Behold, you have made my days as a handbreadth; and my age is as nothing before you: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.
All Commentaries on Psalms 39:5 Go To Psalms 39
George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
Measurable. Hebrew, "of a hand's breadth. "(Haydock)
Symmachus, "a spithame, or twelve fingers' breadth "perhaps in allusion to the Greek proverb, a "spithame of life "which denotes one very short. (Drusius)
The Greek copies vary: some read, (Calmet) with the Vatican palaias, "ancient "and others of the palestra with the Alexandrian palaistas, or "contentious. "I am obliged always to wrestle with my adversaries. (Grotius)
My days are short, and spent in conflicts. (Haydock)
St. Chrysostom, St. Ambrose, mention both. The former word is adopted by the Arabic, Ethiopic; but the Hebrew has tephachoth, "of a palm "or four fingers' breadth; (Calmet) and St. Jerome breves, "short. "(Haydock)
Substance. St. Jerome, "life. "Hebrew, "age. "
Living. Hebrew, "standing "how well soever he may seem to be established. Protestants, "at his best estate, is altogether vanity. Selah. "(Haydock)
The wisest of men confirms this at large, Ecclesiastes i. 1. (Calmet) (James iv. 14.)
"What is this long while which has an end? "(Cicero, pro. Marcel.) (Menochius)
