Psalms Chapter 39 verse 6 Holy Bible
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.
read chapter 39 in ASV
Truly, every man goes on his way like an image; he is troubled for no purpose: he makes a great store of wealth, and has no knowledge of who will get it.
read chapter 39 in BBE
Verily, man walketh in a vain show; verily they are disquieted in vain; he heapeth up [riches], and knoweth not who shall gather them.
read chapter 39 in DARBY
Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.
read chapter 39 in KJV
Behold, thou hast made my days as a hand-breadth; and my age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.
read chapter 39 in WBT
"Surely every man walks like a shadow. Surely they busy themselves in vain. He heaps up, and doesn't know who shall gather.
read chapter 39 in WEB
Only, in an image doth each walk habitually, Only, `in' vain, they are disquieted, He heapeth up and knoweth not who gathereth them.
read chapter 39 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 6. - Surely every man walketh in a vain show; literally, in an image, or "as an image;" i.e. with a mere semblance of life, but without the reality. Surely they are disquieted in vain. Their restless strivings are to no end, have no result. He heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them (comp. Job 27:16, 17; Ecclesiastes 2:18, 21).
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(6) Surely every man . . .--Better, only as a shadow walks a man. A very commonplace of poetry, from the ????? ???? ???????? of Pindar downwards. Thus Sophocles, "I see that we who live are nothing else but images and vain shadows;" Horace, "Pulvis et umbra sumus; Burke, "What shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue."The above rendering treats the preposition as the beth essentiae. If, however, we keep the Authorised Version, the thought is of man's life, not as a reality, but as a show, a picture, a phantasma (see margin), and himself only an imaginary actor. But this seems modern for the psalms. Shakespeare, no doubt with this passage in his mind, has combined it with the more obvious image:--"Out, out, brief candle,Life's but a walking shadow; a poor playerThat struts and frets his hour upon the stage,And then is heard no more."Surely they . . . --Better, Only for a breath they make a stir.He heapeth up.--The substantive is left by the Hebrew to be supplied. So we talk of the desire of "accumulating." (For the whole passage, comp. James 4:13-14; Luke 12:16-21.) . . .
