Psalm 102:7

7 I lie awake; I have become like a bird alone on a roof.

Psalm 102:7 in Other Translations

7 I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top.

7 I lie awake; I am like a lonely sparrow on the housetop.

7 I lie awake, lonely as a solitary bird on the roof.

7 Insomniac, I twitter away, mournful as a sparrow in the gutter.

7 I watch, and am become like a sparrow That is alone upon the house-top.

7 I lie awake. I am like a lonely bird on a rooftop.

7 I stay awake; I am like a solitary bird on a roof.

7 I can't sleep. I've become like a bird alone on a roof.

Psalm 102:7 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 102:7

I watch
Night after night, and take no sleep; cannot get any by reason of thoughtfulness, care, and trouble:

and am as a sparrow alone upon the housetop;
or, "as a bird" ^F15; for there is no necessity of limiting it to a sparrow, to which the account does not seem so well to agree; for sparrows will not only perch on housetops and solitary places, but will make their nests in dwelling houses, and in places of public resort, as temples; hence David speaks of the sparrow finding an house near the altars of God, ( Psalms 84:3 ) and Herodotus ^F16 makes mention of sparrows and other birds making their nests in the temple at Branchides; which may serve to illustrate the text last mentioned: wherefore this may be understood of any solitary bird, and especially of the owl ^F17; the Jews had flat roofs upon their houses, and here birds of solitude would come and sit alone in the night season, to which the psalmist likens himself; being either forsaken by his friends and acquaintance; or, being in melancholy circumstances, he chose to be alone, mourning over his sorrowful state and condition.

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FOOTNOTES:

F15 (rwpuk) "sicut avis", Gejerus, Schmidt.
F16 Clio, sive, l. 1. c. 159.
F17 "--------tectoque prophanus Incubuit bubo" Ovid. Metamorph. l. 6. Fab. 8. "E tectis strix" Tibullus, l. 1. Eleg. 5. v. 52.

Psalm 102:7 In-Context

5 In my distress I groan aloud and am reduced to skin and bones.

6 I am like a desert owl, like an owl among the ruins.

7 I lie awake; I have become like a bird alone on a roof.

8 All day long my enemies taunt me; those who rail against me use my name as a curse.

9 For I eat ashes as my food and mingle my drink with tears

Cross References

• 1. Psalms 77:4
• 2. Psalms 38:11