So He ended their days in futility, and their years in sudden terror.
Parallel translations
- WEB Therefore he consumed their days in vanity, and their years in terror.
- KJV Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in trouble.
- NKJV Therefore their days He consumed in futility, And their years in fear.
- NASB So He brought their days to an end in futility, And their years to an end in sudden terror.
- NLT So he ended their lives in failure, their years in terror.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
So God let their days end in futility and their years in terror. Unbelief led to a wasted, fearful existence.
Overview
Because of ongoing rebellion, God 'consumed their days in vanity,' so the wilderness generation perished without entering rest. Their lives ended in emptiness and dread, a consequence of refusing to trust Him. It is a vivid warning that life apart from faith in God's promises proves ultimately fruitless.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Num 14:35I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this entire wicked congregation, which has conspired against Me. They will meet their end in the wilderness, and there they will die.”
- Num 14:29Your bodies will fall in this wilderness—all who were numbered in the census, everyone twenty years of age or older—because you have grumbled against Me.
- Num 26:64–65Among all these, however, there was not one who had been numbered by Moses and Aaron the priest when they counted the Israelites in the Wilderness of Sinai.
- Eccl 12:13–14When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is this: Fear God and keep His commandments, because this is the whole duty of man.
- Deut 2:14–16The time we spent traveling from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the Brook of Zered was thirty-eight years, until that entire generation of fighting men had perished from the camp, as the LORD had sworn to them.
- Eccl 12:8“Futility of futilities,” says the Teacher. “Everything is futile!”
- Job 14:1“Man, who is born of woman, is short of days and full of trouble.
- Eccl 1:13–14And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid upon the sons of men to occupy them!
- Job 5:6–7For distress does not spring from the dust, and trouble does not sprout from the ground.
- Ps 90:7–9For we are consumed by Your anger and terrified by Your wrath.
- Gen 3:16–19To the woman He said: “I will sharply increase your pain in childbirth; in pain you will bring forth children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
- Eccl 1:2“Futility of futilities,” says the Teacher, “futility of futilities! Everything is futile!”
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 78:33 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.