For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.
Parallel translations
- WEB For we are strangers before you, and foreigners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is no remaining.
- BSB For we are foreigners and strangers in Your presence, as were all our forefathers. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope.
- NKJV For we are aliens and pilgrims before You, As were all our fathers; Our days on earth are as a shadow, And without hope.
- NASB For we are strangers before You, and temporary residents, as all our fathers were; our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no hope.
- NLT 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.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
David acknowledges that the people are strangers and sojourners before God, their days on earth fleeting like a passing shadow.
Overview
Echoing the patriarchs (Genesis 23:4) and the Psalms, David confesses the transience of human life and Israel's pilgrim status before the eternal God. This sober awareness fuels generosity rather than hoarding, since earthly possessions cannot be kept. The New Testament takes up this theme, calling believers 'strangers and exiles' who seek a lasting city and lay up treasure in heaven (Hebrews 11:13-16; 1 Peter 2:11).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Ps 102:11My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass.
- Lev 25:23The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.
- Ps 144:4Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away.
- Jas 4:14Whereas 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.
- Job 14:2He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.
- Ps 39:12Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.
- Heb 11:13–16These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
- Ps 90:9For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told.
- Ps 119:19I am a stranger in the earth: hide not thy commandments from me.
- Isa 40:6–8The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:
- Gen 47:9And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.
- Eccl 6:12For who knoweth what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?
- 1 Pet 2:11Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The genealogies and the everlasting covenant with David trace the single thread of promise running through the generations straight to the Christ in whom the line reaches its goal.
How 1 Chronicles 29:15 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.