Psalms 31:10

31:10 For my life nears its end in pain;

my years draw to a close as I groan. ¹ 

My strength fails me because of ²  my sin,

and my bones become brittle. ³ 

Psalms 69:3

69:3 I am exhausted from shouting for help;

my throat is sore; ⁴ 

my eyes grow tired of looking for my God. ⁵ 

Psalms 71:13

71:13 May my accusers be humiliated and defeated!

May those who want to harm me ⁶  be covered with scorn and disgrace!

Psalms 90:9

90:9 Yes, ⁷  throughout all our days we experience your raging fury; ⁸ 

the years of our lives pass quickly, like a sigh. ⁹ 

Psalms 102:3

102:3 For my days go up in smoke, ¹⁰ 

and my bones are charred like a fireplace. ¹¹ 

[31:10]  ¹ tn Heb “and my years in groaning.”

[31:10]  ² tn Heb “stumbles in.”

[31:10]  ³ tn Heb “grow weak.”

[69:3]  ⁴ tn Or perhaps “raw”; Heb “burned; enflamed.”

[69:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “my eyes fail from waiting for my God.” The psalmist has intently kept his eyes open, looking for God to intervene, but now his eyes are watery and bloodshot, impairing his vision.

[71:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “those who seek my harm.”

[90:9]  ¹⁰ tn Or “for.”

[90:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “all our days pass by in your anger.”

[90:9]  ¹² 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.”

[102:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “for my days come to an end in smoke.”

[102:3]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew noun מוֹ־קֵד (mo-qed, “fireplace”) occurs only here, in Isa 33:14 (where it refers to the fire itself), and perhaps in Lev 6:2.