Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 39:6

"Surely every man walketh in a vain show; Surely they are disquieted in vain: He heapeth up [riches], and knoweth not who shall gather them." — Psalms 39:6 (ASV)

Surely every man ... —Better, only as a shadow walks a man. This is a very common theme in poetry, from the σκιᾶς ὄναρ ἄνθρωποι of Pindar onward. Thus Sophocles, “I see that we who live are nothing else but images and vain shadows;” Horace, “Pulvis et umbra sumus;” Burke, “What shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue.”

The above rendering treats the preposition as the beth essentiæ. If, however, we keep the Authorized Version, the thought is of man’s life, not as a reality, but as a show, a picture, a phantasma (see margin), and himself only an imaginary actor. But this seems modern for the psalms. Shakespeare, no doubt with this passage in his mind, has combined it with the more obvious image:

“Out, out, brief candle,
Life’s but a walking shadow; a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more.”

Surely they ... —Better, Only for a breath they make a stir.

He heapeth up. —The substantive is left by the Hebrew to be supplied. So we talk of the desire of “accumulating.” (For the whole passage, compare James 4:13-14; Luke 12:16–21.)