5:11
This verse contains two parallel statements that describe when “you will groan.”
11a
At the end of your life you will groan
11b
when your flesh and your body are spent,
5:11a–b
At the end of your life…when your flesh and your body are spent: In Hebrew, the first of these two parallel time phrases is literally “at your end/afterward.” Some scholars think that this refers to the end of the young man’s relationship with the adulteress, after he has lost his wealth. But almost all versions understand it to refer to the time when a person is about to die. For example:
on your deathbed (Good News Translation)
In the parallel phrase, the person is described as sick and worn out. The Hebrew verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates here as spent indicates that the person’s body is completely wasted away or exhausted, either by disease or labor. The phrase your flesh and your body indicates that the person’s whole body is affected.
In some languages, if more than one time phrase is used to describe an event, the time phrases must be listed together. In such languages, the time phrases in these two lines may need to be reordered. For example, the New Century Version puts both expressions at the end of the verse:
You will groan at the end of your life when your health is gone (New Century Version)
The New Jerusalem Bible puts them both at the beginning:
at your ending, your body and flesh having been consumed, you will groan (New Jerusalem Bible)
You should put these time expressions in the position that is most natural in your language.
5:11a
you will groan: The word groan refers to the sound made by a person who is experiencing severe pain or remorse.
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