New King James 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.
- English Standard Version (ESV)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
2My lovingkindness and my fortress, My high tower and my deliverer, My shield and the One in whom I take refuge, Who subdues my people under me. 3Lord, what is man, that You take knowledge of him? Or the son of man, that You are mindful of him? Man is like a breath; His days are like a passing shadow. 5Bow down Your heavens, O Lord, and come down; Touch the mountains, and they shall smoke. 6Flash forth lightning and scatter them; Shoot out Your arrows and destroy 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 39:5Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths, And my age is as nothing before You; Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor. Selah
- Psalms 62:9Surely men of low degree are a vapor, Men of high degree are a lie; If they are weighed on the scales, They are altogether lighter than vapor.
- Psalms 89:47Remember how short my time is; For what futility have You created all the children of men?
- Job 4:19How much more those who dwell in houses of clay, Whose foundation is in the dust, Who are crushed before a moth?
- Job 14:1“Man who is born of woman Is of few days and full of trouble.
- Ecclesiastes 1:2“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher; “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”
- Ecclesiastes 12:8“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “All is vanity.”
- Psalms 102:11My days are like a shadow that lengthens, And I wither away like grass.
- Psalms 103:15As for man, his days are like grass; As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
- Psalms 109:23I am gone like a shadow when it lengthens; I am shaken off like a locust.
- 2 Samuel 14:14For we will surely die and become like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. Yet God does not take away a life; but He devises means, so that His banished ones are not expelled from Him.
- 1 Chronicles 29:15For we are aliens and pilgrims before You, As were all our fathers; Our days on earth are as a shadow, And without hope.
- Job 8:9For we were born yesterday, and know nothing, Because our days on earth are a shadow.
- Ecclesiastes 8:13But it will not be well with the wicked; nor will he prolong his days, which are as 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
New King James Version — © 1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc
Commentaries