Parallel Verses
A Conservative Version
Behold, thou have made my days [as] handbreadths, and my life-time is as nothing before thee. Surely every man at his best condition is altogether vanity. Selah.
New American Standard Bible
And my
Surely every man
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.
Holman Bible
and my life span as nothing in Your sight.
Yes, every mortal man is only a vapor.
International Standard Version
Look, you have made my life span fit in your hand; It is nothing compared to yours. Surely every person at their best is a puff of wind. Interlude
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
Amplified
“Behold, You have made my days as [short as] hand widths,
And my lifetime is as nothing in Your sight.
Surely every man at his best is a mere breath [a wisp of smoke, a vapor that vanishes]!
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.)
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.
Julia Smith Translation
Behold, thou gavest my days a hand-breadth, and my life as nothing before thee: but every man stood all vanity. Silence.
King James 2000
Behold, you have made my days as a handbreadth; and my age is as nothing before you: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.
Lexham Expanded Bible
Look, you have made my days [mere] handbreadths, and my lifespan as nothing next to you. Surely every person standing firm [is] complete vanity. Selah
Modern King James verseion
Behold, You have made my days as a handbreadth, and my age is as nothing before You. Surely every man standing is altogether vanity. Selah.
Modern Spelling Tyndale-Coverdale
Behold, thou hast made my days a span long, and mine age is even as nothing in respect of thee; and verily every man living is altogether vanity. Selah
NET Bible
Look, 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.
New Heart English Bible
Behold, you have made my days handbreadths. My lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely every man stands as a breath." Selah.
The Emphasized Bible
Lo! as hand-breadths, hast thou granted my days, and my life-time, is as nothing before thee, - Surely, a mere breath, are all men, even such as stand firm. Selah.
Webster
Behold, thou hast made my days as a hand-breadth; and my 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 handbreadths. My lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely every man stands as a breath." Selah.
Youngs 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.
Themes
Handbreadth » A measure (about four inches)
Life » Uncertainty of physical » Only a handbreadth in extent
Life » Brief » Only a handbreadth in extent
natural Life » Is compared to » A hand-breadth
Measures » Of length » Handbreadth
The Providence of God » Is exercised in » Determining the period of human life
Topics
References
Smith
Word Count of 20 Translations in Psalm 39:5
Verse Info
Context Readings
The Fleeting Nature Of Life
4 LORD, make me to know my end, and the measure of my days, what it is. Let me know how frail I am. 5 Behold, thou have made my days [as] handbreadths, and my life-time is as nothing before thee. Surely every man at his best condition is altogether vanity. Selah. 6 Surely every man walks in a shadow. Surely they are disquieted in vain. He heaps up, and knows not who shall gather them.
Cross References
Psalm 62:9
Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie. In the balances they will go up. They are together lighter than vanity.
Psalm 89:47
O remember how short my time is, for what vanity thou have created all the sons of men!
Psalm 144:4
Man is like vanity. His days are as a shadow that passes away.
Genesis 47:9
And Jacob said to Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my father
Job 7:6
My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope.
Job 9:25-26
Now my days are swifter than a runner. They flee away. They see no good,
Job 14:1-2
Man, who is born of a woman, is of few days, and full of trouble.
Psalm 39:11
When thou have corrected man with rebukes for iniquity, thou make his beauty to disintegrate like a moth. Surely every man is vanity. Selah.
Psalm 90:4-5
For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.
Psalm 90:9-10
For all our days are passed away in thy wrath. We bring our years to an end as a sigh.
Ecclesiastes 1:2
Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities, all is vanity.
Ecclesiastes 2:11
Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labor that I had labored to do, and, behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was no profit under the sun.
Isaiah 40:17
All the nations are as nothing before him. They are accounted by him as less than nothing, and vanity.
James 4:14
men who know not of the morrow. For what is your life? For it will be a vapor that appears for a little while, and then also vanishes away--
2 Peter 3:8
But beloved, this one thing you should not ignore, that one day with Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.