Psalm 39:5 “You, indeed, have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as not…”

Psalm 39:5

You, indeed, have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing before You. Truly each man at his best exists as but a breath. Selah

Berean Standard Bible

Other translations

King James Version

Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.

World English Bible

Behold, you have made my days hand widths. My lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely every man stands as a breath.” Selah.

American Standard Version

Behold, thou hast made my days as handbreadths; And my life-time is as nothing before thee: Surely every man at his best estate is altogether vanity. [Selah

Geneva Bible 1599

Beholde, thou hast made my dayes as an hand breadth, and mine age as nothing in respect of thee: surely euery man in his best state is altogether vanitie. Selah.

Darby Translation

Behold, thou hast made my days [as] hand-breadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before thee; verily, every man, [even] the high placed, is altogether vanity. Selah.

Young's Literal Translation

Lo, handbreadths Thou hast made my days, And mine age [is] as nothing before Thee, Only, all vanity [is] every man set up. Selah.

Bible in Basic English

You have made my days no longer than a hand's measure; and my years are nothing in your eyes; truly, every man is but a breath. (Selah.)

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Cross references

“Behold”

James 4:14 Genesis 47:9 Job 7:6 Psalm 90:4 Psalm 90:5 Psalm 90:9

James 4:14 · BSB

You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

Genesis 47:9 · BSB

“My travels have lasted 130 years,” Jacob replied. “My years have been few and hard, and they have not matched the years of the travels of my fathers.”

Job 7:6 · BSB

My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle; they come to an end without hope.

Psalm 90:4 · BSB

For in Your sight a thousand years are but a day that passes, or a watch of the night.

Psalm 90:5 · BSB

You sweep them away in their sleep; they are like the new grass of the morning—

Psalm 90:9 · BSB

For all our days decline in Your fury; we finish our years with a sigh.

“as nothing”

Psalm 89:47 2 Peter 3:8

Psalm 89:47 · BSB

Remember the briefness of my lifespan! For what futility You have created all men!

2 Peter 3:8 · BSB

Beloved, do not let this one thing escape your notice: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.

“verily”

Psalm 144:4 Psalm 62:9 Psalm 39:11 Ecclesiastes 2:11 Ecclesiastes 1:2 Isaiah 40:17

Psalm 144:4 · BSB

Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.

Psalm 62:9 · BSB

Lowborn men are but a vapor; the exalted are but a lie. Weighed on the scale, they go up; together they are but a vapor.

Psalm 39:11 · BSB

You discipline and correct a man for his iniquity, consuming like a moth what he holds dear; surely each man is but a vapor. Selah

Ecclesiastes 2:11 · BSB

Yet when I considered all the works that my hands had accomplished and what I had toiled to achieve, I found everything to be futile, a pursuit of the wind; there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 1:2 · BSB

“Futility of futilities,” says the Teacher, “futility of futilities! Everything is futile!”

Isaiah 40:17 · BSB

All the nations are as nothing before Him; He regards them as nothingness and emptiness.

Cross references adapted from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0) and the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

In context

4“Show me, O LORD, my end and the measure of my days. Let me know how fleeting my life is.

6Surely every man goes about like a phantom; surely he bustles in vain; he heaps up riches not knowing who will haul them away.

Read Psalm 39