Psalm 144:4

4 Humankind is like a breath, his days like a passing shadow.

Psalm 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.

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FOOTNOTES:

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

Psalm 144:4 In-Context

2 my loyal love and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, and [one] in whom I take refuge, the one who subdues peoples under me.

3 O Yahweh, what [is] humankind that you take knowledge of him, [or the] son of man that you take thought of him?

4 Humankind is like a breath, his days like a passing shadow.

5 O Yahweh, bow the heavens and come down; touch the mountains so that they smoke.

6 Flash forth lightning and scatter them; dispatch your arrows and rout them.