Mazmur 38:3

38:3 My whole body is sick because of your judgment; ¹ 

I am deprived of health because of my sin. ² 

Mazmur 38:18

38:18 Yes, ³  I confess my wrongdoing,

and I am concerned about my sins.

Mazmur 39:11

39:11 You severely discipline people for their sins; ⁴ 

like a moth you slowly devour their strength. ⁵ 

Surely all people are a mere vapor. (Selah)

Mazmur 90:7-9

90:7 Yes, ⁶  we are consumed by your anger;

we are terrified by your wrath.

90:8 You are aware of our sins; ⁷ 

you even know about our hidden sins. ⁸ 

90:9 Yes, ⁹  throughout all our days we experience your raging fury; ¹⁰ 

the years of our lives pass quickly, like a sigh. ¹¹ 

[38:3]  ¹ tn Heb “there is no soundness in my flesh from before your anger.” “Anger” here refers metonymically to divine judgment, which is the practical effect of God’s anger at the psalmist’s sin.

[38:3]  ² tn Heb “there is no health in my bones from before my sin.”

[38:18]  ³ tn Or “for.” The translation assumes that כִּי (ki) is asseverative here.

[39:11]  ⁴ tn “with punishments on account of sin you discipline a man.”

[39:11]  ⁵ tc Heb “you cause to dissolve, like a moth, his desired [thing].” The translation assumes an emendation of חֲמוּדוֹ (khamudo, “his desirable [thing]”) to חֶמְדוֹ (khemdo, “his loveliness” [or “beauty”]), a reading that is supported by a few medieval Hebrew mss.

[90:7]  ⁶ tn Or “for.”

[90:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “you set our sins in front of you.”

[90:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “what we have hidden to the light of your face.” God’s face is compared to a light or lamp that exposes the darkness around it.

[90:9]  ⁹ tn Or “for.”

[90:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “all our days pass by in your anger.”

[90:9]  ¹¹ 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.”