# only the width of my hand

The writer speaks of his lifespan is if it could be measured by the width of his hand. Alternate translation: "only a very short time" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metaphor]])

# my lifetime is like nothing before you

This simile states that the length of the writer's life is so short that it does not exist. This is an exaggeration to stress how short it is. Alternate translation: "the length of my life is barely any time at all" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-simile]] and [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-hyperbole]])

# Surely every man is a single breath

Life is short, and the psalmist speaks of it here as if it were only as long as the time it takes for a person to breathe one breath. Alternate translation: "The time that humans live is as short as a single breath of a person" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metaphor]])