Christian Standard Bible
Psalms 144:4
4A human is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.
Psalms 144:4 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away.
- New International Version (NIV)They are like a breath; their days are like a fleeting shadow.
- English Standard Version (ESV)Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Man is like a breath; His days are like a passing shadow.
Context of Psalms 144:4
2He is my faithful love and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer. He is my shield, and I take refuge in him; he subdues my people under me. 3Lord, what is a human that you care for him, a son of man that you think of him? A human is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow. 5Lord, part your heavens and come down. Touch the mountains, and they will smoke. 6Flash your lightning and scatter the foe; shoot your arrows and rout them.
Read all of Psalms 144Psalms 144:4 word by word
אָ֭דָם לַהֶ֣בֶל דָּמָ֑ה יָ֝מָ֗יו כְּצֵ֣ל עוֹבֵֽר׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Psalms 144:4
- Psalms 39:5In fact, you have made my days just inches long, and my life span is as nothing to you. Yes, every human being stands as only a vapor.Selah
- Psalms 62:9Common people are only a vapor; important people, an illusion. Together on a scale, they weigh less than a vapor.
- Psalms 89:47Remember how short my life is. Have you created everyone for nothing?
- Job 4:19how much more those who dwell in clay houses, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like a moth!
- Job 14:1Anyone born of woman is short of days and full of trouble.
- Ecclesiastes 1:2“Absolute futility,” says the Teacher. “Absolute futility. Everything is futile.”
- Ecclesiastes 12:8“Absolute futility,” says the Teacher. “Everything is futile.”
- Psalms 102:11My days are like a lengthening shadow, and I wither away like grass.
- Psalms 103:15As for man, his days are like grass — he blooms like a flower of the field;
- Psalms 109:23I fade away like a lengthening shadow; I am shaken off like a locust.
- 2 Samuel 14:14We will certainly die and be like water poured out on the ground, which can’t be recovered. But God would not take away a life; he would devise plans so that the one banished from him does not remain banished.
- 1 Chronicles 29:15For we are aliens and temporary residents in your presence as were all our ancestors. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope.
- Job 8:9since we were born only yesterday and know nothing. Our days on earth are but a shadow.
- Ecclesiastes 8:13However, it will not go well with the wicked, and they will not lengthen their days like a shadow, for they are not reverent before God.
Commentaries on Psalms 144:4
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 4Man is like to vanity - See the notes at Psalm 39:5-6; Psalm 62:9. The idea here is, that man can be compared only with that which is utterly vain - which is emptiness - which is nothing. His days are as a shadow that passeth away - See the notes at Psalm 102:11: “My days are like a shadow that declineth.” The idea is essentially the same. It is, that as a shadow has no substance, and that as it moves along constantly as the sun declines, until it…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 3-4what is man: The same question in Psalm 8:4–6 leads to the answer that humans are only mortal (they do not live forever), yet God gives them honor and responsibility to rule. The psalmist focuses on how brief and fragile human life is. He describes it as temporary and passing quickly (see Psalms 90:3, 7–10; 102:11; 109:23; 146:4).Read the comment
- Rashi on Tanakh · v. 4his days are as a fleeting shadow Solomon said (Ecc. 6:12): “that he do them like a shadow,” but he did not explain whether [this refers to] the shadow of a palm or the shadow of a wall, which are permanent. His father already explained, “as a fleeting shadow,” the shadow of a flying bird.Read the comment
Topics related to Psalms 144:4
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Psalms 144
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- The Treasury of David
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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