Psalm 39:5-6
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
II
5 Lord, let me know my end, the number of my days,
that I may learn how frail I am.
6 To be sure, you establish the expanse of my days;
indeed, my life is as nothing before you.
Every man is but a breath.(A)
Selah
Psalm 62:10
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
III
10 Mortals are a mere breath,
the sons of man but an illusion;(A)
On a balance they rise;[a]
together they weigh nothing.
Footnotes
- 62:10 On a balance they rise: precious objects were weighed by balancing two pans suspended from a beam. The lighter pan rises.
Psalm 90:9-10
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
9 Our life ebbs away under your wrath;(A)
our years end like a sigh.
10 Seventy is the sum of our years,
or eighty, if we are strong;
Most of them are toil and sorrow;
they pass quickly, and we are gone.
Psalm 144:4
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Job 7:6
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
6 My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle;
they come to an end without hope.
Job 7:16
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
16 I waste away: I will not live forever;(A)
let me alone, for my days are but a breath.
Job 14:1
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 14
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 14:1 The sorrowful lament of Job is that God should relent in view of the limited life of human beings. When compared to plant life, which dies but can revive, the death of human beings is final. Job’s wild and “unthinkable” wish in vv. 13–17 is a bold stroke of imagination and desire: if only in Sheol he were protected till God would remember him! Were he to live again (v. 14), things would be different, but alas, God destroys “the hope of mortals” (v. 19).
Job 14:5
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
5 Since his days are determined—
you know the number of his months;
you have fixed the limit which he cannot pass—
Ecclesiastes 6:12
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
12 (A)For who knows what is good for mortals in life, the limited days of their vain life, spent like a shadow? Because who can tell them what will come afterward under the sun?(B)
Read full chapter
Wisdom 2:5
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
5 For our lifetime is the passing of a shadow;
and our dying cannot be deferred
because it is fixed with a seal; and no one returns.(A)
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.