Psalm 39:6
◄  Psalm 39:6  ►
New International Version (©2011)
"Surely everyone goes around like a mere phantom; in vain they rush about, heaping up wealth without knowing whose it will finally be.

New Living Translation (©2007)
We are merely moving shadows, and all our busy rushing ends in nothing. We heap up wealth, not knowing who will spend it.

English Standard Version (©2001)
Surely a man goes about as a shadow! Surely for nothing they are in turmoil; man heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather!

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
"Surely every man walks about as a phantom; Surely they make an uproar for nothing; He amasses riches and does not know who will gather them.

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
Certainly, man walks about like a mere shadow. Indeed, they frantically rush around in vain, gathering possessions without knowing who will get them.

International Standard Version (©2012)
In fact, people walk around as shadows. Surely, they busy themselves for nothing, heaping up possessions but not knowing who will get them.

NET Bible (©2006)
Surely people go through life as mere ghosts. Surely they accumulate worthless wealth without knowing who will eventually haul it away."

Aramaic Bible in Plain English (©2010)
Because a man walks in an image and he fades away like a vapor; he lays down treasures and does not know for whom he gathered them.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
Each person who walks around is like a shadow. They are busy for no reason. They accumulate riches without knowing who will get them."

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
Surely every man walks in a vain show: surely they are in turmoil in vain: he heaps up riches, and knows not who shall gather them.

American King James Version
Surely every man walks in a vain show: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heaps up riches, and knows not who shall gather them.

American Standard Version
Surely every man walketh in a vain show; Surely they are disquieted in vain: He heapeth up riches , and knoweth not who shall gather them.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Surely man passeth as an image : yea, and he is disquieted in vain. He storeth up : and he knoweth not for whom he shall gather these things.

Darby Bible Translation
Verily, man walketh in a vain show; verily they are disquieted in vain; he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.

English Revised Version
Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.

Webster's Bible Translation
Surely every man walketh in a vain show: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.

World English Bible
"Surely every man walks like a shadow. Surely they busy themselves in vain. He heaps up, and doesn't know who shall gather.

Young's Literal Translation
Only, in an image doth each walk habitually, Only, in vain, they are disquieted, He heapeth up and knoweth not who gathereth them.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

39:1-6 If an evil thought should arise in the mind, suppress it. Watchfulness in the habit, is the bridle upon the head; watchfulness in acts, is the hand upon the bridle. When not able to separate from wicked men, we should remember they will watch our words, and turn them, if they can, to our disadvantage. Sometimes it may be necessary to keep silence, even from good words; but in general we are wrong when backward to engage in edifying discourse. Impatience is a sin that has its cause within ourselves, and that is, musing; and its ill effects upon ourselves, and that is no less than burning. In our greatest health and prosperity, every man is altogether vanity, he cannot live long; he may die soon. This is an undoubted truth, but we are very unwilling to believe it. Therefore let us pray that God would enlighten our minds by his Holy Spirit, and fill our hearts with his grace, that we may be ready for death every day and hour.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 6. - Surely every man walketh in a vain show; literally, in an image, or "as an image;" i.e. with a mere semblance of life, but without the reality. Surely they are disquieted in vain. Their restless strivings are to no end, have no result. He heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them (comp. Job 27:16, 17; Ecclesiastes 2:18, 21).

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Surely every man walketh in a vain show,.... Or "in an image" (z); not "in the image of the Lord", as the Targum; in the image in which God created man, for that is lost; nor in that which is stamped on men in regeneration; for every man does not walk in that; rather in the image of fallen man, in which every man is born and walks: or "in a shadow" (a); or like one; to which the days of man's life are often compared, 1 Chronicles 29:15; and who, for the most part, busies himself in shadowy and imaginary things; agreeably to all which the poet says (b),

"I see that we who live are nothing else but images, and a vain shadow.''

Some (c) interpret it of "the shadow of death"; and others (d) of "darkness" itself; and it fitly expresses the state of unregeneracy and darkness in which every man walks without the grace of God; and which will end in utter darkness, if that does not prevent it; and which is called "a walking in the vanity of the mind", Ephesians 4:17. Here it seems rather to intend the outward show, pomp, and grandeur of every great man; of emperors, kings, princes, nobles, and the great men of the world; which is all a vain show, a glittering appearance for a while, a glory that passeth away, and will not descend after them when laid in the grave, and oftentimes lasts not so long;

surely they are disquieted in vain; about vain things, as riches and honours, which are fickle and unstable; and sometimes in vain are all the carking cares and disquietude of the mind, and toil and labour of the body, which are here referred to, to obtain these things; some rise early, and sit up late, and yet eat the bread of sorrow; and if they gain their point, yet do not find the pleasure and satisfaction in them they promised themselves and expected;

he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them: according to Jarchi, the metaphor seems to be taken from a man that has been ploughing and sowing, and reaping and laying up the increase of the field in heaps, and yet knows not who shall gather it into the barn, seeing he may die before it is gathered in; compare with this Luke 12:16; or the meaning is, when a man has amassed a prodigious deal of wealth together, he knows not who shall enjoy it, whether a son or a servant, a friend or a foe, a good man or a bad man, a wise man or a fool, Ecclesiastes 2:18.

(z) "in imagine", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version, Piscator, Cocceius, Michaelis. (a) "In umbra", Gejerus; "instar umbrae", Musculus; vid. Hackman. Praecidan. Sacr. tom. 1. p. 82. (b) Sophoclis Ajax, v. 125, 126. (c) Donesh in Jarchi in loc. (d) Jarchi & Kimchi in loc. & R. Jonah in Miclol Yophi in loc.

Psalm 39:6 Parallel Commentaries

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I will Watch My Ways
…5Behold, you have made my days as an handbreadth; and my age is as nothing before you: truly every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah. 6Surely every man walks in a vain show: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heaps up riches, and knows not who shall gather them. 7And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in you. …

Luke 12:20 "But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'
1 Corinthians 7:31 those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.
James 1:10 But the rich should take pride in their humiliation--since they will pass away like a wild flower.
James 1:11 For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich will fade away even while they go about their business.
1 Peter 1:24 For, "All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall,
Psalm 49:10 For all can see that the wise die, that the foolish and the senseless also perish, leaving their wealth to others.
Psalm 127:2 In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat-- for he grants sleep to those he loves.
Ecclesiastes 1:2 "Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless."
Ecclesiastes 2:18 I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me.
Ecclesiastes 2:26 To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
Ecclesiastes 5:14 or wealth lost through some misfortune, so that when they have children there is nothing left for them to inherit.
Ecclesiastes 5:17 All their days they eat in darkness, with great frustration, affliction and anger.