Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 146:4

"His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; In that very day his thoughts perish." — Psalms 146:4 (ASV)

His breath goes forth - He dies like other people, no matter how exalted he is. See the notes at (Isaiah 2:22).

He returns to his earth - See the notes at (Psalms 90:3). The earth - the dust - is “his”:

1. It is his, as that from which he was made: he turns back to what he was (Genesis 3:19): dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
2. The earth - the dust - the grave is his, as it is his home - the place where he will abide.
3. It is his, as it is the only property that will ultimately be his. All that a man - a prince, a nobleman, a monarch, a millionaire - will soon have will be his grave - his few feet of earth. That will be his by right of possession, by the fact that, for the time being, he will occupy it, and not another man. But that, too, may soon become another man’s grave, so that even there he is a tenant only for a time; he has no permanent possession even of a grave. How poor is the richest man!

In that very day - The very day - the moment - that he dies.

His thoughts perish - His purposes; his schemes; his plans; his purposes of conquest and ambition; his schemes for becoming rich or great; his plans of building a house, and laying out his grounds, and enjoying life; his design of making a book, or taking a journey, or giving himself to ease and pleasure (Luke 12:19–20): and I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry; but God said unto him, Thou fool! this night thy soul shall be required of time. Such are all the purposes of men!