מִסְפָּר

From the study of Job 36:26

Range of meaning

"The number/count of his years." Mispar is a tally or total. Shanah is a year, and in the plural it means a lifetime. Together the phrase means "the length of his life, as a count."

Against the English

Most versions keep "the number of his years." NLT's "His years cannot be counted" keeps the idea but loses the noun "number."

Used elsewhere in the period

Job asks God, "Are your years like the days of a mortal?" (10:5). Eliphaz speaks of the wicked man's "number of years" being stored up (15:20), and Job says a mortal's days and months are fixed (14:5). Psalm 102:27 says, "your years have no end," and Daniel 7:9 calls God the "Ancient of Days." In the Ugaritic texts (the poetry of Israel's northern neighbours), the god El lives in the pavilion of the "father of years" (ab šnm). That reading is debated (see debates).

From the study of Ecclesiastes 5:18

Range of meaning

"The number of the days of his life." Mispar means number or count, and in idioms it implies "few" ("men of number" = a few men, Gen 34:30; "years of number" = few years, Job 16:22).

Against the English

BSB has "the few days", KJV and WEB "all the days", YLT "the number of the days". "All the days" drops the sense that the days are limited, and "few" spells out what the Hebrew only implies.

Used elsewhere in the period

The same phrase appears at Eccl 2:3 and 6:12 ("the number of the days of his fleeting life").

From the study of Job 14:5

Range of meaning

Number, count, tally, total. Also used of what is small enough to count ('few in number', Gen 34:30; Deut 4:27).

Against the English

'Number' is accurate. Hebrew poetry often uses 'number of days/months/years' to stress that something can be counted and is therefore limited (Job 15:20; 21:21).

Used elsewhere in the period

Job 21:21 ('when the number of his months is cut off') is a near-verbatim echo. Ps 90:12 ('teach us to number our days') and Ps 39:4 ('the measure of my days') belong to the same reflection on how short life is.