:4, 11).

[14:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “they act corruptly, they make a deed evil.” The verbs describe the typical behavior of the wicked. The subject of the plural verbs is “sons of man” (v. 2). The entire human race is characterized by sinful behavior. This practical atheism – living as if there is no God who will hold them accountable for their actions – makes them fools, for one of the earmarks of folly is to fail to anticipate the long range consequences of one’s behavior.

[14:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “there is none that does good.”

[14:1]  ¹¹ sn Psalm 14. The psalmist observes that the human race is morally corrupt. Evildoers oppress God’s people, but the psalmist is confident of God’s protection and anticipates a day when God will vindicate Israel.

[14:1]  ¹² tn Heb “a fool says in his heart.” The singular is used here in a collective or representative sense; the typical fool is envisioned.

[14:1]  ¹³ sn “There is no God.” The statement is probably not a philosophical assertion that God does not exist, but rather a confident affirmation that God is unconcerned about how men live morally and ethically (see Ps 10:4, 11).

[14:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “they act corruptly, they make a deed evil.” The verbs describe the typical behavior of the wicked. The subject of the plural verbs is “sons of man” (v. 2). The entire human race is characterized by sinful behavior. This practical atheism – living as if there is no God who will hold them accountable for their actions – makes them fools, for one of the earmarks of folly is to fail to anticipate the long range consequences of one’s behavior.

[14:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “there is none that does good.”

[29:1]  ¹⁶ sn Psalm 29. In this hymn of praise the psalmist calls upon the heavenly assembly to acknowledge the royal splendor of the Lord. He describes the Lord’s devastating power as revealed in the thunderstorm and affirms that the Lord exerts this awesome might on behalf of his people. In its original context the psalm was a bold polemic against the Canaanite storm god Baal, for it affirms that the Lord is the real king who controls the elements of the storm, contrary to pagan belief. See R. B. Chisholm, Jr., “The Polemic against Baalism in Israel’s Early History and Literature,” BSac 150 (1994): 280-82.

[29:1]  ¹⁷ tc Heb “sons of gods,” or “sons of God.” Though אֵלִים (’elim) is vocalized as a plural form (“gods”) in the MT, it is likely that the final mem is actually enclitic, rather than a plural marker. In this case one may read “God.” Some, following a Qumran text and the LXX, also propose the phrase occurred in the original text of Deut 32:8.

[29:1]  ¹⁸ tn Or “ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.”

[8:9]  ¹⁹ tn The Hebrew has “we are of yesterday,” the adverb functioning as a predicate. Bildad’s point is that they have not had time to acquire great knowledge because they are recent.

[8:9]  ²⁰ tn E. Dhorme (Job, 116) observes that the shadow is the symbol of ephemeral things (14:2; 17:7; Ps 144:4). The shadow passes away quickly (116).

[8:13]  ²¹ tn Heb “he.”

[8:13]  ²² tn The word “their” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for smoothness.

[8:13]  ²³ tn The phrase “like a shadow” (כַּצֵּל, katsel) modifies the verb (“prolong”) rather than the noun (“days”). Several English versions misconstrue the line: “he will not prolong his days, [which are] like a shadow” (KJV, ASV); “the man who does not fear God is like a shadow” (NEB); and “he will not prolong his shadowy days” (NAB). It should be rendered “he will not prolong his days like a shadow” (RSV, NRSV, NASB, MLB, NIV). Unlike a shadow that lengthens at sunset, the wicked do not normally live long.

[8:13]  ²⁴ tn Heb “he.”

[8:13]  ²⁵ tn Heb “they do not fear.”