Psalms 39:5

American Standard Version with Strong's Numbers

Behold, thou hast made my days [as] handbreadths; And my life-time is as nothing before thee: Surely every man at his best estate is altogether vanity. {H5542}

Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

הוֹדִ֘יעֵ֤נִי יְהוָ֨ה ׀ קִצִּ֗י וּמִדַּ֣ת יָמַ֣י מַה־הִ֑יא אֵ֝דְעָ֗ה מֶה־חָדֵ֥ל אָֽנִי׃

Transliteration

hôdîʿēnî YHWH qiṣṣî and-middat yāmay what-hîʾ ʾēdəʿāh what-ḥādēl ʾānî

Grammar Details

*hôdîʿēnî*: verb, hiphil imperative masculine singular with 1st person singular suffix - make me know
*YHWH*: proper noun - the LORD
*qiṣṣî*: noun, masculine singular with 1st person singular suffix - my end
*middat*: noun, feminine singular construct with prefixed conjunction 'wə' - and the measure of
*yāmay*: noun, masculine plural with 1st person singular suffix - my days
*hîʾ*: pronoun, 3rd person feminine singular with interrogative 'mah' - what is it
*ʾēdəʿāh*: verb, qal imperfect 1st person singular cohortative - let me know
*ḥādēl*: adjective with interrogative 'meh' - how transient/frail
*ʾānî*: pronoun, 1st person singular - I (am)

Word Meanings

*hôdîʿēnî*: cause me to know/make me know/inform me
*qiṣṣî*: my end/limit/boundary
*middat*: measure/extent/proportion
*yāmay*: my days/lifetime
*ʾēdəʿāh*: let me know/understand/perceive
*ḥādēl*: transient/frail/fleeting/ceasing

ℹ️

About this Translation

American Standard Version with Strong's Numbers

Formal EquivalenceSource: American Standard VersionBest for: Word studies and original-language research

🎯 Translation Approach

A highly literal, word-for-word translation (ASV, 1901) augmented with Strong's numbering to connect English words to underlying Hebrew and Greek terms for study.

Word-for-word

5/5

Readability

2/5

💎 Distinctive Features

Integrated Strong's numbering: Links English terms to underlying Hebrew and Greek words for deeper lexical study.
Formal equivalence: Prioritizes close alignment with source-language forms and structures.
Divine name rendering: Frequently renders the Tetragrammaton as Jehovah in the Old Testament, following ASV tradition.
Study-focused formatting: Optimized for reference and research rather than casual reading.

✅ Strengths

High fidelity to original languages
Includes Strong's numbers for precise word study
Consistent lexical choices aid exegesis
Stable, longstanding scholarly text

⚠️ Considerations

Archaic language reduces readability
Older textual basis compared to some modern translations
Strong's numbers are a concordance index, not full lexical definitions

👥 Who is this for?

Ideal for

Pastors and teachers
Seminary students
Serious Bible students
Readers conducting word studies
Those referencing Hebrew/Greek tools

Consider alternatives for

Casual readers
Children and early teens
ESL learners seeking simple English
Readers preferring contemporary language

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Additional Resources

Referenced Verses

Ps 62:9 : 9 Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: In the balances they will go up; They are together lighter than vanity.
Ps 89:47 : 47 Oh remember how short my time is: For what vanity hast thou created all the children of men!
Ps 144:4 : 4 Man is like to vanity: His days are as a shadow that passeth away.
Eccl 1:2 : 2 Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher; vanity of vanities, all is vanity.
Eccl 2:11 : 11 Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labor that I had labored to do; and, behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was no profit under the sun.
Isa 40:17 : 17 All the nations are as nothing before him; they are accounted by him as less than nothing, and vanity.
Jas 4:14 : 14 whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. {G1063} What is your life? For ye are a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
2 Pet 3:8 : 8 But {G0} forget {G5209} not this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
Ps 90:4-5 : 4 For a thousand years in thy sight Are but as yesterday when it is past, And as a watch in the night. 5 Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: In the morning they are like grass which groweth up.
Ps 90:9-9 : 9 For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: We bring our years to an end as a sigh. 10 The days of our years are threescore years and ten, Or even by reason of strength fourscore years; Yet is their pride but labor and sorrow; For it is soon gone, and we fly away.
Gen 47:9 : 9 And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty years: few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.
Job 7:6 : 6 My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, And are spent without hope.
Job 9:25-26 : 25 Now my days are swifter than a post: They flee away, they see no good, 26 They are passed away as the swift ships; As the eagle that swoopeth on the prey.
Job 14:1-2 : 1 Man, that is born of a woman, Is of few days, and full of trouble. 2 He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: He fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.
Ps 39:11 : 11 When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, Thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: Surely every man is vanity. Selah

Similar Verses (AI)

These verses are found using AI-powered semantic similarity based on meaning and context. Results may occasionally include unexpected connections.

Ps 39:4
85%
4Jehovah, make me to know mine end, And the measure of my days, what it is; Let me know how frail I am.
Ps 89:47-48
2 verses
81%
47Oh remember how short my time is: For what vanity hast thou created all the children of men!
48What man is he that shall live and not see death, That shall deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? {H5542}
Ps 144:3-4
2 verses
81%
3Jehovah, what is man, that thou takest knowledge of him? Or the son of man, that thou makest account of him?
4Man is like to vanity: His days are as a shadow that passeth away.
Ps 39:6-7
2 verses
79%
6[Surely every man] [walketh] [in a vain show;] [Surely they are disquieted] [in vain:] [He heapeth up] [riches], and knoweth not who shall gather them.
7And now, Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in thee.
Ps 39:10-11
2 verses
77%
10Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thy hand.
11When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, Thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: Surely every man is vanity. Selah
Job 10:5
77%
5Are thy days as the days of man, Or thy years as man's days,
Job 14:5
75%
5Seeing his days are determined, The number of his months is with thee, And thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;
Job 7:16-17
2 verses
74%
16I loathe [my life]; I would not live alway: Let me alone; for my days are vanity.
17What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him, And that thou shouldest set thy mind upon him,
Eccl 6:11
74%
11Seeing there are many things that increase vanity, what is man the better?
Ps 89:45
74%
45The days of his youth hast thou shortened: Thou hast covered him with shame. {H5542}
Ps 4:2
74%
2O ye sons of men, how long shall my glory be turned into dishonor? [How long] will ye love vanity, and seek after falsehood? {Selah}
Ps 62:9
74%
9Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: In the balances they will go up; They are together lighter than vanity.
Isa 40:17
74%
17All the nations are as nothing before him; they are accounted by him as less than nothing, and vanity.
Job 8:9
73%
9(For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, Because our days upon earth are a shadow);
Job 7:6
73%
6My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, And are spent without hope.
Ps 103:15
73%
15As for man, his days are as grass; As a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.
Ps 90:9-10
2 verses
73%
9For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: We bring our years to an end as a sigh.
10The days of our years are threescore years and ten, Or even by reason of strength fourscore years; Yet is their pride but labor and sorrow; For it is soon gone, and we fly away.
Ps 102:23-24
2 verses
73%
23He weakened my strength in the way; He shortened my days.
24I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: Thy years are throughout all generations.
Isa 38:12
73%
12My dwelling is removed, and is carried away from me as a shepherd's tent: I have rolled up, like a weaver, my life; he will cut me off from the loom: From day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.
Ps 102:11
73%
11My days are like a shadow that declineth; And I am withered like grass.
1 Chr 29:15
73%
15For 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.
Ps 31:10
73%
10For my life is spent with sorrow, And my years with sighing: My strength faileth because of mine iniquity, And my bones are wasted away.
Job 17:11
72%
11My days are past, my purposes are broken off, Even the thoughts of my heart.
Isa 2:22
72%
22Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for wherein is he to be accounted of?
Job 10:8
72%
8Thy hands have framed me and fashioned me Together round about; yet thou dost destroy me.
Job 17:1
72%
1My spirit is consumed, my days are extinct, The grave is [ready] for me.
Job 10:20
72%
20Are not my days few? cease then, And let me alone, that I may take comfort a little,
Ps 146:4
72%
4His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; In that very day his thoughts perish.
Ps 90:3-4
2 verses
72%
3Thou turnest man to destruction, And sayest, Return, ye children of men.
4For a thousand years in thy sight Are but as yesterday when it is past, And as a watch in the night.
Ps 49:12
71%
12But man [being] in honor abideth not: He is like the beasts that perish.
Isa 38:10
71%
10I said, In the noontide of my days I shall go into the gates of Sheol: I am deprived of the residue of my years.
Job 9:25
71%
25Now my days are swifter than a post: They flee away, they see no good,
Eccl 11:8
71%
8Yea, if a man live many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember the days of darkness, for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity.
Eccl 7:15
71%
15All this have I seen in my days of vanity: there is a righteous man that perisheth in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth [his life] in his evil-doing.
Job 6:11
71%
11What is my strength, that I should wait? And what is mine end, that I should be {H5315} patient?
Job 14:1-2
2 verses
71%
1Man, that is born of a woman, Is of few days, and full of trouble.
2He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: He fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.
Job 27:12
71%
12Behold, all ye yourselves have seen it; Why then are ye become altogether vain?
Eccl 2:23
71%
23For all his days are [but] sorrows, and his travail is grief; yea, even in the night his heart taketh no rest. This also is vanity.
Eccl 1:14
71%
14I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.
Job 36:25
70%
25All men have looked thereon; Man beholdeth it afar off.
Eccl 12:8
70%
8Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher; all is vanity.