Psalm 73:20

20 Como un sueño del que despierta, oh Señor, cuando te levantes, despreciarás su apariencia.

Psalm 73:20 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 73:20

As a dream when one awaketh
So will be all the temporal felicity of wicked men, all an illusion, all a dream; when they lift up their eyes in hell, and awake in the resurrection, they will find themselves destitute of all their riches and honours, and it will be as if they had only dreamed of them, and never enjoyed them; see ( Job 20:6-8 ) ( Isaiah 29:8 ) so, "O Lord, when thou awakest"; to judgment, to take vengeance on wicked men, and vindicate his own people; and who seems sometimes to be as it were asleep, and to take no notice of things, when the judgment of the ungodly, and their damnation, seem to slumber, though it does not; see ( Psalms 7:6 ) ( 2 Peter 2:3 ) or when he awakes the dead at the time of the resurrection. Death is often compared to sleep in Scripture, and the resurrection to an awaking out of it, which is the Lord's work, ( Isaiah 26:19 ) ( Daniel 12:2 ) , and so the Targum,

``O Lord, when thou shalt raise them from their graves:''

thou shalt despise their image;
the image of the earthly man, of sin and of Satan, which is upon both their souls and bodies; which will both be destroyed in hell: or their riches and honour, the vain show in which they have walked, their outward pomp and splendour; which was only a show, an outward appearance, and no solidity and substance; and which will not be esteemed in the great day of account, but despised; see ( Job 36:18 Job 36:19 ) , the wicked will awake, and arise to everlasting shame and contempt, ( Daniel 12:2 ) .

Psalm 73:20 In-Context

18 Ciertamente tú los pones en lugares resbaladizos; los arrojas a la destrucción.

19 ¡Cómo son destruidos en un momento! Son totalmente consumidos por terrores repentinos.

20 Como un sueño del que despierta, oh Señor, cuando te levantes, despreciarás su apariencia.

21 Cuando mi corazón se llenó de amargura, y en mi interior sentía punzadas,

22 entonces era yo torpe y sin entendimiento; era como una bestia delante de ti.