Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.

PSALMS 39:5KJV
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Psalms 39:5 (KJV)

What does Psalms 39:5 mean?

Psalms 39:5 describes a person speaking to God about the shortness and fragility of human life. The speaker sees even someone in the strongest condition as unable to escape the limits of a brief life.

A handbreadth was a small measure, about the width of a hand. The speaker uses that image to describe his allotted days, then widens his thought from his own life to “every man.” The comparison “before thee” places his lifetime alongside God’s enduring existence.

The Hebrew behind Psalms 39:5

  • “age” — חֶלֶד (ḥeled): This word can refer to a lifetime or the span of life. Here it concerns the speaker’s whole earthly duration, not simply how old he is at the moment.
  • “vanity” — הֶבֶל (hevel): The word literally refers to a breath or vapor. It gives the statement a picture of something fleeting, rather than simply something worthless.
  • “Selah” — סֶלָה (selah): This is a term found in psalms, often understood as a musical or reading instruction. Its exact function is uncertain.

Why Psalms 39:5 matters

  • The speaker addresses God directly, saying “thou hast made my days.” The observation about life’s limits is part of a prayer, not a detached comment.
  • The phrase “at his best state” makes the statement more striking. Even a person who seems secure and vigorous shares the condition the speaker describes.
  • The verse follows the request in verse 4 to know “the measure of my days.” It answers that concern with the image of a handbreadth and extends the thought to everyone.

Where else these words appear

“handbreadth” Hebrew H2947 · used in 4 verses

  • 1 Kings 7:9 All these were of costly stones, according to the measures of hewed stones, sawed with saws, within and without, even from the foundation unto the coping, and so on the outside toward the great court.
  • 1 Kings 7:26 And it was an hand breadth thick, and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies: it contained two thousand baths.
  • 2 Chronicles 4:5 And the thickness of it was an handbreadth, and the brim of it like the work of the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies; and it received and held three thousand baths.

“age” Hebrew H2465 · used in 5 verses

  • Job 11:17 And thine age shall be clearer than the noonday; thou shalt shine forth, thou shalt be as the morning.
  • Psalms 17:14 From men which are thy hand, O LORD, from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure: they are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes.
  • Psalms 49:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah. Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world:

“every” Hebrew H3605 · used in 24 verses

  • Genesis 3:17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
  • Exodus 12:6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.
  • Deuteronomy 4:23 Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee.

“vanity” Hebrew H1892 · used in 64 verses

  • Deuteronomy 32:21 They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
  • Ecclesiastes 2:1 I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity.
  • Ecclesiastes 7:15 All things have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his wickedness.