New English Translation
Psalms 144:4
4People are like a vapor, their days like a shadow that disappears.
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
2who loves me and is my stronghold, my refuge and my deliverer, my shield and the one in whom I take shelter, who makes nations submit to me. 3O Lord, of what importance is the human race, that you should notice them? Of what importance is mankind, that you should be concerned about them? People are like a vapor, their days like a shadow that disappears. 5O Lord, make the sky sink and come down! Touch the mountains and make them smolder! 6Hurl lightning bolts and scatter them! 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 39:5Look, you make my days short-lived, and my life span is nothing from your perspective. Surely all people, even those who seem secure, are nothing but vapor.
- Psalms 62:9Men are nothing but a mere breath; human beings are unreliable. When they are weighed in the scales, all of them together are lighter than air.
- Psalms 89:47Take note of my brief lifespan! Why do you make all people so mortal?
- Job 4:19how much more to those who live in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like a moth?
- Job 14:1“Man, born of woman, lives but a few days, and they are full of trouble.
- Ecclesiastes 1:2“Futile! Futile!” laments the Teacher, “Absolutely futile! Everything is futile!”
- Ecclesiastes 12:8“Absolutely futile!” laments the Teacher, “All of these things are futile!”
- Psalms 102:11My days are coming to an end, and I am withered like grass.
- Psalms 103:15A person’s life is like grass. Like a flower in the field it flourishes,
- Psalms 109:23I am fading away like a shadow at the end of the day; I am shaken off like a locust.
- 2 Samuel 14:14Certainly we must die, and are like water spilled on the ground that cannot be gathered up again. But God does not take away life; instead he devises ways for the banished to be restored.
- 1 Chronicles 29:15For we are resident foreigners and nomads in your presence, like all our ancestors; our days are like a shadow on the earth, without security.
- Job 8:9For we were born yesterday and do not have knowledge, since our days on earth are but a shadow.
- Ecclesiastes 8:13But it will not go well with the wicked, nor will they prolong their days like a shadow, because they do not stand in 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
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