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New King James Version
Psalms 39:6
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Yes, a person goes about like a mere shadow.Indeed, they rush around in vain,gathering possessionswithout knowing who will get them.
"Surely every man walks like a shadow. Surely they busy themselves in vain. He heaps up, and doesn't know who shall gather.
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.
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!
People are like shadows moving about. All their work is for nothing; they collect things but don't know who will get them.
Surely people go through life as mere ghosts. Surely they accumulate worthless wealth without knowing who will eventually haul it away."
"Surely every man walks around like a shadow [in a charade]; Surely they make an uproar for nothing; Each one builds up riches, not knowing who will receive them.
"Certainly every person walks around as a fleeting shadow; They certainly make an uproar for nothing; He amasses riches and does not know who will gather them.
"Surely every man walks like a shadow. Surely they busy themselves in vain. He heaps up, and doesn't know who shall gather.
Doubtlesse man walketh in a shadowe, and disquieteth himselfe in vaine: he heapeth vp riches, and cannot tell who shall gather them.
Surely every man walks about as a shadow;Surely they make an uproar in vain;He piles up riches and does not know who will gather them.
Surely every man goes about like a phantom; surely he bustles in vain; he heaps up riches not knowing who will haul them away.
and it disappears like a shadow. Our struggles are senseless; we store up more and more, without ever knowing who will get it all.
You have made my days like handbreadths; for you, the length of my life is like nothing." Yes, everyone, no matter how firmly he stands, is merely a puff of wind. (Selah)
Verily, man walketh in a vain show; verily they are disquieted in vain; he heapeth up [riches], and knoweth not who shall gather them.
Our life is like an image in a mirror. We rush through life collecting things, but we don't know who will get them after we die.
Because every man walks as an image, he disappears as a breath; he buries treasures and knows not who shall gather them.
no more than a shadow. All we do is for nothing; we gather wealth, but don't know who will get it.
Surely a man walks about as a mere shadow; surely in vain they bustle about. He heaps up possessions but does not know who will gather them in.
surely every man walks about in shadow; surely they are in an uproar in vain; he heaps up and does not know who is gathering them.
Beholde, thou hast made my dayes a spanne longe, and my life is as it were nothinge before the. O how vayne are all men lyuynge?
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.
Truly, every man goes on his way like an image; he is troubled for no purpose: he makes a great store of wealth, and has no knowledge of who will get it.
Behold, Thou hast made my days as hand-breadths; and mine age is as nothing before Thee;
Surely euery man walketh in a vaine shew: surely they are disquieted in vaine: he heapeth vp riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.
Truely man walketh in a vayne shadowe, truely he [and all his] do disquiet them selues in vayne: he heapeth vp riches, & can not tel who shal vse them.
Surely man walks in a shadow; nay, he is disquieted in vain: he lays up treasures, and knows not for whom he shall gather them.
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.
Netheles a man passith in ymage; but also he is disturblid veynli. He tresorith; and he noot, to whom he `schal gadere tho thingis.
Surely everyone among man walks in a vain show; Surely they are disquieted in vain: He heaps up [riches], and does not know who shall gather them.
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.
We are merely moving shadows, and all our busy rushing ends in nothing. We heap up wealth, not knowing who will spend it.
Every man walks here and there like a shadow. He makes a noise about nothing. He stores up riches, not knowing who will gather them.
Surely everyone goes about like a shadow. Surely for nothing they are in turmoil; they heap up, and do not know who will gather.
Surely as a shadow, doth every man wander, Surely in vain, do they bustle about, he heapeth things up, and knoweth not who shall gather them in.
(38-7) 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.
Surely man goes about as a shadow! Surely for nought are they in turmoil; man heaps up, and knows not who will gather!
Only, in an image doth each walk habitually, Only, [in] vain, they are disquieted, He heapeth up and knoweth not who gathereth them.
"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.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
a vain show: Heb. an image, There is but the semblance of being: he appeareth for a little, and then vanisheth. 1 Corinthians 7:31, James 4:14
surely: Ecclesiastes 1:14, Ecclesiastes 2:17, Ecclesiastes 2:18, Ecclesiastes 2:20, Ecclesiastes 2:21, Ecclesiastes 4:7, Ecclesiastes 4:8, Ecclesiastes 6:11, Ecclesiastes 6:12, Ecclesiastes 12:8, Ecclesiastes 12:13, Isaiah 55:2, Luke 10:40-42, Luke 12:20, Luke 12:21, Luke 12:29, 1 Peter 5:7
he heapeth: Psalms 49:10, Psalms 49:11, Job 27:16, Job 27:17, Proverbs 13:22, Proverbs 23:5, Proverbs 27:24, Ecclesiastes 2:8, Ecclesiastes 2:18-21, Ecclesiastes 2:26, Ecclesiastes 5:14, Luke 12:20, Luke 12:21, James 5:3
Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 8:13 - General Joshua 8:2 - only the spoil 2 Samuel 19:34 - How long have I to live 1 Kings 14:26 - he took away Esther 8:1 - give the house Job 14:21 - he knoweth it not Psalms 4:6 - many Psalms 17:14 - leave Psalms 62:10 - riches Psalms 73:16 - too painful for me Psalms 73:20 - their Psalms 89:47 - Remember Psalms 102:11 - My days Psalms 114:4 - General Psalms 119:96 - I have seen Psalms 127:2 - vain Psalms 144:4 - Man Ecclesiastes 1:2 - General Ecclesiastes 3:19 - for Ecclesiastes 6:2 - but Ecclesiastes 6:10 - and it Ecclesiastes 7:15 - have I Daniel 11:4 - and shall be Habakkuk 2:13 - is it Matthew 6:19 - General Matthew 6:27 - by Matthew 13:45 - seeking Matthew 15:9 - in Luke 12:26 - why 1 Peter 1:18 - vain 1 John 2:17 - the world
Cross-References
Leah's eyes were delicate, but Rachel was beautiful of form and appearance.
So Joseph found favor in his sight, and served him. Then he made him overseer of his house, and all that he had he put under his authority.
But he refused and said to his master's wife, "Look, my master does not know what is with me in the house, and he has committed all that he has to my hand.
that she called to the men of her house and spoke to them, saying, "See, he has brought in to us a Hebrew to mock us. He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice.
And it happened, when he heard that I lifted my voice and cried out, that he left his garment with me, and fled and went outside."
23 The keeper of the prison did not look into anything that was under Joseph's authority, [fn] because the Lord was with him; and whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper.
So they set him a place by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves; because the Egyptians could not eat food with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians.
So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with bright eyes, and good-looking. And the LORD said, "Arise, anoint him; for this is the one!"
And when the Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him; for he was only a youth, ruddy and good-looking.
The heart of her husband safely trusts her; So he will have no lack of gain.
Gill's Notes on the 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 בצלם "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 ορω γαρ ημας Sophoclis Ajax, v. 125, 126. c Donesh in Jarchi in loc. d Jarchi & Kimchi in loc. & R. Jonah in Miclol Yophi in loc.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
Surely every man walketh in a vain show - Margin, “an image.” The word rendered “vain show” - צלם tselem - means properly a shade, a shadow; and then, an image or likeness, as shadowing forth any real object. Then it comes to denote an idol, 2 Kings 11:18; Amos 5:26. Here the idea seems to be that of an image, as contradistinguished from a reality; the shadow of a thing, as distinguished from the substance. Man seems to be like an image, a shadow, a phantom - and not a real object, walking about. He is a form, an appearance, that soon vanishes away like a shadow.
Surely they are disquieted in vain - That is, they are actively engaged; they bustle about; they are full of anxiety; they form plans which they execute with much toil, care, and trouble; yet for no purpose worthy of so much diligence and anxious thought. They are busy, bustling “shadows” - existing for no real or substantial purposes, and accomplishing nothing. “What shadows we are, and what shadows do we pursue,” said the great orator and statesman, Edmund Burke; and what a striking and beautiful comment on the passage before us was that saying, coming from such a man, and from one occupying such a position.
He heapeth up riches - The word used here means to heap up, to store up, as grain, Genesis 41:35; or treasures, Job 27:16; or a mound, Habakkuk 1:10. Here it undoubtedly refers to the efforts of men in accumulating wealth, or storing up property. This was the thing which struck the psalmist as the leading employment of these moving shadows - a fact that would strike any one as he looks upon this busy world.
And knoweth not who shall gather them - Who shall gather them to himself; to whom they will go when he dies. Compare Job 27:16-19; Ecclesiastes 2:18, Ecclesiastes 2:21; Ecclesiastes 5:13-14; Luke 12:20. The idea is, that it is not only vanity in itself, considered as the great business of life, to attempt to accumulate property - seeing that this is not what the great object of life should be, and that a life thus spent really amounts to nothing - but vanity in this respect also, that a man can have no absolute control over his property when he is dead, and he knows not, and cannot know, into whose hands his accumulated gains may fall. The facts on this subject; the actual distribution of property after a man is dead; the use often made of it, against which no man can guard - should, together with other and higher motives, be a powerful consideration with every one, not to make the amassing of wealth the great business of life.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Psalms 39:6. Walketh in a vain show — בצלם betselem, in a shadow. He is but the semblance of being: he appears for a while, and then vanisheth away. Some of the fathers read, "Although every man walketh in the image of God, yet they are disquieted in vain."
He heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them. — He raketh together. This is a metaphor taken from agriculture: the husbandman rakes the corn, &c., together in the field, and yet, so uncertain is life, that he knows not who shall gather them into the granary!
