Discovery BoxPsalms 102:3-5 
Context102:3 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
Psalms 102:9
Context102:9 For I eat ashes as if they were bread, 7
and mix my drink with my tears, 8
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.
7 sn Mourners would sometimes put ashes on their head or roll in ashes as a sign of mourning (see 2 Sam 13:19; Job 2:8; Isa 58:5).
8 tn Heb “weeping.”
