Psalm 102:3

3 I'm wasting away to nothing, I'm burning up with fever.

Psalm 102:3 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 102:3

For my days are consumed like smoke
Which suddenly rises up, is easily dissipated, and quickly disappears; so sudden, short, and transient, are the days of man's life; see ( James 4:14 ) or "in smoke" ^F3, as the Syriac version; his days were spent in great obscurity, in the darkness of affliction, temptation, and desertion; and in so much vexation, trouble, and uneasiness, as if he had lived in smoke all his time: and

my bones are burnt as an hearth;
on which fire is continually made for the preparation of food, and other uses: or as a "trivet", or "gridiron": so the Targum: or as a frying pan; so the Arabic version: the meaning is, that, through trouble and grief, his bones, the strongest parts of his body, the props and supports of it, were so weakened and enfeebled, the strength of them so exhausted, that they were as if they had been parched and burnt up, as the hearth by fire; see ( Proverbs 17:22 ) ( Psalms 22:15 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F3 (Nveb) "in fumo", Montanus.

Psalm 102:3 In-Context

1 God, listen! Listen to my prayer, listen to the pain in my cries.

2 Don't turn your back on me just when I need you so desperately. Pay attention! This is a cry for help! And hurry - this can't wait!

3 I'm wasting away to nothing, I'm burning up with fever.

4 I'm a ghost of my former self, half-consumed already by terminal illness.

5 My jaws ache from gritting my teeth; I'm nothing but skin and bones.