Psalm 41:3

3 The LORD sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness thou healest all his infirmities.

Psalm 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.

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FOOTNOTES:

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

Psalm 41:3 In-Context

1 To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. Blessed is he who considers the poor! The LORD delivers him in the day of trouble;

2 the LORD protects him and keeps him alive; he is called blessed in the land; thou dost not give him up to the will of his enemies.

3 The LORD sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness thou healest all his infirmities.

4 As for me, I said, "O LORD, be gracious to me; heal me, for I have sinned against thee!"

5 My enemies say of me in malice: "When will he die, and his name perish?"