Psalm 144:4
New International Version
They are like a breath; their days are like a fleeting shadow.

New Living Translation
For they are like a breath of air; their days are like a passing shadow.

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

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

King James Bible
Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away.

New King James Version
Man is like a breath; His days are like a passing shadow.

New American Standard Bible
Man is like the breath; His days are like a passing shadow.

NASB 1995
Man is like a mere breath; His days are like a passing shadow.

NASB 1977
Man is like a mere breath; His days are like a passing shadow.

Legacy Standard Bible
Man is like a breath; His days are like a passing shadow.

Amplified Bible
Man is like a mere breath; His days are like a shadow that passes away.

Christian Standard Bible
A human is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.

American Standard Version
Man is like to vanity: His days are as a shadow that passeth away.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
A son of man is like a vapor and his days pass away like smoke.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Man is like to vanity: his days pass as a shadow.

Contemporary English Version
We disappear like a breath; we last no longer than a faint shadow.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Man is like to vanity: his days pass away like a shadow.

English Revised Version
Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Humans are like a breath of air. Their life span is like a fleeting shadow.

Good News Translation
We are like a puff of wind; our days are like a passing shadow.

International Standard Version
The human person is a mere empty breath; his days are like a fading shadow.

JPS Tanakh 1917
Man is like unto a breath; His days are as a shadow that passeth away.

Literal Standard Version
Man has been like a breath, | His days [are] as a shadow passing by.

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

New American Bible
Man is but a breath, his days are like a passing shadow.

NET Bible
People are like a vapor, their days like a shadow that disappears.

New Revised Standard Version
They are like a breath; their days are like a passing shadow.

New Heart English Bible
Man is like a breath. His days are like a shadow that passes away.

Webster's Bible Translation
Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away.

World English Bible
Man is like a breath. His days are like a shadow that passes away.

Young's Literal Translation
Man to vanity hath been like, His days are as a shadow passing by.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Blessed Be the LORD, My Rock
3O LORD, what is man, that You regard him, the son of man that You think of him? 4Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow. 5Part Your heavens, O LORD, and come down; touch the mountains, that they may smoke.…

Cross References
James 4:14
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.

Job 8:9
For we were born yesterday and know nothing; our days on earth are but a shadow.

Job 11:12
But a witless man can no more become wise than the colt of a wild donkey can be born a man!

Job 14:2
Like a flower, he comes forth, then withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.

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

Psalm 39:11
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

Psalm 102:11
My days are like lengthening shadows, and I wither away like grass.


Treasury of Scripture

Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passes away.

man

Psalm 39:5,6
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…

Psalm 62:9
Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity.

Psalm 89:47
Remember how short my time is: wherefore hast thou made all men in vain?

his days

Psalm 102:11
My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass.

Psalm 103:15,16
As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth…

Psalm 109:23
I am gone like the shadow when it declineth: I am tossed up and down as the locust.

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Breath Fleeting Life Mere Passes Passeth Passing Quickly Shade Shadow Vanity
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Breath Fleeting Life Mere Passes Passeth Passing Quickly Shade Shadow Vanity
Psalm 144
1. David blesses God for his mercy both to him and to man
5. He prays that God would powerfully deliver him from his enemies
9. He promises to praise God
11. He prays for the happy state of the kingdom














(4) Vanity . . . shadow.--See Psalm 39:5-6; Psalm 102:11. The occasion of the introduction of these sentiments here is not quite clear. It may be the humility of the warrior who ascribes all success to God instead of to human prowess, or it may be a reflection uttered over the corpses of comrades, or, perhaps, a blending of the two.

Verse 4. - Man is like to vanity; or, "to a breath" (comp. Psalm 39:5; Psalm 62:9). His days are as a shadow that passeth away (see Psalm 102:11; Psalm 119:23). And yet God has regard to this weak creature of an hour.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Man
אָ֭דָם (’ā·ḏām)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 120: Ruddy, a human being

is like
דָּמָ֑ה (dā·māh)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 1819: To compare, to resemble, liken, consider

a breath;
לַהֶ֣בֶל (la·he·ḇel)
Preposition-l, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 1892: Emptiness, vanity, transitory, unsatisfactory

his days
יָ֝מָ֗יו (yā·māw)
Noun - masculine plural construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 3117: A day

are like a passing
עוֹבֵֽר׃ (‘ō·w·ḇêr)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 5674: To pass over, through, or by, pass on

shadow.
כְּצֵ֣ל (kə·ṣêl)
Preposition-k | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 6738: A shadow


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OT Poetry: Psalm 144:4 Man is like a breath (Psalm Ps Psa.)
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