Psalm 78:39
New International Version
He remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return.

New Living Translation
For he remembered that they were merely mortal, gone like a breath of wind that never returns.

English Standard Version
He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes and comes not again.

Berean Standard Bible
He remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return.

King James Bible
For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.

New King James Version
For He remembered that they were but flesh, A breath that passes away and does not come again.

New American Standard Bible
So He remembered that they were only flesh, A wind that passes and does not return.

NASB 1995
Thus He remembered that they were but flesh, A wind that passes and does not return.

NASB 1977
Thus He remembered that they were but flesh, A wind that passes and does not return.

Legacy Standard Bible
Thus He remembered that they were but flesh, A wind that goes and does not return.

Amplified Bible
For He [graciously] remembered that they were mere [human] flesh, A wind that goes and does not return.

Christian Standard Bible
He remembered that they were only flesh, a wind that passes and does not return.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
He remembered that they were only flesh, a wind that passes and does not return.

American Standard Version
And he remembered that they were but flesh, A wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
He remembered that they were flesh, a wind that goes and does not return.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And he remembered that they are flesh; a wind that passes away, and returns not.

Contemporary English Version
God remembered that they were made of flesh and were like a wind that blows once and then dies down.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And he remembered that they are flesh: a wind that goeth and returneth not.

English Revised Version
And he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
He remembered that they were only flesh and blood, a breeze that blows and does not return.

Good News Translation
He remembered that they were only mortal beings, like a wind that blows by and is gone.

International Standard Version
For he remembered that they were only flesh, a passing wind that doesn't return.

JPS Tanakh 1917
So He remembered that they were but flesh, A wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.

Literal Standard Version
And He remembers that they [are] flesh, | A wind going on—and it does not return.

Majority Standard Bible
He remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return.

New American Bible
He remembered that they were flesh, a breath that passes on and does not return.

NET Bible
He remembered that they were made of flesh, and were like a wind that blows past and does not return.

New Revised Standard Version
He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes and does not come again.

New Heart English Bible
He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes away, and doesn't come again.

Webster's Bible Translation
For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.

World English Bible
He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes away, and doesn’t come again.

Young's Literal Translation
And He remembereth that they are flesh, A wind going on -- and it returneth not.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
I Will Open My Mouth in Parables
38And yet He was compassionate; He forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them. He often restrained His anger and did not unleash His full wrath. 39He remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return. 40How often they disobeyed Him in the wilderness and grieved Him in the desert!…

Cross References
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.

Genesis 6:3
So the LORD said, "My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days shall be 120 years."

Job 7:7
Remember that my life is but a breath. My eyes will never again see happiness.

Job 7:16
I loathe my life! I would not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.

Job 10:9
Please remember that You molded me like clay. Would You now return me to dust?

Psalm 39:4
"Show me, O LORD, my end and the measure of my days. Let me know how fleeting my life is.

Psalm 90:10
The length of our days is seventy years--or eighty if we are strong--yet their pride is but labor and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.


Treasury of Scripture

For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passes away, and comes not again.

for he

Psalm 103:14-16
For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust…

Genesis 6:3
And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

John 3:6
That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

a wind.

Job 7:7,16
O remember that my life is wind: mine eye shall no more see good…

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 vanisheth away.

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Psalm 78
1. An exhortation both to learn and to preach, the law of God
9. The story of God's wrath against the incredulous and disobedient
67. The Israelites being rejected, God chose Judah, Zion, and David.














(39) "And what's a life? A blast sustained with clothing:

Maintained with food, retained with vile self-loathing;

Then, weary of itself, away to nothing."--

QUARLES: Emblcms.

Verse 39. - For he remembered that they were but flesh (comp. Genesis 6:3). Flesh is weak, erring, frail - "in us, that is, in our flesh, dwelleth no good thing" (Romans 7:17) - God, therefore, who had made them "flesh," had compassion on their weakness. A wind that passeth away, and cometh not again (comp. Job 7:7). Man is a mere passing breath - as light, as fleeting, as transitory - "a vapour that appeareth for a little while, and then vanisheth away" (James 4:14).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
He remembered
וַ֭יִּזְכֹּר (way·yiz·kōr)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 2142: To mark, to remember, to mention, to be male

that
כִּי־ (kî-)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

they
הֵ֑מָּה (hêm·māh)
Pronoun - third person masculine plural
Strong's 1992: They

were but flesh,
בָשָׂ֣ר (ḇā·śār)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 1320: Flesh, body, person, the pudenda of a, man

a passing
ה֝וֹלֵ֗ךְ (hō·w·lêḵ)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 1980: To go, come, walk

breeze
ר֥וּחַ (rū·aḥ)
Noun - common singular
Strong's 7307: Wind, breath, exhalation, life, anger, unsubstantiality, a region of the sky, spirit

that does not
וְלֹ֣א (wə·lō)
Conjunctive waw | Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

return.
יָשֽׁוּב׃ (yā·šūḇ)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 7725: To turn back, in, to retreat, again


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OT Poetry: Psalm 78:39 He remembered that they were but flesh (Psalm Ps Psa.)
Psalm 78:38
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