Mazmur 39:3-5

39:3 my anxiety intensified. ¹ 

As I thought about it, I became impatient. ² 

Finally I spoke these words: ³ 

39:4 “O Lord, help me understand my mortality

and the brevity of life! ⁴ 

Let me realize how quickly my life will pass! ⁵ 

39:5 Look, you make my days short-lived, ⁶ 

and my life span is nothing from your perspective. ⁷ 

Surely all people, even those who seem secure, are nothing but vapor. ⁸ 

[39:3]  ¹ tn Heb “my heart was hot within me.”

[39:3]  ² tn Heb “In my reflection fire burned.” The prefixed verbal form is either a preterite (past tense) or an imperfect being used in a past progressive or customary sense (“fire was burning”).

[39:3]  ³ tn Heb “I spoke with my tongue.” The phrase “these words” is supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.

[39:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “Cause me to know, O Lord, my end; and the measure of my days, what it is!”

[39:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “Let me know how transient I am!”

[39:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “Look, handbreadths you make my days.” The “handbreadth” (equivalent to the width of four fingers) was one of the smallest measures used by ancient Israelites. See P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 309.

[39:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “is like nothing before you.”

[39:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “surely, all vapor [is] all mankind, standing firm.” Another option is to translate, “Surely, all mankind, though seemingly secure, is nothing but a vapor.”