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New Living Translation

Psalms 90:10

Seventy years are given to us! Some even live to eighty. But even the best years are filled with pain and trouble; soon they disappear, and we fly away.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Afflictions and Adversities;   Life;   Longevity;   Old Age;   Thompson Chain Reference - Human;   Limitations, Human;   Man;   Transient, the Things That Are;   Transient-Enduring;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Man;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Diseases;   Moses;   Psalms, the Book of;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Death, Mortality;   Disease;   Life;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Aging;   Seventy Years;   Time, Meaning of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Age, Aged, Old Age;   Prayer;   Psalms;   Sin;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Numbers (2);   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Age of Man;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Palm tree;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Moses;   Psalms the book of;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Cut;   Longevity;   Number;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Age, Old;   Majority;   Nebuchadnezzar;  

Devotionals:

- Daily Light on the Daily Path - Devotion for May 10;  

Parallel Translations

English Revised Version
The days of our years are threescore years and ten, or even by reason of strength fourscore years; yet is their pride but labour and sorrow; for it is soon gone, and we fly away.
Update Bible Version
The days of our years are seventy years, Or even by reason of strength eighty years; Yet is their pride but labor and sorrow; For it is soon gone, and we fly away.
New Century Version
Our lifetime is seventy years or, if we are strong, eighty years. But the years are full of hard work and pain. They pass quickly, and then we are gone.
New English Translation
The days of our lives add up to seventy years, or eighty, if one is especially strong. But even one's best years are marred by trouble and oppression. Yes, they pass quickly and we fly away.
Webster's Bible Translation
The days of our years [are] seventy years; and if by reason of strength [they are] eighty years, yet [is] their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
World English Bible
The days of our years are seventy, Or even by reason of strength eighty years; Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow, For it passes quickly, and we fly away.
Amplified Bible
The days of our life are seventy years— Or even, if because of strength, eighty years; Yet their pride [in additional years] is only labor and sorrow, For it is soon gone and we fly away.
English Standard Version
The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
the daies of oure yeeris ben in tho seuenti yeeris. Forsothe, if fourescoor yeer ben in myyti men; and the more tyme of hem is trauel and sorewe. For myldenesse cam aboue; and we schulen be chastisid.
Berean Standard Bible
The length of our days is seventy years-or eighty if we are strong-yet their pride is but labor and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.
Contemporary English Version
We can expect seventy years, or maybe eighty, if we are healthy, but even our best years bring trouble and sorrow. Suddenly our time is up, and we disappear.
American Standard Version
The days of our years are threescore years and ten, Or even by reason of strength fourscore years; Yet is their pride but labor and sorrow; For it is soon gone, and we fly away.
Bible in Basic English
The measure of our life is seventy years; and if through strength it may be eighty years, its pride is only trouble and sorrow, for it comes to an end and we are quickly gone.
Complete Jewish Bible
The span of our life is seventy years, or if we are strong, eighty; yet at best it is toil and sorrow, over in a moment, and then we are gone.
Darby Translation
The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if, by reason of strength, they be fourscore years, yet their pride is labour and vanity, for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
Easy-to-Read Version
We live about 70 years or, if we are strong, 80 years. But most of them are filled with hard work and pain. Then, suddenly, the years are gone, and we fly away.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
The days of our years are threescore years and ten, or even by reason of strength fourscore years; {N}for it is speedily gone, and we fly away.
King James Version (1611)
The dayes of our yeres are threescore yeeres and ten, and if by reason of strength they be fourescore yeeres, yet is their strength labour and sorrow: for it is soone cut off, and we flie away.
New Life Bible
The days of our life are seventy years, or eighty if we have the strength. Yet the best of them are only hard work and sorrow. For they are soon gone and we fly away.
New Revised Standard
The days of our life are seventy years, or perhaps eighty, if we are strong; even then their span is only toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.
Geneva Bible (1587)
The time of our life is threescore yeeres and ten, and if they be of strength, fourescore yeeres: yet their strength is but labour and sorowe: for it is cut off quickly, and we flee away.
George Lamsa Translation
The years of our lives are threescore and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet most of them are labor and sorrow; for life is soon cut off and we fly away.
Good News Translation
Seventy years is all we have— eighty years, if we are strong; yet all they bring us is trouble and sorrow; life is soon over, and we are gone.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
The days of our years, have, in them, three score years and ten, And, if, by reason of strength, they have fourscore years, Yet, their boast, is labour and sorrow, For it hath passed quickly, and we have flown away.
Douay-Rheims Bible
(89-10) The days of our years in them are threescore and ten years. But if in the strong they be fourscore years: and what is more of them is labour and sorrow. For mildness is come upon us: and we shall be corrected.
Revised Standard Version
The years of our life are threescore and ten, or even by reason of strength fourscore; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
The dayes of our yeres be in all threescore yeres and tenne, and yf through strength [of nature] men come to foure score yeres: yet is their iolitie but labour and care, yea moreouer it passeth in haste from vs, and we flee from it.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
As for the days of our years, in them are seventy years; and if men should be in strength, eighty years: and the greater part of them would be labour and trouble; for weakness overtakes us, and we shall be chastened.
Christian Standard Bible®
Our lives last seventy yearsor, if we are strong, eighty years.Even the best of them are struggle and sorrow;indeed, they pass quickly and we fly away.
Hebrew Names Version
The days of our years are seventy, Or even by reason of strength eighty years; Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow, For it passes quickly, and we fly away.
King James Version
The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
Lexham English Bible
As for the days of our years, within them are seventy years or if by strength eighty years, and their pride is trouble and disaster, for it passes quickly and we fly away.
Literal Translation
The days of our years are seventy; and if any by strength live eighty years, yet their pride is labor and sorrow; for it soon passes, and we fly away.
Young's Literal Translation
Days of our years, in them [are] seventy years, And if, by reason of might, eighty years, Yet [is] their enlargement labour and vanity, For it hath been cut off hastily, and we fly away.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
The dayes of oure age are iij. score yeares & ten: & though men be so stronge that they come to iiij. score yeares, yet is their strength then but laboure and sorowe: so soone passeth it awaye, & we are gone.
New American Standard Bible
As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, Or if due to strength, eighty years, Yet their pride is only trouble and tragedy; For it quickly passes, and we disappear.
New King James Version
The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years, Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, Or if due to strength, eighty years, Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow; For soon it is gone and we fly away.
Legacy Standard Bible
As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years,Or if due to might, eighty years,Yet their pride is but labor and wickedness;For soon it is gone and we fly away.

Contextual Overview

7 We wither beneath your anger; we are overwhelmed by your fury. 8 You spread out our sins before you— our secret sins—and you see them all. 9 We live our lives beneath your wrath, ending our years with a groan. 10 Seventy years are given to us! Some even live to eighty. But even the best years are filled with pain and trouble; soon they disappear, and we fly away. 11 Who can comprehend the power of your anger? Your wrath is as awesome as the fear you deserve.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

The days: etc. Heb. As for the days of our years, in them are seventy years, Genesis 47:9, Deuteronomy 34:7

yet: 2 Samuel 19:35, 1 Kings 1:1, Ecclesiastes 12:2-7

for: Psalms 78:39, Job 14:10, *marg. Job 24:24, Isaiah 38:12, Luke 12:20, James 4:14

Reciprocal: Genesis 5:5 - nine Genesis 9:29 - nine Genesis 42:38 - bring Genesis 47:28 - the whole age Exodus 7:7 - General Exodus 23:26 - the number Leviticus 27:7 - from Deuteronomy 31:2 - I am an Joshua 14:11 - General 1 Samuel 3:2 - his eyes 1 Samuel 4:15 - ninety 2 Samuel 14:14 - we must 1 Kings 14:4 - for his eyes 1 Kings 15:23 - in the time 2 Chronicles 24:15 - an hundred Job 9:25 - they flee away Job 42:16 - an Psalms 39:5 - Behold Psalms 71:9 - when Ecclesiastes 1:4 - One generation Ecclesiastes 6:12 - the days of his vain life Ecclesiastes 12:1 - while Ecclesiastes 12:3 - strong Jeremiah 20:18 - to see Jeremiah 28:3 - two full years Zechariah 1:5 - General

Gill's Notes on the Bible

The days of our years are threescore years and ten,.... In the Hebrew text it is, "the days of our years in them are", c. a which refers either to the days in which we live, or to the persons of the Israelites in the wilderness, who were instances of this term of life, in whom perhaps it first took place in a general way: before the flood, men lived to a great age; some nine hundred years and upwards; after the flood, men lived not so long; the term fixed then, as some think, was an hundred and twenty years, grounding it on the passage in Genesis 6:3, but now, in the time of Moses, it was brought to threescore years and ten, or eighty at most: of those that were numbered in the wilderness of Sinai, from twenty years and upwards, there were none left, save Joshua and Caleb, when the account was taken in the plains of Moab; see Numbers 14:29, so that some must die before they were sixty; others before seventy; and perhaps all, or however the generality of them, before eighty: and, from that time, this was the common age of men, some few excepted; to the age of seventy David lived, 2 Samuel 5:4, and so it has been ever since; many never come up to it, and few go beyond it: this is not only pointed at in revelation, but is what the Heathens have observed. Solon used to say, the term of human life was seventy years b; so others; and a people called Berbiccae, as Aelianus relates c, used to kill those of them that lived above seventy years of age, having exceeded the term of life. The Syriac version is, "in our days our years are seventy years"; with which the Targum agrees,

"the days of our years in this world are seventy years of the stronger;''

for it is in them that such a number of years is arrived unto; or "in them", that is, in some of them; in some of mankind, their years amount hereunto, but not in all: "and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years"; through a good temperament of body, a healthful and strong constitution, under a divine blessing, some may arrive to the age of eighty; there have been some instances of a strong constitution at this age and upwards, but not very common; see Joshua 14:11, for, generally speaking, such who through strength of body live to such an age,

yet is their strength labour and sorrow; they labour under great infirmities, feel much pain, and little pleasure, as Barzillai at this age intimates, 2 Samuel 19:35, these are the evil days d, in which is no pleasure, Ecclesiastes 12:1, or "their largeness or breadth is labour and sin" e; the whole extent of their days, from first to last, is spent in toil and labour to live in the world; and is attended with much sin, and so with much sorrow:

for it is soon cut off; either the strength of man, or his age, by one disease or incident or another, like grass that is cut down with the scythe, or a flower that is cropped by the hand; see Job 14:2,

and we fly away; as a shadow does, or as a bird with wings; out of time into eternity; from the place of our habitation to the grave; from a land of light to the regions of darkness: it is well if we fly away to heaven and happiness.

a בהם "in ipsis", Pagninus, Montanus; "in quibus vivimus", Tigurine version, Vatablus. b Laertius in Vita Solon. p. 36. Herodotus, l. 1. sive Clio, c. 32. Macrob. in Somno Scipionis, l. 1. c. 6. p. 58. & Plin. Epist. l. 1. Ep. 12. & Solon. Eleg. apud Clement. Alex. Stromat. l. 6. p. 685, 686. c Vat. Hist. l. 4. c. 1. d "----tristisque senectus et labor----". Virgil. Georg. l. 3. v. 67. e רהבם "amplitudo eorum", Montanus.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The days of our years - Margin, “As for the days of our years, in them are seventy years.” Perhaps the language would better be translated: “The days of our years! In them are seventy years;” or, they amount to seventy years. Thus the psalmist is represented as reflecting on human life - on the days that make up the years of life; - as fixing his thought on those days and years, and taking the sum of them. The days of our years - what are they?

Are threescore years and ten - Not as life originally was, but as it has been narrowed down to about that period; or, this is the ordinary limit of life. This passage proves that the psalm was written when the life of man had been shortened, and had been reduced to about what it is at present; for this description will apply to man now. It is probable that human life was gradually diminished until it became fixed at the limit which now bounds it, and which is to remain as the great law in regard to its duration upon the earth. All animals, as the horse, the mule, the elephant, the eagle, the raven, the bee, the butterfly, have each a fixed limit of life, wisely adapted undoubtedly to the design for which they were made, and to the highest happiness of the whole. So of man. There can be no doubt that there are good reasons - some of which could be easily suggested - why his term of life is no longer. But, at any rate, it is no longer; and in that brief period he must accomplish all that he is to do in reference to this world, and all that is to be done to prepare him for the world to come. It is obvious to remark that man has enough to do to fill up the time of his life; that life to man is too precious to be wasted.

And if by reason of strength ... - If there be unusual strength or vigor of natural constitution; or if the constitution has not been impaired or broken by toil, affliction, or vicious indulgence; or if the great laws of health have been understood and observed. Any of these causes may contribute to lengthen out life - or they may all be combined; and under these, separately or combined, life is sometimes extended beyond its ordinary limits. Yet the period of seventy is the ordinary limit beyond which few can go; the great mass fall long before they reach that.

Yet is their strength - Hebrew, “Their pride.” That of which a man who has reached that period might be disposed to boast - as if it were owing to himself. There is, at that time of life, as well as at other times, great danger lest that which we have received from God, and which is in no manner to be traced to ourselves, may be an occasion of pride, as if it were our own, or as if it were secured by our own prudence, wisdom, or merit. May it not, also, be implied here that a man who has reached that period of life - who has survived so many others - who has seen so many fall by imprudence, or vice, or intemperance - will be in special danger of being proud, as if it were by some special virtue of his own that his life had been thus lengthened out? Perhaps in no circumstances will the danger of pride be more imminent than when one has thus passed safely through dangers where others have fallen, and practiced temperance while others have yielded to habits of intemperance, and taken care of his own health while others have neglected theirs. The tendency to pride in man does not die out because a man grows old.

Labour and sorrow - The word rendered “labour” - עמל ‛âmâl - means properly “toil;” that is, wearisome labor. The idea here is, that toil then becomes burdensome; that the body is oppressed with it, and soon grows weary and exhausted; that life itself is like labor or wearisome toil. The old man is constantly in the condition of one who is weary; whose powers are exhausted; and who feels the need of repose. The word rendered “sorrow” - און 'âven - means properly “nothingness, vanity;” Isaiah 41:29; Zechariah 10:2; then, nothingness as to worth, unworthiness, iniquity - which is its usual meaning; Numbers 23:21; Job 36:21; Isaiah 1:13; and then, evil, adversity, calamity; Proverbs 22:8; Genesis 35:18. This latter seems to be the meaning here. It is, that happiness cannot ordinarily be found at that period of life; that to lengthen out life does not add materially to its enjoyment; that to do it, is but adding trouble and sorrow.

The ordinary hopes and plans of life ended; the companions of other years departed; the offices and honors of the world in other hands; a new generation on the stage that cares little for the old one now departing; a family scattered or in the grave; the infirmities of advanced years on him; his faculties decayed; the buoyancy of life gone; and now in his second childhood dependent on others as he was in his first; how little of happiness is there in such a condition! How appropriate is it to speak of it as a time of “sorrow!” How little desirable is it for a man to reach extreme old age! And how kind and merciful the arrangement by which man is ordinarily removed from the world before the time of “trouble and sorrow” thus comes! There are commonly just enough people of extreme old age upon the earth to show us impressively that it is not “desirable” to live to be very old; just enough to keep this lesson with salutary force before the minds of those in earlier life; just enough, if we saw it aright, to make us willing to die before that period comes!

For it is soon cut off ... - Prof. Alexander renders this, “For he drives us fast;” that is, God drives us - or, one seems to drive, or to urge us on. The word used here - גז gāz - is commonly supposed to be derived from גזז gâzaz, to cut, as to cut grass, or to mow; and then, to shear, sc. a flock - which is its usual meaning. Thus it would signify, as in our translation, to be cut off. This is the Jewish interpretation. The word, however, may be more properly regarded as derived from גוז gûz, which occurs in but one other place, Numbers 11:31, where it is rendered “brought,” as applied to the quails which were brought or driven forward by the east wind. This word means, to pass through, to pass over, to pass away; and then, to cause to pass over, as the quails were Numbers 11:31 by the east wind. So it means here, that life is soon passed over, and that we flee away, as if driven by the wind; as if impelled or urged forward as chaff or any light substance is by a gale.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Psalms 90:10. Threescore years and ten — See the note on the title of this Psalm. Psalms 90:1. This Psalm could not have been written by Moses, because the term of human life was much more extended when he flourished than eighty years at the most. Even in David's time many lived one hundred years, and the author of Ecclesiasticus, who lived after the captivity, fixed this term at one hundred years at the most (Eccles 18:9;) but this was merely a general average, for even in our country we have many who exceed a hundred years.

Yet is their strength labour and sorrow — This refers to the infirmities of old age, which, to those well advanced in life, produce labour and sorrow.

It is soon cut ofIt - the body, is soon cut off.

And we fly away. — The immortal spirit wings its way into the eternal world.


 
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