Psalm 144:4
New Living Translation
4 For they are like a breath of air;
their days are like a passing shadow.
Psalm 102:11
New Living Translation
11 My life passes as swiftly as the evening shadows.
I am withering away like grass.
Psalm 109:23
New Living Translation
23 I am fading like a shadow at dusk;
I am brushed off like a locust.
Psalm 39:5-6
New Living Translation
5 You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand.
My entire lifetime is just a moment to you;
at best, each of us is but a breath.” Interlude
6 We are merely moving shadows,
and all our busy rushing ends in nothing.
We heap up wealth,
not knowing who will spend it.
Job 8:9
New Living Translation
9 For we were born but yesterday and know nothing.
Our days on earth are as fleeting as a shadow.
Ecclesiastes 12:8
New Living Translation
Concluding Thoughts about the Teacher
8 “Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless.”
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2 Samuel 14:14
New Living Translation
14 All of us must die eventually. Our lives are like water spilled out on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. But God does not just sweep life away; instead, he devises ways to bring us back when we have been separated from him.
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Ecclesiastes 8:13
New Living Translation
13 The wicked will not prosper, for they do not fear God. Their days will never grow long like the evening shadows.
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Ecclesiastes 1:14
New Living Translation
14 I observed everything going on under the sun, and really, it is all meaningless—like chasing the wind.
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Ecclesiastes 1:2
New Living Translation
Everything Is Meaningless
2 “Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless!”
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Psalm 103:15-16
New Living Translation
15 Our days on earth are like grass;
like wildflowers, we bloom and die.
16 The wind blows, and we are gone—
as though we had never been here.
Psalm 89:47
New Living Translation
47 Remember how short my life is,
how empty and futile this human existence!
Psalm 62:9
New Living Translation
9 Common people are as worthless as a puff of wind,
and the powerful are not what they appear to be.
If you weigh them on the scales,
together they are lighter than a breath of air.
Psalm 39:11
New Living Translation
11 When you discipline us for our sins,
you consume like a moth what is precious to us.
Each of us is but a breath. Interlude
Job 14:1-3
New Living Translation
14 “How frail is humanity!
How short is life, how full of trouble!
2 We blossom like a flower and then wither.
Like a passing shadow, we quickly disappear.
3 Must you keep an eye on such a frail creature
and demand an accounting from me?
1 Chronicles 29:15
New Living Translation
15 We are here for only a moment, visitors and strangers in the land as our ancestors were before us. Our days on earth are like a passing shadow, gone so soon without a trace.
Job 4:19
New Living Translation
19 how much less will he trust people made of clay!
They are made of dust, crushed as easily as a moth.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.