Parallel Verses
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.
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
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.
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.
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 O Jehovah, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; I shall know how I fail. 5 Behold, thou gavest my days a hand-breadth, and my life as nothing before thee: but every man stood all vanity. Silence. 6 Surely in a shadow a man will go about: surely they will be disquieted in vain: he will store up, and he knew not who shall gather them.
Cross References
Psalm 62:9
Surely the sons of man vanity, the sons of man falsehood: to be brought up into the balances, they together of vanity.
Psalm 89:47
Remember me what is life: wherefore in vain didst thou create all the sons of man?
Psalm 144:4
Man was likened to vanity: his days as a shadow passing away.
Genesis 47:9
And Jacob will say to Pharaoh, The days of the years of my sojourning, thirty and a hundred years: little and evil were the days of the years of my life, and they reached not the days of the years of the life of my fathers in their sojournings.
Job 7:6
My days were swift above a weaver's shuttle, and will finish with no more of hope.
Job 9:25-26
My days were swift above a runner: they fled, they saw not good.
Job 14:1-2
Man being born of woman is short of days and full of disquiet
Psalm 39:11
With corrections for iniquity thou didst correct man, and thou wilt melt down as a moth his beauty: surely every man is vanity. Silence.
Psalm 90:4-5
For a thousand years in thine eyes as the day of yesterday, for it shall pass away, and watches in the night.
Psalm 90:9-10
For all our days turned away in thy wrath: we finished our years as a meditation
Ecclesiastes 1:2
Vanity of vanities, said the preacher; vanity of vanities, all vanity.
Ecclesiastes 2:11
And I looked upon all my works my hands made, and upon the labor I labored to do, and behold, all vanity and striving of the spirit, and no profit under the sun.
Isaiah 40:17
All the nations as nothing before him; they were reckoned to him from nothing, and vanity.
James 4:14
(Which know not that of the morrow. For what your life? For it is a steam, appearing for a little, and then invisible.)
2 Peter 3:8
And let not this one thing be unknown to you, dearly beloved, that one day with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.