39:4 “O Lord, help me understand my mortality
and the brevity of life! 1
Let me realize how quickly my life will pass! 2
49:10 Surely 3 one sees 4 that even wise people die; 5
fools and spiritually insensitive people all pass away 6
and leave their wealth to others. 7
84:6 As they pass through the Baca Valley, 8
he provides a spring for them. 9
The rain 10 even covers it with pools of water. 11
129:8 Those who pass by will not say, 12
“May you experience the Lord’s blessing!
We pronounce a blessing on you in the name of the Lord.”
1 tn Heb “Cause me to know, O
2 tn Heb “Let me know how transient I am!”
3 tn The particle כִּי (ki) is understood here as asseverative (emphatic).
4 tn The subject of the verb is probably the typical “man” mentioned in v. 7. The imperfect can be taken here as generalizing or as indicating potential (“surely he/one can see”).
5 tn The imperfect verbal forms here and in the next line draw attention to what is characteristically true. The vav (ו) consecutive with perfect in the third line carries the same force.
6 tn Heb “together a fool and a brutish [man] perish.” The adjective בַּעַר (ba’ar, “brutish”) refers to spiritual insensitivity, not mere lack of intelligence or reasoning ability (see Pss 73:22; 92:6; Prov 12:1; 30:2, as well as the use of the related verb in Ps 94:8).
7 sn Death shows no respect for anyone. No matter how wise or foolish an individual happens to be, all pass away.
8 tn The translation assumes that the Hebrew phrase עֵמֶק הַבָּכָא (’emeq habbakha’) is the name of an otherwise unknown arid valley through which pilgrims to Jerusalem passed. The term בָּכָא (bakha’) may be the name of a particular type of plant or shrub that grew in this valley. O. Borowski (Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 130) suggests it is the black mulberry. Some take the phrase as purely metaphorical and relate בָּכָא to the root בָּכָה (bakhah, “to weep”). In this case one might translate, “the valley of weeping” or “the valley of affliction.”
9 tc The MT reads “a spring they make it,” but this makes little sense. Many medieval Hebrew
10 tn This rare word may refer to the early (or autumn) rains (see Joel 2:23).
11 tc The MT reads בְּרָכוֹת (bÿrakhot, “blessings”) but the preceding reference to a “spring” favors an emendation to בְּרֵכוֹת (bÿrekhot, “pools”).
sn Pools of water. Because water is so necessary for life, it makes an apt symbol for divine favor and blessing. As the pilgrims traveled to Jerusalem, God provided for their physical needs and gave them a token of his favor and of the blessings awaiting them at the temple.
12 tn The perfect verbal form is used for rhetorical effect; it describes an anticipated development as if it were already reality.