Handbreadth. — Better, some spans long. The plural without the article having this indefinite sense.
Mine age. — Literally, duration. (See Psalms 17:14.) The LXX. and Vulg. have “substance.”
Before thee. — Since in God’s sight “one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” “If nature is below any perception of time, God, at the other extremity of being, is above it. God includes time without being affected by it, and time includes nature, which is unaware of it. He too completely transcends it, his works are too profoundly subject to it, to be otherwise than indifferent to its lapse. But we stand at an intermediate point, and bear affinity with both extremes” (J. Martineau, Hours of Thought).
Verily every man ... — Better, nothing but breath is every man at his best. (Literally, though standing firm.) Comp.
“Reason thus with life —
If I do lose thee, I do lose a thing
That none but fools would keep; a breath thou art.
SHAKESPEARE: Measure for Measure.