Psalms 89:47
in Psalms 89Remember the briefness of my lifespan! For what futility You have created all men!
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Oh remember how short my time is: For what vanity hast thou created all the children of men!
KJV
Remember how short my time is: wherefore hast thou made all men in vain?
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This verse in Psalms 89
Commentary
9 notes on this verseRemember how short my time is. If so brief, do not make it altogether bitter. If thine anger burn on it will outlast this mortal life, and then there will be no time for thy mercy to restore me. Some expositors ascribe these words, and all the preceding verses, to the state of the Lord Jesus in the days of his humiliation, and this gives an instructive meaning; but we prefer to continue our reference all through to the church, which is the seed of the Lord Jesus, even as the succeeding kings were the seed of David.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"O remember what my substance is" [Psalm 89:47]. That David, who was placed among the Jews in the flesh, in Christ in hope, speaks "Remember what is my substance." For not because the Jews fell away, did my substance fail: for from that people came the Virgin Mary, and from her the flesh of Christ; that Flesh sins not, but purifies sins; there, says David, is my substance. "O remember what my substance is." For the root has not entirely perished; the seed shall come to whom the promise was made, ordained by Angels in the hand of a Mediator. [Galatians 3:19] "For You have not made all the sons of men for nought" [Psalm 89:47]. Lo! All the sons of men have gone into vanity: yet You have not made them for nought. If then all went into vanity, whom You have not made for nought; have You not reserved some instrument to purify them from vanity? This which You have reserved to Yourself to cleanse men from vanity is Your Holy One, in Him is my substance: for from Him are all, whom You have not made for nought, purified from their own vanity. To them it is said, "O you sons of men, how long are you heavy in heart? Wherefore have ye such pleasure in vanity, and seek after leasing?" Perhaps they might become anxious, and turn from their vanity, and when they found themselves polluted with it, might seek for purification from it: then help them, make them secure. "Know this also, that the Lord has made wonderful His Holy One." He has made His Holy One to be admired: thence He has purified all from their vanity: there, says David, is my substance: O remember it! "For You have not made all the sons of men for nought." You have therefore reserved something to purify them: and who is He whom You have reserved? "What man is he that lives, and shall not see death?" This man then who shall live and not see death, shall purify them from nothingness. […]
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
): Remember how short my time is, how transitory I am (say some), therefore unable to bear the power of thy wrath, and therefore a proper object of thy pity.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
Didst thou raise us and him, settle the crown upon David's head by a solemn covenant, and vouchsafe so many and great promises and privileges, and all this but for a few years, that our crown and glory should be taken from us, within a little time after it was put upon our heads?
Remember how short my time is,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
These expostulations are excited in view of the identity of the prosperity of this kingdom with the welfare of all mankind (Ge 22:18; 11:1-10); for if such is the fate of this chosen royal line.
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
Remember how short my time is. If so brief, do not make it altogether bitter. If thine anger burn on it will outlast this mortal life, and then there will be no time for thy mercy to restore me. Some expositors ascribe these words, and all the preceding verses, to the state of the Lord Jesus in the days of his humiliation, and this gives an instructive meaning; but we prefer to continue our reference all through to the church, which is the seed of the Lord Jesus, even as the succeeding kings were the seed of David. We, having transgressed, are made to feel the rod, but we pray the Lord not to continue his stripes lest our whole life be passed in misery. Wherefore hast thou made all men in vain? If the Lord do not shine upon his work we live for nothing—we count it no longer life if his cause does not prosper. We live if the King lives, but not else. Everything is vanity if religion be vanity. If the kingdom of heaven should fail, everything is a failure. Creation is a blot, providence an error, and our own existence a bell, if the faithfulness of God can fail and his covenant of grace can be dissolved. If the gospel system can be disproved, nothing remains for us or any other of the sons of men, which can render existence worth the having.
How short my time is - If thou deliver not speedily, none of the present generations shall see thy salvation. Are all the remnants of our tribes created in vain? shall they never see happiness?
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Remember how short my time is - The word rendered “time” - חלד cheled - means duration; lifetime. Psa 39:5. Then it means life; time; age; the world. Literally, here, “Remember; I; what duration.” The meaning is plain. Bear in remembrance that my time must soon come to an end. Life is brief. In a short period the time will come for me to die; and if these promises are fulfilled to me, it must be done soon. Remember that these troubles and sorrows cannot continue for a much longer period without exhausting all my appointed time upon the earth. If God was ever to interpose and bless him, it must be done speedily, for he would soon pass away. The promised bestowment of favor must be conferred soon, or it could not be conferred at all. The psalmist prays that God would remember this. So it is proper for us to pray that God would bless us soon; that he would not withhold his grace now; that there may be no delay; that he would (we may say it with reverence) bear in remembrance that our life is very brief, and that if grace is to be bestowed in order to save us, or in order to make us useful, it must be bestowed soon. A young man may properly employ this prayer; how much more appropriately one who is rapidly approaching old age, and the end of life! Wherefore hast thou made all men in vain? - As thou dost seem to have done, since they accomplish so little in the world, and since so many appear wholly to miss the great purpose of life! Nothing, in certain moods of mind, will strike one more forcibly or more painfully than the thought that the mass of people seem to have been made in vain. Nothing is accomplished by them worthy of the powers with which they are endowed; nothing worthy of so long living for; nothing worthy of the efforts which they actually put forth. […]
The words behind it
11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| זְכָר־ | zekhor- | remember | H2142 → | 230 times |
| אֲנִ֥י | ʾani | I | H589 → | 874 times |
| מֶה־ | meh- | what? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| חָ֑לֶד | chaled | [is] lifespan | H2465 → | 5 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | concerning | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| מַה־ | maho- | what? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| שָּׁ֝֗וְא | shav' | emptiness | H7723 → | 53 times |
| בָּרָ֥אתָ | barata | have you created | H1254 → | 55 times |
| כָל־ | khol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| בְּנֵי־ | benei- | [the] children of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| אָדָֽם׃ | ʾadam | humankind | H120 → | 551 times |
זְכָר־remember
zekhor-H2142 →230 times
אֲנִ֥יI
ʾaniH589 →874 times
מֶה־what?
meh-H4100 →752 times
חָ֑לֶד[is] lifespan
chaledH2465 →5 times
עַל־concerning
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
מַה־what?
maho-H4100 →752 times
שָּׁ֝֗וְאemptiness
shav'H7723 →53 times
בָּרָ֥אתָhave you created
barataH1254 →55 times
כָל־all
khol-H3605 →5413 times
בְּנֵי־[the] children of
benei-H1121 →4930 times
אָדָֽם׃humankind
ʾadamH120 →551 times
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
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
- 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,
- 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.
- Job 7:6–7
My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle; they come to an end without hope.
- 1 Peter 1:24
Through
Job 14:1“Man, who is born of woman, is short of days and full of trouble.
it leads to
- Job 5:7
Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.
- Ecclesiastes 2:23
Indeed, all his days are filled with grief, and his task is sorrowful; even at night, his mind does not rest. This too is futile.
- Job 25:4
How then can a man be just before God? How can one born of woman be pure?
- Job 5:7
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Psalms
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 89; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 4; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.