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Psalm 90:10
New English Translation
Psalm 90:10
New English Translation
10 The days of our lives add up to seventy years,[a]
or eighty, if one is especially strong.[b]
But even one’s best years are marred by trouble and oppression.[c]
Yes,[d] they pass quickly[e] and we fly away.[f]
Footnotes
- Psalm 90:10 tn Heb “the days of our years, in them [are] seventy years.”
- Psalm 90:10 tn Heb “or if [there is] strength, eighty years.”
- Psalm 90:10 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 רָהַב (rahav, “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).
- Psalm 90:10 tn or “for.”
- Psalm 90:10 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.
- Psalm 90:10 sn We fly away. The psalmist compares life to a bird that quickly flies off (see Job 20:8).
Ecclesiastes 2:17
New English Translation
Ecclesiastes 2:17
New English Translation
17 So I loathed[a] life[b] because what
happens[c] on earth[d] seems awful to me;
for all the benefits of wisdom[e] are futile—like chasing the wind.
Footnotes
- Ecclesiastes 2:17 tn Or “I hated.”
- Ecclesiastes 2:17 tn The term הַחַיִּים (hakhayyim, “life”) functions as a metonymy of association, that is, that which is associated with life, that is, the profitlessness and futility of human secular achievement.
- Ecclesiastes 2:17 tn Heb “the deed that is done.” The root עָשָׂה (ʿasah, “to do”) is repeated in הַמַּעֲשֶׂה שֶׁנַּעֲשָׂה (hammaʿaseh shennaʿasah, “the deed that is done”) for emphasis. Here, the term “deed” does not refer to human accomplishment, as in 2:1-11, but to the fact of death that destroys any relative advantage of wisdom over folly (2:14a-16). Qoheleth metaphorically describes death as a “deed” that is “done” to man.
- Ecclesiastes 2:17 tn Heb “under the sun.”
- Ecclesiastes 2:17 tn Heb “all,” referring here to the relative advantage of wisdom.
New English Translation (NET)
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