Does the phrase 'three score years and ten' describing man's lifespan come from the bible?

Question

In biblical times the human lifespan couldn't have been so long, could it?

Answer 1

I was surprised to learn that the life span was so short in early American days, 30 or 36 or more for the middle population, though some lived much longer; but I think the native American Indians lived much longer, unless they were killed in battle.

What interested me about this question was that the King James translation uses the term "score" for twenty, eventhough the original text does not use terms like that, it just says sb'ym (70).

12,000 years ago the average life span was about 700 years.  Then 5,000 years ago the average life span was less than that.  4,000 years ago the average life span was a little less than about 200 years.  In 1400 or 1399 BC Moses died at age 120.

There are more poor people in the world than ever before.  Poor people have a short life span.  Life spans have actually been decreasing.  They have increased in developed countries with increased standards of living, but the limit is 120 according to the Bible, 70 is the average, 80 or more by reason of strength.

Answer 2

Yes, it's in the Bible several times. Many people in the early Bible like Adam, Methuselah and Noah lived to be many hundreds of years old until after the flood when lifespans started dropping to around 120 years old or less around Moses time.

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/38040...

http://www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v8/i2...

Answer 3

a lot of people are confused because primitive times had a low AVERAGE lifespan. the average was low due to a very high rate of infant and child mortality. If you were strong enough to make it to adulthood, and you were upper class to be able to afford decent food , you could easily live as long as someone today.

Answer 4

yes it does,

yes it was

Answer 5

It's probably old Norwegian for counting sheep; one notch for 20 sheep etc. You would "score" a rod or shaft when counting livestock.

I don't recall much mention of Scandinavians in any version of the bible!  lol

Answer 6

a score is 20, so three score and ten would be 70