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The Shortness of Human Life

Lord, help me understand my end.
What is the limit of my days?
Let me know how fleeting I am.
See, you have cut short my days.[a]
My brief time before you is like nothing.
Indeed, every person, even at his best,
    is just a puff of air.[b] Interlude
A man flickers like a mirage.
He really has no more effect than a breeze.[c]
He piles things up, never knowing who will get them.

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 39:5 Literally made them a few handbreadths. A handbreadth is about three inches.
  2. Psalm 39:5 Or a vapor that vanishes
  3. Psalm 39:6 Or he is all worked up for nothing

“Show me, Lord, my life’s end
    and the number of my days;(A)
    let me know how fleeting(B) my life is.(C)
You have made my days(D) a mere handbreadth;
    the span of my years is as nothing before you.
Everyone is but a breath,(E)
    even those who seem secure.[a]

“Surely everyone goes around(F) like a mere phantom;(G)
    in vain they rush about,(H) heaping up wealth(I)
    without knowing whose it will finally be.(J)

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 39:5 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and at the end of verse 11.