properly · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
short
חָ֑לֶדCha.led
H2465
life (as a fleeting portion of time) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
made
בָּרָ֥אתָba.Ra.ta
H1254
(absolutely) to create · verb, qal perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
men
בְּנֵיbe.nei-
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural construct
vain
שָּׁ֝֗וְאShav'
H7723
evil (as destructive) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Job 14:1 Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.
Job 7:7 O remember that my life is wind: mine eye shall no more see good.
Job 10:9 Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay; and wilt thou bring me into dust again?
Job 9:25-26 Now my days are swifter than a post: they flee away, they see no good.
Psalms 144:4 Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away.
James 4:14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vani…
Psalms 39:5-6 Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether v…
Psalms 119:84 How many are the days of thy servant? when wilt thou execute judgment on them that persecute me?
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 89:38–end
In these verses we have,
I. A very melancholy complaint of the present deplorable state of David's family, which the psalmist thinks hard to be reconciled to the covenant God made with David. "Thou saidst thou wouldst not take away thy lovingkindness, but thou hast cast off." Sometimes, it is no easy thing to reconcile God's providences with his promises, and yet we are sure they are reconcilable; for God's works fulfil his word and never contradict it. 1. David's house seemed to have lost its interest in God, which was the greatest strength and beauty of it. God had been pleased with his anointed, but now he was wroth with him (Psa 89:38), had entered into covenant with the family, but now,…
Remember how short my time is,.... In this world man's time here is fixed, and it is but a short time; his life is but a vapour, which appeareth for a little while; his days are as an hand's breadth; they pass away like a tale that is told; the common term of life is but threescore years and ten, and few arrive to that: to know and observe this is proper and useful; it may awaken a concern for a future state, excite to a vigorous discharge of duty, and animate to patience under afflictions: the clause in connection with the preceding verse seems to be a plea for mercy; that, since time was short, it might not be consumed in bearing the wrath of God; but be spent in peace and comfort, like th…
Psalm 89:46-48
46. How long, O Jehovah? wilt thou hide thyself for ever? shall thy fury burn like fire? 47. Remember of what age I am! [555] why shouldst thou have created all the sons of men in vain? [556] 48. What man shall live, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul [or life] from the hand of the grave? [557] Selah.
46. How long, O Jehovah? wilt thou hide thyself for ever? After having poured forth his complaints respecting the sad and calamitous condition of the Church, the Psalmist now turns himself to prayer. Whence it follows that the language of lamentation to which he had hitherto given utterance, although it emanated from carnal sense, was nevertheless conjoined with…
The Church Fathers
"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. For He made not all men for nought, nor can He who made them so despise His own creatures, as not to convert and purify them.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Ezrahite — A title given to Ethan (1 Kings 4:31; Ps. 89, title) and Heman (Ps. 88, title). They were both sons of Zerah (1 Chr. 2:6).
Hermon — A peak, the eastern prolongation of the Anti-Lebanon range, reaching to the height of about 9,200 feet above the Mediterranean. It marks the north boundary of Palestine (Deut. 3:8, 4:48; Josh. 11:3,…
Life · BREVITY AND UNCERTAINTY OF — BREVITY AND UNCERTAINTY OF
Life, Natural · Described as: Short — Described as: Short
Time · Shortness of man’s portion of — Shortness of man’s portion of
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
After this statement of the present condition of things the psalmist begins to pray for the removal of all that is thus contradictory to the promise. The plaintive question, Psa 89:47, with the exception of one word, is verbatim the same as Psa 79:5. The wrath to which quousque refers, makes itself to be felt, as the intensifying (vid., Psa 13:2) לנצח implies, in the intensity and duration of everlasting wrath. חלד is this temporal life which glides past secretly and unnoticed (Psa 17:14); and זכר־אני is not equivalent to זכרני (instead of which by way of emphasis only זכרני אני can be said), but אני מה־חלד stands for מה־חלד אני - according to the sense equivalent to אני מה־חדל, Psa 39:5, cf…
The psalmist wonders if he will live to see the end of the Lord’s anger. Our lifetimes are short, like a day in the Lord’s sight (90:4, 10).
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 89:47
Remember how short my time is: wherefore hast thou made all men in vain?
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…
