Tree of Life 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 King James Version (NKJV)Man is like a breath; His days are like a passing shadow.
Context of Psalms 144:4
2He is my lovingkindness, my fortress, my strong tower, and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues my people under me. 3Adonai, what is man, that You take note of him? Or the son of man, that You consider him? Man is like a breath— his days are like a passing shadow. 5Adonai, part Your heavens and come down. Touch the mountains, so they smoke. 6Flash forth lightning and scatter them. Send out Your arrows and confuse 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 39:5“Let me know, Adonai, my end and what the number of my days is. Let me know how short-lived I am.
- Psalms 62:9Trust in Him at all times, you people. Pour out your heart in His presence. God is our refuge. Selah
- Psalms 89:47How long, Adonai, will You hide Yourself? Forever? Will Your fury keep burning like fire?
- Job 4:19how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed before the moth?
- Job 14:1“A mortal born of woman, is of few days and full of turmoil.
- Ecclesiastes 1:2Futile! Futile! says Kohelet. Completely meaningless! Everything is futile!
- Ecclesiastes 12:8“Evanescent vapors,” says Kohelet. All is futility.
- Psalms 102:11because of Your indignation and wrath, for You have picked me up and tossed me aside.
- Psalms 103:15As for man, his days are like grass— he flourishes like a flower of the field,
- Psalms 109:23I fade away like an evening shadow, shaken off like a locust.
- 2 Samuel 14:14For we will all surely die and be like water spilt on the ground that cannot be gathered up again. Yet God does not take away life but rather, He devises plans so that a banished person may not remain an outcast from Him.
- 1 Chronicles 29:15For we are sojourners before You, mere transients like our fathers. Our days on the earth are like a shadow, without security.
- Job 8:9for we were born yesterday and know nothing, and our days on earth are but a shadow.
- Ecclesiastes 8:13But it will not go well with the wicked, and he will not lengthen his days like a shadow, because he does not 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
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