Psalm 39:5

Translations

Modern

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

Traditional

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.

Literal

Behold, as handbreadths have made my days, and my lifetime as nothing before You. Truly each one is a vapor, each man is stationary. Selah

Latin

Ecce mensurabiles posuisti dies meos, et substantia mea tamquam nihilum ante te. Verumtamen universa vanitas, omnis homo vivens.

Original

Hebrew

English

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

Notes

Psalms 39:4–5

how fleeting my life is: This perspective comes out of suffering (see Psalms 78:39; 89:47–48; 90:3–10). The human lifetime is but a moment to God (Psalm 90:4), as temporary as a breath (see Psalms 39:11; 144:4).

Psalms 39:4–6

Due to his suffering and sin, the psalmist concludes that life is meaningless and short (see Job 7:7–10; Isaiah 40:6–8). He had expected only a wicked life to be like that (see Psalms 37:2, 20; 103:15–16), but now it seems irrelevant whether a person is godly or not.

Psalms 39:1–13

This prayer for rescue shows the psalmist's discouragement, which comes from not fully understanding his situation.

Theme notes and profiles

David Complaints Wisdom Psalms

Related verses

Psalm 144:4
Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.
Psalm 89:47
Remember the briefness of my lifespan! For what futility You have created all men!
Psalm 90:9–10
For all our days decline in Your fury; we finish our years with a sigh.
Psalm 62:9
Lowborn men are but a vapor; the exalted are but a lie. Weighed on the scale, they go up; together they are but a vapor.
Ecclesiastes 2:11
Yet when I considered all the works that my hands had accomplished and what I had toiled to achieve, I found everything to be futile, a pursuit of the wind; there was nothing to be gained under the sun.
Psalm 39:11
You discipline and correct a man for his iniquity, consuming like a moth what he holds dear; surely each man is but a vapor. Selah
Job 14:1–2
“Man, who is born of woman, is short of days and full of trouble.
James 4:14
You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
Psalm 90:4–5
For in Your sight a thousand years are but a day that passes, or a watch of the night.
Genesis 47:9
“My travels have lasted 130 years,” Jacob replied. “My years have been few and hard, and they have not matched the years of the travels of my fathers.”
Job 9:25–26
My days are swifter than a runner; they flee without seeing good.
Job 7:6
My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle; they come to an end without hope.

People

Selah: A musical or liturgical term of uncertain meaning

Glossary

David Ethan Jeduthun Music Psalms, Book of

Topics

Handbreadth: A Measure (About Four Inches) Life: Brevity and Uncertainty of Measure: A Handbreadth Measures of Length: Handbreadth Natural Death: Regard, As at Hand Natural Life is Compared to a Hand-Breadth The Providence of God is Exercised in Determining the Period of Human Life Time Management Vanity: Man at his Best Estate Is Vanity: Man, at his Best Estate, Is

Psalm 39:5

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