Psalms 41:3

3 sitivit anima mea ad Deum *fortem; vivum quando veniam et parebo ante faciem Dei

Psalms 41:3 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 41:3

The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing
When on a sick bed, or a death bed, where he lies languishing, and ready to expire; when his natural strength, spirits, and heart fail him, then the Lord strengthens him with strength in his soul; and is the strength of his heart, and his portion for ever. The Targum is,

``the Word of the Lord shall help him in his life, and shall appear to him on the bed of his illness, to quicken him;''

thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness;
or "all his bed thou hast turned" or "wilt turn in his sickness" F20; meaning not the recovery of him from a bed of sickness to a state of health, which is the sense given by many; much less a turning him from a state of ease and rest into trouble and distress; but making him easy and comfortable on a bed of sickness; which, in a literal sense, is done when a sick person's bed is turned or made, or he is turned upon it from side to side; so the Lord, by the comforts of his Spirit, makes a sick and death bed easy to them that believe in Christ, and often puts that triumphant song into their mouths in their dying moments, "O death! where is that sting?" &c. ( 1 Corinthians 15:55 ) ; and this is the peaceful end and blissful state of such who wisely consider Christ and believe in him; low estate, through the sins of his the insults of his enemies, and the treachery of one of his disciples, is described in the following verses.


FOOTNOTES:

F20 (tkph) "versasti", Pagninus, Montanus; "vertisti", Vatablus; "ita vertes", Michaelis; so Ainsworth; (demnia oi meteyhken) , Apollinarius.

Psalms 41:3 In-Context

1 in finem in intellectum filiis Core
2 quemadmodum desiderat cervus ad fontes aquarum ita desiderat anima mea ad te Deus
3 sitivit anima mea ad Deum *fortem; vivum quando veniam et parebo ante faciem Dei
4 fuerunt mihi lacrimae meae panis die ac nocte dum dicitur mihi cotidie ubi est Deus tuus
5 haec recordatus sum et effudi in me animam meam quoniam transibo in loco tabernaculi admirabilis usque ad domum Dei in voce exultationis et confessionis sonus epulantis
The Latin Vulgate is in the public domain.