Psalms 39:5
Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.
Psalms 39:5 in other translations
| BSB | You, indeed, have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing before You. Truly each man at his best exists as but a breath. Selah |
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| WEB | Behold, you have made my days hand widths. My lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely every man stands as a breath.” Selah. |
| ASV | Behold, thou hast made my days as handbreadths; And my life-time is as nothing before thee: Surely every man at his best estate is altogether vanity. [Selah |
| YLT | Lo, handbreadths Thou hast made my days, And mine age is as nothing before Thee, Only, all vanity is every man set up. Selah. |
| DARBY | Behold, thou hast made my days as hand-breadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before thee; verily, every man, even the high placed, is altogether vanity. Selah. |
| BBE | You have made my days no longer than a hand's measure; and my years are nothing in your eyes; truly, every man is but a breath. (Selah.) |
| Webster | Behold, thou hast made my days as a hand-breadth; and my age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah. |
What does Psalms 39:5 mean?
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Psalms 39:4-7
4-7. Some take these words as those of fretting, but they are not essentially such. The tinge of discontent arises from the character of his suppressed emotions. But, addressing God, they are softened and subdued. make me to know mine end--experimentally appreciate. how frail I am--literally, "when I shall cease."
Adam Clarke's Commentary
Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Psalms 39:1-6
If an evil thought should arise in the mind, suppress it. Watchfulness in the habit, is the bridle upon the head; watchfulness in acts, is the hand upon the bridle. When not able to separate from wicked men, we should remember they will watch our words, and turn them, if they can, to our disadvantage. Sometimes it may be necessary to keep silence, even from good words; but in general we are wrong when backward to…
Psalms 39:5 in the original Hebrew
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Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).
Cross references for Psalms 39:5
- Psalms 144:4
Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away.
- Psalms 89:47
Remember how short my time is: wherefore hast thou made all men in vain?
- Psalms 62:9
Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity.
- Psalms 90:9-10
For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told. The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
- Ecclesiastes 2:11
Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.
- Psalms 39:11
When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity. Selah.
- James 4:14
Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
- Job 14:1-2
Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.
- Psalms 90:4-5
For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night. Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up.
- Job 9:25-26
Now my days are swifter than a post: they flee away, they see no good. They are passed away as the swift ships: as the eagle that hasteth to the prey.
- Job 7:6
My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and are spent without hope.
- Genesis 47:9
And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.
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Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Context
- Psalms 39:4
Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.
- Psalms 39:5
Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.
- Psalms 39:6
Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.
Psalms 39:5 in other languages
| Spanish Reina-Valera 1909 | He aquí diste á mis días término corto, y mi edad es como nada delante de ti: ciertamente es completa vanidad todo hombre que vive. (Selah.) |
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| French Bible J.N. Darby 1885 | Éternel! fais-moi connaître ma fin, et la mesure de mes jours, ce qu’elle est; je saurai combien je suis fragile. |
| German Elberfelder 1871 | Siehe, Handbreiten gleich hast du meine Tage gemacht, und meine Lebensdauer ist wie nichts vor dir; ja, eitel Hauch ist jeder Mensch, der dasteht. |
| Latin Clementine Vulgate | Beatus vir cujus est nomen Domini spes ejus, et non respexit in vanitates et insanias falsas. |