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Psalm 144:3-5
New English Translation
Psalm 144:3-5
New English Translation
3 O Lord, of what importance is the human race,[a] that you should notice them?
Of what importance is mankind,[b] that you should be concerned about them?[c]
4 People[d] are like a vapor,
their days like a shadow that disappears.[e]
5 O Lord, make the sky sink[f] and come down.[g]
Touch the mountains and make them smolder.[h]
Footnotes
- Psalm 144:3 tn Heb “What is mankind?” The singular noun אֱנוֹשׁ (ʾenosh) is used here in a collective sense and refers to the human race. See Ps 8:5.
- Psalm 144:3 tn Heb “and the son of man.” The phrase “son of man” is used here in a collective sense and refers to human beings. For other uses of the phrase in a collective or representative manner, see Num 23:19; Ps 146:3; Isa 51:12.
- Psalm 144:3 tn Heb “take account of him.” The two imperfect verbal forms in v. 4 describe God’s characteristic activity.
- Psalm 144:4 tn Heb “man,” or “mankind.”
- Psalm 144:4 tn Heb “his days [are] like a shadow that passes away,” that is, like a late afternoon shadow made by the descending sun that will soon be swallowed up by complete darkness. See Ps 102:11.
- Psalm 144:5 tn The Hebrew verb נָטָה (natah) can carry the sense “to [cause to] bend; to [cause to] bow down.” For example, Gen 49:15 pictures Issachar as a donkey that “bends” its shoulder or back under a burden. Here the Lord causes the sky, pictured as a dome or vault, to sink down as he descends in the storm. See Ps 18:9.
- Psalm 144:5 tn Heb “so you might come down.” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose after the preceding imperative. The same type of construction is utilized in v. 6.
- Psalm 144:5 tn Heb “so they might smolder.” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose after the preceding imperative.
New English Translation (NET)
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