Psalms 90:10

90:10 The days of our lives add up to seventy years, ¹ 

or eighty, if one is especially strong. ² 

But even one’s best years are marred by trouble and oppression. ³ 

Yes, ⁴  they pass quickly ⁵  and we fly away. ⁶ 

Psalms 77:5

77:5 I thought about the days of old,

about ancient times. ⁷ 

Psalms 78:33

78:33 So he caused them to die unsatisfied ⁸ 

and filled with terror. ⁹ 

Psalms 90:15

90:15 Make us happy in proportion to the days you have afflicted us,

in proportion to the years we have experienced ¹⁰  trouble!

Psalms 102:27

102:27 But you remain; ¹¹ 

your years do not come to an end.

Psalms 65:11

65:11 You crown the year with your good blessings, ¹² 

and you leave abundance in your wake. ¹³ 

Psalms 77:10

77:10 Then I said, “I am sickened by the thought

that the sovereign One ¹⁴  might become inactive. ¹⁵ 

Psalms 31:10

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

my years draw to a close as I groan. ¹⁶ 

My strength fails me because of ¹⁷  my sin,

and my bones become brittle. ¹⁸ 

Psalms 61:6

61:6 Give the king long life!

Make his lifetime span several generations! ¹⁹ 

Psalms 90:4

90:4 Yes, ²⁰  in your eyes a thousand years

are like yesterday that quickly passes,

or like one of the divisions of the nighttime. ²¹ 

Psalms 90:9

90:9 Yes, ²²  throughout all our days we experience your raging fury; ²³ 

the years of our lives pass quickly, like a sigh. ²⁴ 

Psalms 102:24

102:24 I say, “O my God, please do not take me away in the middle of my life! ²⁵ 

You endure through all generations. ²⁶ 

Psalms 95:10

95:10 For forty years I was continually disgusted ²⁷  with that generation,

and I said, ‘These people desire to go astray; ²⁸ 

they do not obey my commands.’ ²⁹ 

[90:10]  ¹ tn Heb “the days of our years, in them [are] seventy years.”

[90:10]  ² tn Heb “or if [there is] strength, eighty years.”

[90:10]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn or “for.”

[90:10]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ sn We fly away. The psalmist compares life to a bird that quickly flies off (see Job 20:8).

[77:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “the years of antiquity.”

[78:33]  ¹³ tn Heb “and he ended in vanity their days.”

[78:33]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and their years in terror.”

[90:15]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “have seen.”

[102:27]  ²⁵ tn Heb “you [are] he,” or “you [are] the one.” The statement may echo the Lord’s affirmation “I am he” in Isa 41:4; 43:10, 13; 46:10; 48:12. In each of these passages the affirmation emphasizes the fact that the Lord transcends time limitations, the very point being made in Ps 102:27.

[65:11]  ³¹ tn Heb “your good,” which refers here to agricultural blessings.

[65:11]  ³² tn Heb “and your paths drip with abundance.”

[77:10]  ³⁷ tn Heb “Most High.” This divine title (עֶלְיוֹן, ’elyon) pictures God as the exalted ruler of the universe who vindicates the innocent and judges the wicked. See especially Pss 7:17; 9:2; 18:13; 21:7; 47:2.

[77:10]  ³⁸ tc Heb “And I said, ‘This is my wounding, the changing of the right hand of the Most High.’” The form חַלּוֹתִי (khallotiy) appears to be a Qal infinitive construct (with a first person singular pronominal suffix) from the verbal root חָלַל (khalal, “to pierce; to wound”). The present translation assumes an emendation to חֲלוֹתִי (khalotiy), a Qal infinitive construct (with a first person singular pronominal suffix) from the verbal root חָלָה (khalah, “be sick, weak”). The form שְׁנוֹת (shÿnot) is understood as a Qal infinitive construct from שָׁנָה (shanah, “to change”) rather than a plural noun form, “years” (see v. 5). “Right hand” here symbolizes by metonymy God’s power and activity. The psalmist observes that his real problem is theological in nature. His experience suggests that the sovereign Lord has abandoned him and become inactive. However, this goes against the grain of his most cherished beliefs.

[31:10]  ⁴³ tn Heb “and my years in groaning.”

[31:10]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “stumbles in.”

[31:10]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “grow weak.”

[61:6]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “days upon days of the king add, his years like generation and generation.”

[90:4]  ⁵⁵ tn Or “for.”

[90:4]  ⁵⁶ sn The divisions of the nighttime. The ancient Israelites divided the night into distinct periods, or “watches.”

[90:9]  ⁶¹ tn Or “for.”

[90:9]  ⁶² tn Heb “all our days pass by in your anger.”

[90:9]  ⁶³ 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.”

[102:24]  ⁶⁷ tn Heb “do not lift me up in the middle of my days.”

[102:24]  ⁶⁸ tn Heb “in a generation of generations [are] your years.”

[95:10]  ⁷³ tn The prefixed verbal form is either a preterite or an imperfect. If the latter, it emphasizes the ongoing nature of the condition in the past. The translation reflects this interpretation of the verbal form.

[95:10]  ⁷⁴ tn Heb “a people, wanderers of heart [are] they.”

[95:10]  ⁷⁵ tn Heb “and they do not know my ways.” In this context the Lord’s “ways” are his commands, viewed as a pathway from which his people, likened to wayward sheep (see v. 7), wander.