English Standard Version
Psalms 144:4
4Man 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.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Man is like a breath; His days are like a passing shadow.
- New Living Translation (NLT)For they are like a breath of air; their days are like a passing shadow.
Context of Psalms 144:4
2he is my steadfast love and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield and he in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me. 3O Lord, what is man that you regard him, or the son of man that you think of him? Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow. 5Bow your heavens, O Lord, and come down! Touch the mountains so that they smoke! 6Flash forth the lightning and scatter them; send out 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 39:5Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath! Selah
- Psalms 62:9Those of low estate are but a breath; those of high estate are a delusion; in the balances they go up; they are together lighter than a breath.
- Psalms 89:47Remember how short my time is! For what vanity you have created all the children of man!
- Job 4:19how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like the moth.
- Job 14:1"Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble.
- Ecclesiastes 1:2Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
- Ecclesiastes 12:8Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity.
- Psalms 102:11My days are like an evening shadow; I wither away like grass.
- Psalms 103:15As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field;
- Psalms 109:23I am gone like a shadow at evening; I am shaken off like a locust.
- 2 Samuel 14:14We must all die; we are like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. But God will not take away life, and he devises means so that the banished one will not remain an outcast.
- 1 Chronicles 29:15For we are strangers before you and sojourners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no abiding.
- Job 8:9For we are but of yesterday and know nothing, for our days on earth are a shadow.
- Ecclesiastes 8:13But it will not be well with the wicked, neither will he prolong his days like a shadow, because he does not fear 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
English Standard Version — © 2001 Crossway Bibles
Commentaries