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Psalms 102:3-5

Context

102:3 For my days go up in smoke, 1 

and my bones are charred like a fireplace. 2 

102:4 My heart is parched 3  and withered like grass,

for I am unable 4  to eat food. 5 

102:5 Because of the anxiety that makes me groan,

my bones protrude from my skin. 6 

1 tn Heb “for my days come to an end in smoke.”

2 tn The Hebrew noun מוֹ־קֵד (mo-qed, “fireplace”) occurs only here, in Isa 33:14 (where it refers to the fire itself), and perhaps in Lev 6:2.

3 tn Heb “struck, attacked.”

4 tn Heb “I forget.”

5 sn I am unable to eat food. During his time of mourning, the psalmist refrained from eating. In the following verse he describes metaphorically the physical effects of fasting.

6 tn Heb “from the sound of my groaning my bone[s] stick to my flesh.” The preposition at the beginning of the verse is causal; the phrase “sound of my groaning” is metonymic for the anxiety that causes the groaning. The point seems to be this: Anxiety (which causes the psalmist to groan) keeps him from eating (v. 4). This physical deprivation in turn makes him emaciated – he is turned to “skin and bones,” so to speak.



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