Psalms 78:39 BSB — MannaFest

Psalms 78:39

He remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return.

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

And he remembered that they were but flesh, A wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.

KJV

For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.

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Commentary

1 voice

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible (1832)

He remembered that they were but flesh - Weak mortals. He took their feeble perishing state always into consideration, and knew how much they needed the whole of their state of probation; and therefore he bore with them to the uttermost. How merciful is God! A wind that passeth away, and cometh not again - I believe this to be a bad translation and may be productive of error; as if when a man dies his being were ended, and death were an eternal sleep. The original is, רוח הולך ולא ישוב ruach holech velo yashub: and the translation should be, “The spirit goeth away, and it doth not return.” The present life is the state of probation; when therefore the flesh - the body, fails, the spirit goeth away into the eternal world, and returneth not hither again. Now God, being full of compassion, spared them, that their salvation might be accomplished before they went into that state where there is no change; where the pure are pure still, and the defiled are defiled still. All the Versions are right; but the polyglot translator of the Syriac, rocho, has falsely put ventus, wind, instead of spiritus, soul or spirit. The Arabic takes away all ambiguity: “He remembered that they were flesh; and a spirit which, when it departs, does not again return.” The human being is composed of flesh and spirit, or body and soul; these are easily separated, and, when separated, the body turns to dust, and the spirit returns no more to animate it in a state of probation. Homer has a saying very like that of the psalmist: - Ανδρος δε ψυχη παλιν ελθειν ουτε ληἱστη, Ουθ’ ἑλετη, επει αρ κεν αμειψεται ἑρκος οδοντων. IL. […]

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

8 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
וַ֭יִּזְכֹּר	Vai.yiz.kor	and he remembered	H2142 →
כִּי־	ki-	that	H3588 →
בָשָׂ֣ר	va.Sar	[were] flesh	H1320 →
הֵ֑מָּה	He.mah	they	H1992 →
ר֥וּחַ	Ru.ach	a wind	H7307 →
ה֝וֹלֵ֗ךְ	ho.Lekh	[which] goes	H1980 →
וְלֹ֣א	ve.Lo'	and not	H3808 →
יָשֽׁוּב׃	ya.Shuv	it returns	H7725 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
James 4:14
You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
leads to
- 1 Peter 1:24
  For, “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall,
- Psalms 39:5
  You, indeed, have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing before You. Truly each man at his best exists as but a breath. Selah
- 1 John 2:17
  The world is passing away, along with its desires; but whoever does the will of God remains forever.
- Psalms 102:3
  For my days vanish like smoke, and my bones burn like glowing embers.
- Job 7:6–7
  My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle; they come to an end without hope.
Through
Genesis 6:3
So the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days shall be 120 years.”
leads to
- Nehemiah 9:30
  You were patient with them for many years, and Your Spirit admonished them through Your prophets. Yet they would not listen, so You gave them into the hands of the neighboring peoples.
- Isaiah 63:10
  But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit. So He turned and became their enemy, and He Himself fought against them.
- 1 Peter 3:18–20
  For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit,

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About Psalms

Saul attempts to kill David (the harpist of Israel) — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

Psalms: the study guide →Read chapter 78 →The featured study →

Continue: Psalms 78 →

01Commentary

Voices on this verse

02Original language & word study

03The walk

Where the connections lead

04Related verses

05Featured studies on this passage

06About Psalms

Where the connections lead

Commentary

Original language & word study

The walk

Related verses

Featured studies on this passage

About Psalms