Psalms 95:10

95:10 For forty years I was continually disgusted ¹  with that generation,

and I said, ‘These people desire to go astray; ² 

they do not obey my commands.’ ³ 

Psalms 90:5

90:5 You bring their lives to an end and they “fall asleep.” ⁴ 

In the morning they are like the grass that sprouts up;

[95:10]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Heb “a people, wanderers of heart [are] they.”

[95:10]  ³ 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.

[90:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “you bring them to an end [with] sleep.” The Hebrew verb זָרַם (zaram) has traditionally been taken to mean “flood” or “overwhelm” (note the Polel form of a root זרם in Ps 77:17, where the verb is used of the clouds pouring down rain). However, the verb form here is Qal, not Polel, and is better understood as a homonym meaning “to make an end [of life].” The term שֵׁנָה (shenah, “sleep”) can be taken as an adverbial accusative; it is a euphemism here for death (see Ps 76:5-6).