Lectionary Calendar
Sunday, September 21st, 2025
the Week of Proper 20 / Ordinary 25
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Read the Bible

New Living Translation

1 Chronicles 29:15

We are here for only a moment, visitors and strangers in the land as our ancestors were before us. Our days on earth are like a passing shadow, gone so soon without a trace.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Joy;   Life;   Praise;   Psalms;   Thompson Chain Reference - Life;   Life-Death;   Pilgrimage;   Time;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Man;   Pilgrims and Strangers;   Prayer, Public;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Shadow;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Foreigner;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Citizenship;   Day;   Foreigner;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Chronicles, Books of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Chronicles, I;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Synagogue;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - David;   Meat-offering;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Hebrew Monarchy, the;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Intercession;   Proselyte;   Shade;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
For we are aliens and temporary residents in your presence as were all our ancestors. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope.
Hebrew Names Version
For we are strangers before you, and sojourners, as all our fathers were: our days on the eretz are as a shadow, and there is no abiding.
King James Version
For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.
English Standard Version
For we are strangers before you and sojourners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no abiding.
New Century Version
We are like foreigners and strangers, as our ancestors were. Our time on earth is like a shadow. There is no hope.
New English Translation
For we are resident foreigners and nomads in your presence, like all our ancestors; our days are like a shadow on the earth, without security.
Amplified Bible
"For we are sojourners before You, and tenants, as all our fathers were; our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no hope [of remaining].
New American Standard Bible
"For we are strangers before You, and temporary residents, as all our fathers were; our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no hope.
World English Bible
For we are strangers before you, and sojourners, as all our fathers were: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is no abiding.
Geneva Bible (1587)
For we are stragers before thee, & soiourners, like all our fathers: our dayes are like ye shadowe vpon the earth, & there is none abiding.
Legacy Standard Bible
For we are sojourners before You, and foreign residents, like all our fathers were; our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no hope.
Berean Standard Bible
For we are foreigners and sojourners in Your presence, as were all our forefathers. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope.
Contemporary English Version
We are only foreigners living here on earth for a while, just as our ancestors were. And we will soon be gone, like a shadow that suddenly disappears.
Complete Jewish Bible
For in your presence we are temporary residents, just passing through, as all our ancestors were — our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope.
Darby Translation
For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is no hope [of life].
Easy-to-Read Version
We are only strangers traveling through this world like our ancestors. Our time on earth is like a passing shadow, and we cannot stop it.
George Lamsa Translation
For we are like the proverb of vapor and of the potter, and we are sojourners before thee and a small people in the world, but thou didst rule over our fathers of old, and thou didst command them by which way they should walk and live.
Good News Translation
You know, O Lord , that we pass through life like exiles and strangers, as our ancestors did. Our days are like a passing shadow, and we cannot escape death.
Lexham English Bible
For we are strangers before you and sojourners like all our ancestors. Our days are like the shadow upon earth, and there is no hope of abiding.
Literal Translation
for we are strangers before You, and settlers, like all our fathers; our days on the land are like a shadow, and there is none abiding.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
For we are but pilgrems & straugers before the, as were all oure fathers. Oure life vpon earth is as a shadowe, and here is no abydinge.
American Standard Version
For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as all our fathers were: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is no abiding.
Bible in Basic English
For we, as all our fathers were, are like men from a strange country before you, who have got a place for a time in the land; our days on the earth are like a shade, and there is no hope of going on.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
For we be but straungers before thee, and soiourners, as were al our fathers: Our dayes on the earth also are but as a shadowe, and there is none abiding.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
For we are strangers before Thee, and sojourners, as all our fathers were: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is no abiding.
King James Version (1611)
For we are strangers before thee, and soiourners, as were all our fathers: Our dayes on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
for we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as all our fathers were: our days upon the earth are as a shadow, and there is no remaining.
English Revised Version
For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as all our fathers were: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is no abiding.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
For we ben pilgrimes and comelyngis bifor thee, as alle oure fadris; oure daies ben as schadewe on the erthe, and `no dwellyng is.
Update Bible Version
For we are strangers before you, and sojourners, as all our fathers were: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is no abiding.
Webster's Bible Translation
For we [are] strangers before thee, and sojourners, as [were] all our fathers: our days on the earth [are] as a shadow, and [there is] no abiding.
New King James Version
For we are aliens and pilgrims before You, As were all our fathers; Our days on earth are as a shadow, And without hope.
New Life Bible
We are strangers before You. We are just staying here for a time, as all our fathers did. Our days on the earth are like a shadow, and without hope.
New Revised Standard
For we are aliens and transients before you, as were all our ancestors; our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no hope.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
for, sojourners, are we before thee, and strangers, like all our fathers, - like a shadow, are our days upon the earth, and there is no hope.
Douay-Rheims Bible
For we are sojourners before thee, and strangers, as were all our fathers. I Our days upon earth are as a shadow, and there is no stay.
Revised Standard Version
For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as all our fathers were; our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no abiding.
Young's Literal Translation
for sojourners we [are] before Thee, and settlers, like all our fathers; as a shadow [are] our days on the land, and there is none abiding.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"For we are sojourners before You, and tenants, as all our fathers were; our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no hope.

Contextual Overview

10 Then David praised the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly: "O Lord , the God of our ancestor Israel, may you be praised forever and ever! 11 Yours, O Lord , is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty. Everything in the heavens and on earth is yours, O Lord , and this is your kingdom. We adore you as the one who is over all things. 12 Wealth and honor come from you alone, for you rule over everything. Power and might are in your hand, and at your discretion people are made great and given strength. 13 "O our God, we thank you and praise your glorious name! 14 But who am I, and who are my people, that we could give anything to you? Everything we have has come from you, and we give you only what you first gave us! 15 We are here for only a moment, visitors and strangers in the land as our ancestors were before us. Our days on earth are like a passing shadow, gone so soon without a trace. 16 "O Lord our God, even this material we have gathered to build a Temple to honor your holy name comes from you! It all belongs to you! 17 I know, my God, that you examine our hearts and rejoice when you find integrity there. You know I have done all this with good motives, and I have watched your people offer their gifts willingly and joyously. 18 "O Lord , the God of our ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, make your people always want to obey you. See to it that their love for you never changes. 19 Give my son Solomon the wholehearted desire to obey all your commands, laws, and decrees, and to do everything necessary to build this Temple, for which I have made these preparations."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

For we: Genesis 47:9, Psalms 39:12, Psalms 119:19, Hebrews 11:13-16, 1 Peter 2:11

our days: Job 14:2, Psalms 90:9, Psalms 102:11, Psalms 144:4, Ecclesiastes 6:12, Isaiah 40:6-8, James 4:14

abiding: Heb. expectation

Reciprocal: Genesis 21:34 - General Genesis 23:4 - stranger Exodus 2:22 - for he said Leviticus 25:23 - for ye are 1 Chronicles 17:11 - when thy 2 Chronicles 6:10 - I am risen Job 8:9 - we are but Psalms 109:23 - gone 2 Corinthians 5:6 - whilst Ephesians 3:8 - is this 1 Peter 1:17 - pass

Cross-References

Genesis 30:28
Tell me how much I owe you. Whatever it is, I'll pay it."
Genesis 31:7
but he has cheated me, changing my wages ten times. But God has not allowed him to do me any harm.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers,.... For though they were in possession of the land of Canaan, yet they held it not in their own right, but as the Lord's,

who said, the land is mine, Leviticus 25:23, they were but tenants in it, and were not to abide long here; they belonged to another city and country; the consideration of which might tend to set them loose to worldly things, and the more easily to part with them for the service of God, and the honour of his name:

our days on the earth are as a shadow; man's life is expressed by days, not months and years, being so short; and by days on earth, in distinction from the days of heaven, or eternity; and these said to be as a shadow, of a short continuance, empty, mutable, and uncertain, dark and obscure, quickly gone, like the shadow of the sun; and not only like that, or of a mountain, tree or wall; but, as the Targum, of a bird that is flying, which passes away at once:

and [there is] none abiding; not long, much less always, being but sojourners as before; so Cato in Cicero p is represented as saying,

"I depart out of this life as from an inn, and not an house; for nature has given us an inn to sojourn, not a place to dwell in:''

or "there is no hope or expectation" q; of living long, of recalling time, and of avoiding death.

p De Senectute, c. 23. q אין מקוה "non est expectatio sive spes", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, Michaelis.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Chronicles 29:15. For we are strangers — We have here neither right nor property.

And sojourners — Lodging as it were for a night, in the mansion of another.

As were all our fathers — These were, as we are supported by thy bounty, and tenants at will to thee.

Our days on the earth are as a shadow] They are continually declining, fading, and passing away. This is the place of our sojourning, and here we have no substantial, permanent residence.

There is none abiding. — However we may wish to settle and remain in this state of things, it is impossible, because every earthly form is passing swiftly away, all is in a state of revolution and decay, and there is no abiding, מקוה mikveh, no expectation, that we shall be exempt from those changes and chances to which our fathers were subjected. "As the shadow of a bird flying in the air [ avir] of heaven, such are our days upon the earth; nor is there any hope to any son of man that he shall live for ever." - Targum.


 
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