God’s Word Translation
Psalms 144:4
4Humans are like a breath of air. Their life span is like a fleeting 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
2my merciful one, my fortress, my stronghold, and my savior, my shield, the one in whom I take refuge, and the one who brings people under my authority. 3O Lord, what are humans that you should care about them? What are mere mortals that you should think about them? Humans are like a breath of air. Their life span is like a fleeting shadow. 5O Lord, bend your heaven low, and come down. Touch the mountains, and they will smoke. 6Hurl bolts of lightning, and scatter them. Shoot your arrows, and throw them into confusion.
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 39:5Indeed, you have made the length of my days ⌞only⌟ a few inches. My life span is nothing compared to yours. Certainly, everyone alive is like a whisper in the wind. Selah
- Psalms 62:9Common people are only a whisper in the wind. Important people are only a delusion. When all of them are weighed on a scale, they amount to nothing. They are less than a whisper in the wind.
- Psalms 89:47Remember how short my life is! Have you created Adam’s descendants for no reason?
- Job 4:19How much more will he accuse those who live in clay houses that have their foundation in the dust. Those houses can be crushed quicker than a moth!
- Job 14:1“A person who is born of a woman is short-lived and is full of trouble.
- Ecclesiastes 1:2“Absolutely pointless!” says the spokesman. “Absolutely pointless! Everything is pointless.”
- Ecclesiastes 12:8“Absolutely pointless!” says the spokesman. “Everything is pointless!”
- Psalms 102:11My days are like a shadow that is getting longer, and I wither away like grass.
- Psalms 103:15Human life is as short-lived as grass. It blossoms like a flower in the field.
- Psalms 109:23I fade away like a lengthening shadow. I have been shaken off like a grasshopper.
- 2 Samuel 14:14We are all going to die; we are all like water that is poured on the ground and can’t be gathered up. But doesn’t God forgive a person? He never plans to keep a banished person in exile.
- 1 Chronicles 29:15To you we are all like our ancestors— foreigners without permanent homes. Our days are as fleeting as shadows on the ground. There’s no hope ⌞for them⌟.
- Job 8:9We have only been around since yesterday, and we know nothing. Our days on earth are only a fleeting shadow.
- Ecclesiastes 8:13But it will not go well for the wicked. They will not live any longer. Their lives are like shadows, because they don’t fear 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
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
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