Salmos 39:5

La Biblia de las Americas

He aquí, tú has hecho mis días muy breves, y mi existencia es como nada delante de ti; ciertamente todo hombre, aun en la plenitud de su vigor, es sólo un soplo. (Selah )

Parallel Translations

La Biblia Reina-Valera
He aqu� diste � mis d�as t�rmino corto, Y mi edad es como nada delante de ti: Ciertamente es completa vanidad todo hombre que vive. (Selah.)

La Biblia Reina-Valera Gomez
He aqu� diste a mis d�as t�rmino corto, y mi edad es como nada delante de ti: Ciertamente el hombre, aun en su mejor estado, es completa vanidad. (Selah)

Sagradas Escrituras (1569)
He aqu� como a palmos diste a mis d�as, y mi edad es como nada delante de ti; ciertamente es completa vanidad todo hombre que vive. (Selah.)

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Behold: Psalms 90:4, Psalms 90:5, Psalms 90:9, Psalms 90:10, Genesis 47:9, Job 7:6, Job 9:25, Job 9:26, Job 14:1, Job 14:2, James 4:14

as nothing: Psalms 89:47, 2 Peter 3:8

verily: Psalms 39:11, Psalms 62:9, Psalms 144:4, Ecclesiastes 1:2, Ecclesiastes 2:11, Isaiah 40:17

at his best state: Heb. settled

Reciprocal: 2 Samuel 19:34 - How long have I to live Job 4:21 - excellency Job 6:11 - What Job 7:3 - months of Job 8:9 - we are but Job 10:20 - my days few Job 20:22 - the fulness Psalms 49:12 - in honour Psalms 102:11 - My days Psalms 119:84 - How Psalms 119:96 - I have seen Psalms 127:2 - vain Ecclesiastes 1:14 - General Ecclesiastes 3:19 - for Ecclesiastes 6:12 - the days of his vain life Ecclesiastes 8:13 - as a Ecclesiastes 9:9 - all the days of the life Ecclesiastes 11:10 - for Isaiah 40:30 - General

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Behold, thou hast made my days [as] an handbreadth,.... These words, with the following clause, are the psalmist's answer to his own inquiries; or rather a correction of his inquiry and impatience, showing how needless it was to ask such questions, and be impatient to die, when it was so clear and certain a case that life was so short; not a yard or ell (forty five inches), but an handbreadth, the breadth of four fingers; or at most a span of time was allowed to man, whose days are few, like the shadow that declineth, and the grass that withers; by which figurative expressions the brevity of human life is described, Psalms 102:11; and this is the measure made, cut out, and appointed by the Lord himself, who has determined the years, months, and days of man's life, Job 14:5;

and mine age [is] as nothing before thee; in the sight of God, or in comparison of his eternity; not so much as an handbreadth, or to be accounted as an inch, but nothing at, all; yea, less than nothing, and vanity; see Isaiah 40:17; that is, the age or life of man in this world, as the word w used signifies; for otherwise the age or life of man, in the world to come, is of an everlasting duration; but the years of this present life are threescore and ten; ordinarily speaking; an hundred and thirty are by Jacob reckoned but few; and even a thousand years with the Lord are but as one day, Psalms 90:4;

verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. As vanity may signify sin, emptiness, folly, falsehood, fickleness, and inconstancy; for man is a very sinful creature, empty of all that is good; foolish as to the knowledge of divine things; he is deceiving and deceived, his heart is deceitful and desperately wicked; and he is unstable in all his ways: he is "all vanity" x, as the words may be rendered; all that he has, or is, or is in him, is vanity; his body, in the health, beauty, and strength of it, is subject to change; and so are his mind, his memory, his judgment and affections, his purposes and promises; and so are his goods and estate, his riches and honours; yea, all the vanity that is in the creatures, that is, in the vegetable and sensitive creatures, yea, that is in the whole, world, is in him; who is a microcosm, a little world himself: and this is true of every man, even in his "best settled" y estate; when he stood the most firm, as the word used signifies; it is true of men of high and low degree, of the wise, knowing, and learned, as well as of the illiterate and ignorant, Psalms 62:9; even of those that are in the most prosperous circumstances, in the greatest ease and affluence,

Luke 12:16; David himself had an experience of it, 2 Samuel 7:1; yea, this is true of Adam in his best estate, in his estate of innocence; for he was even then subject to change, as the event has shown; and being in honour, he abode not long; and, though upright, became sinful, and came short of the glory of God: indeed, the spiritual estate of believers in Christ is so well settled as that it cannot be altered; nor is it subject to any vanity.

Selah. 2 Samuel 7:1- :.

w חלדי "vitale aevum meum", Cocceius; "my worldly time", Ainsworth. x כל הבל "universa, vel omnis vanitas", Pagninus, Montanus, Gejerus, Michaelis, Musculus, Cocceius; so Ainsworth. y נצב "stans", Pagninus, Montanus, Cocceius; "quamlibet firmus consistere videatur", Tigurine version, Vatablus; "though settled", Ainsworth; so Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth - literally, “Lo, handbreadths hast thou given my days.” The word rendered “handbreadth” means properly the spread hand; the palm; the hand when the four fingers are expanded. The word is then used to denote anything very short or brief. It is one of the smallest natural measures, as distinguished from the “foot” - that is, the length of the foot; and from the cubit - that is, the length of the arm to the elbow. It is the “shortness” of life, therefore, that is the subject of painful and complaining reflection here. Who has not been in a state of mind to sympathize with the feelings of the psalmist? Who is there that does not often wonder, when he thinks of what he could and would accomplish on earth if his life extended to one thousand years, and when he thinks of the great interests at stake in reference to another world which God has made dependent on so short a life? Who can at all times so calm down his feelings as to give utterance to no expressions of impatience that life is so soon to terminate? Who is there that reflects on the great interests at stake that has not asked the question why God has not given man more time to prepare for eternity?

And mine age - Or, my life. The word used here - חלד cheled - means properly “duration of life,” lifetime; and then, life itself; Job 11:17.

Is as nothing - That is, it is so short that it seems to be nothing at all.

Before thee - As over against thee; that is, in comparison with thee. Compare Isaiah 40:17, “All nations “before him” are as nothing;” that is, over against him, or in comparison with him. When the two are placed together, the one seems to be as nothing in the presence of the other. So the life of man, when placed by the side of the life of God, seems to be absolutely nothing.

Verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity - Margin, “settled.” The idea is, that every man is “constituted” vanity. Literally, “All vanity every man is constituted.” There seems to be nothing but vanity; and this is the result of a divine constitution or arrangement. The idea expressed in our common version, “at his best state,” however true in itself, is not in the original. The thoughts in the original are:

(a) that all people are vanity; that is, life is so short, and man accomplishes so little, that it seems to be perfect vanity; and

(b) that this is the result of the divine constitution under which man was made.

It was the fact that man has been “so made” which gave so much trouble to the mind of the psalmist.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Psalms 39:5. My days as a handbreadth — My life is but a span; σπιθαμητουβιου.

And mine age is as nothing — כאין keein, as if at were not before thee. All time is swallowed up in thy eternity.

Verily every man at his best state — כל אדם נצב col adam nitstab, "every man that exists, is vanity." All his projects, plans, schemes, &c., soon come to nothing. His body also moulders with the dust, and shortly passes both from the sight and remembrance of men.