1 Chronicles 29:15
in 1 Chronicles 29For we are foreigners and strangers in Your presence, as were all our forefathers. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For 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.
KJV
For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.
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This verse in 1 Chronicles 29
Commentary
5 notes on this verseFor we are strangers - We have here neither right nor property. And sojourners - Lodging as it were for a night, in the mansion of another. As were all our fathers - These were, as we are supported by thy bounty, and tenants at will to thee. Our days on the earth are as a shadow - They are continually declining, fading, and passing away. This is the place of our sojourning, and here we have no substantial, permanent residence.
This site's exposition
But who am I
on 1 Chronicles 29:14-15
David's question turns the whole offering back to its source, of thine own have we given thee, so that even willing generosity is credited to God rather than to the givers. Verse 15 states the doctrine plainly, we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers, and Adam Clarke reads the shadow of that verse as the ordinary word for something continually declining and passing, not a poetic flourish. The assembly that has just poured out gold and silver by the thousand talents owns in the same breath that it possesses nothing of its own to give.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
) we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, poor despicable creatures. Angels in heaven are at home there; saints on earth are but strangers here: Our days on the earth are as a shadow.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Wherefore David blessed the Lord--This beautiful thanksgiving prayer was the effusion overflowing with gratitude and delight at seeing the warm and widespread interest that was now taken in forwarding the favorite project of his life.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
Now who am I and who are my people that we should gather up strength to donate that we exerted ourselves to donate so much with this donation, and it is not ours, but all is from You, and You imparted a little to us.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
13 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| גֵרִ֨ים | gerim | [are] sojourners | H1616 → | |
| אֲנַ֧חְנוּ | ʾanachnu | we | H587 → | 120 times |
| לְפָנֶ֛יךָ | lefaneikha | <to> before you | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| וְתוֹשָׁבִ֖ים | vetoshavim | and resident aliens | H8453 → | |
| כְּכָל־ | kekhol- | like all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| אֲבֹתֵ֑ינוּ | ʾavoteinu | ancestors our | H1 → | 1212 times |
| כַּצֵּ֧ל׀ | katzel | [are] like <the> shadow | H6738 → | |
| יָמֵ֛ינוּ | yameinu | days our | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| הָאָ֖רֶץ | haaretz | the earth | H776 → | 2504 times |
| וְאֵ֥ין | veein | and there not | H369 → | 789 times |
| מִקְוֶֽה׃ | mikveh | [is] hope | H4723 → |
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
גֵרִ֨ים[are] sojourners
gerimH1616 →
אֲנַ֧חְנוּwe
ʾanachnuH587 →120 times
לְפָנֶ֛יךָ<to> before you
lefaneikhaH6440 →2123 times
וְתוֹשָׁבִ֖יםand resident aliens
vetoshavimH8453 →
כְּכָל־like all
kekhol-H3605 →5413 times
אֲבֹתֵ֑ינוּancestors our
ʾavoteinuH1 →1212 times
כַּצֵּ֧ל׀[are] like <the> shadow
katzelH6738 →
יָמֵ֛ינוּdays our
yameinuH3117 →2304 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
הָאָ֖רֶץthe earth
haaretzH776 →2504 times
וְאֵ֥יןand there not
veeinH369 →789 times
מִקְוֶֽה׃[is] hope
mikvehH4723 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Job 14:2Like a flower, he comes forth, then withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.
it leads to
- 1 Peter 1:24
For, “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall,
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Job 8:9
For we were born yesterday and know nothing; our days on earth are but a shadow.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 40:6–8
A voice says, “Cry out!” And I asked, “What should I cry out?” “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field.
- Psalms 103:15–16
As for man, his days are like grass— he blooms like a flower of the field;
- James 4:14
You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
- 1 Peter 1:24
Through
James 4:14You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
it leads to
- Psalms 39:5
You, indeed, have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing before You. Truly each man at his best exists as but a breath. Selah
- 1 John 2:17
The world is passing away, along with its desires; but whoever does the will of God remains forever.
- Psalms 102:3
For my days vanish like smoke, and my bones burn like glowing embers.
- Psalms 39:5
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About 1 Chronicles
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.