Psalms 144:4

4 They are like a breath; their days are like a fleeting shadow.

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Psalms 144:4 in Other Translations

KJV

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

ESV

4 Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.

NLT

4 For they are like a breath of air; their days are like a passing shadow.

MSG

4 All we are is a puff of air; we're like shadows in a campfire.

CSB

4 Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.

Psalms 144:4 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 144:4

Man is like to vanity
Is vanity itself, in every age, state, and condition; yea, in his best estate, ( Psalms 39:5 ) ; or, "to the breath" ^F8 of the mouth, as Kimchi; which is gone as soon as seen almost: or, to a vapour ^F9; to which the life of man is compared, ( James 4:14 ) ; his days [are] as a shadow that passeth away;
as the former denotes the frailty and mortality of man, this the shortness of his duration; his days fleeing away, and of no more continuance than the shadow cast by the sun, which presently declines and is gone.

FOOTNOTES:

F8 (lbhl) "halitui", Muis; so Kimchi.
F9 "Vapori", Cocceius; so the Syriac and Arabic versions

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Psalms 144:4 In-Context

2 He is my loving God and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me.

3 LORD, what are human beings that you care for them, mere mortals that you think of them?

4 They are like a breath; their days are like a fleeting shadow.

5 Part your heavens, LORD, and come down; touch the mountains, so that they smoke.

6 Send forth lightning and scatter the enemy; shoot your arrows and rout them.

Cross References 2

1. S Job 7:7; Job 27:3; Isaiah 2:22
2. S 1 Chronicles 29:15; S Job 14:2; S James 4:14; Psalms 39:11; Psalms 102:11