Psalm 89/Notes/Grammar.v. 48.277131

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  • Some translations read the b-line as an exclamation: "For what futility you have created all humanity!" (NIV, cf. ESV). Others read it as a question: "Have you created everyone for nothing?" (CSB, cf. NET). Others think that the verb "remember" is elided in the b-line: "Remember how short my life is, how empty and futile this human existence!" (NLT, cf. LUT, ZÜR; so Sforno). This last view results in the best sense and is true to the nature of parallelism.
  • "In v. 48b על מה does not belong together ('why have you created for nothing?'), but rather מה שׁוא (cf. Ps 30:10; Job 26:14)" (Baethgen 1904, 279).