Psalms 109:23

23 I fade away like an evening shadow; I am shaken off like a locust.

Psalms 109:23 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
23 I am gone like the shadow when it declineth: I am tossed up and down as the locust.
English Standard Version (ESV)
23 I am gone like a shadow at evening; I am shaken off like a locust.
New Living Translation (NLT)
23 I am fading like a shadow at dusk; I am brushed off like a locust.
The Message Bible (MSG)
23 I'm fading away to nothing, passing away, my youth gone, old before my time.
American Standard Version (ASV)
23 I am gone like the shadow when it declineth: I am tossed up and down as the locust.
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
23 I fade away like a lengthening shadow. I have been shaken off like a grasshopper.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
23 I fade away like a lengthening shadow; I am shaken off like a locust.
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
23 I fade away like an evening shadow. I'm like a locust that someone brushes off.

Psalms 109:23 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 109:23

I am gone like the shadow when it declineth
When the sun is setting, and the shadow is going off; man's life is often compared to a shadow, because fleeting, momentary, and soon gone, ( 1 Chronicles 29:15 ) ( Job 14:2 ) ( Psalms 102:11 ) and death is expressed by going the way of all flesh; and by going to the grave, the house for all living, a man's long home, ( Joshua 23:14 ) ( Job 30:23 ) and so is the death of Christ, ( Luke 22:22 ) , it may be rendered, "I am made to go" F8, denoting the violent death of Christ, who was cut off out of the land of the living, and whose life was taken away from the earth, ( Isaiah 53:8 ) .

I am tossed up and down as the locust;
or "shaken out" F9 by the wind, as the locust is by the east wind, and carried from place to place, ( Exodus 10:13 ) , or when a swarm of them by a strong wind are crowded together and thrown upon one another; or like the grasshopper, which leaps from hedge to hedge, and has no certain abode: and such was the case of Christ here on earth; and especially it may have respect not only to his being sometimes in Judea and sometimes in Galilee, sometimes in the temple and sometimes in the mount of Olives; but to his being tossed about after his apprehension, when he was led to Annas, and then to Caiaphas, then to Pilate, then to Herod, then delivered to the soldiers, and by them led to Calvary, and crucified.


FOOTNOTES:

F8 (ytklhn) "cogor abire", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius; "abire factus sum", Gejerus, Michaelis.
F9 (ytren) "excussus sum", Montanus, Vatablus Gejerus, Michaelis; "excutior", Tigurine version, Musculus, Cocceius.

Psalms 109:23 In-Context

21 But you, Sovereign LORD, help me for your name’s sake; out of the goodness of your love, deliver me.
22 For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me.
23 I fade away like an evening shadow; I am shaken off like a locust.
24 My knees give way from fasting; my body is thin and gaunt.
25 I am an object of scorn to my accusers; when they see me, they shake their heads.

Cross References 1

  • 1. S Job 14:2; Psalms 102:11
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