5
Look,הִנֵּהas handbreadthsטְפָחוֹתyou have madeנָתַתָּהmy days,יָמַיand my lifetimeוְחֶלְדִּיis as nothingכְאַיִןbefore you;נֶגְדֶּךָonlyאַךְa vaporכָּל הֶבֶלis everyכָּלhuman beingאָדָםstanding firm.נִצָּבSelah.סֶלָה
Psalms 39:5
Study it in the app“Look, as handbreadths you have made my days, and my lifetime is as nothing before you; only a vapor is every human being standing firm. Selah.”
With the Hebrew beneath
Psalms 39:5, word by word
- as handbreadthsטְפָחוֹתtefachot
handbreadth
The width of a hand.
Where else “tefachot” appears- you have madeנָתַתָּהnatata
make
To make someone something: "I have made you a father".
Where else “natata” appears- my daysיָמַyama
time
Literally "the days": a period, an age, or the span of someone's life.
Where else “yama” appears- and my lifetimeחֶלְדִּcheldi
lifetime
The time one is alive.
Where else “cheldi” appears- before youנֶגְדֶּnegde
in front of
In someone's presence, before his eyes.
Where else “negde” appears- a vaporהֶבֶלhevel
vapor
A breath that passes and does not last; that brief is everything.
Where else “hevel” appears- human beingאָדָםadam
human being
All humankind, men and women, as creatures God formed.
Where else “adam” appears- standing firmנִצָּבnitsav
stand
To remain upright in a place without moving.
Where else “nitsav” appears- Selahסֶלָהsela
Selah
Selah: a word found at the end of some stanzas of the psalms. It is probably a direction for the music or a pause; its exact sense is unknown, so it is left in Hebrew.
Where else “sela” appears
Translation note
“Handbreadths”: the width of a hand, a very short measure. “Vapor”: what is seen for a moment and vanishes; it is the word that runs through the book of Ecclesiastes.
The context
4“Make me know, YHWH, my end and the measure of my days, what it is; let me know how fleeting I am.
5 · This verse (above)
6Only as an image does a man walk about; only for vapor are they agitated; he heaps up and does not know who will gather it.