Psalm 103:14

14 for he knew our making. He bethought that we be dust (He remembered that we be but dust),

Psalm 103:14 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 103:14

For he knoweth our frame
The outward frame of their bodies, what brittle ware, what earthen vessels, they be; he being the potter, they the clay, he knows what they are able to bear, and what not; that if he lays his hand too heavy, or strikes too hard, or repeats his strokes too often, they will fall in pieces: he knows the inward frame of their minds, the corruption of their nature, how prone they are to sin; and therefore does not expect perfect services from them: how impotent they are to that which is good; that they can do nothing of themselves; nor think a good thought, nor do a good action; and that their best frames are very uncertain ones; and that, though the spirit may be willing, the flesh is weak. The word used is the same that is rendered "imagination", ( Genesis 6:5 ) ( 8:21 ) , and by which the Jews generally express the depravity and corruption of nature; and so the Targum here paraphrases it,

``for he knows our evil concupiscence, which causes us to sin;''

and to this sense Kimchi.

He remembereth that we are dust
^F2; are of the dust originally, and return to it again at death; and into which men soon crumble when he lays his hand upon them; this he considers, see ( Psalms 78:38 Psalms 78:39 ) . The Targum is,

``it is remembered before him, that we are of the dust:''

the Septuagint version makes a petition of it, "remember that we are dust"; and so the Arabic version. And we should remember it ourselves, and be humble before God; and wonder at his grace and goodness to us, ( Genesis 18:27 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F2 "Pulvis et umbra sumus", Horat. Carmin. l. 4. Ode 7. v. 16.

Psalm 103:14 In-Context

12 As much as the east is from the west; he made [a]far our wickednesses from us.

13 As a father hath mercy on his sons, the Lord had mercy on men dreading him; (Like a father hath love for his sons and daughters, so the Lord hath love for those who fear him/for those who revere him;)

14 for he knew our making. He bethought that we be dust (He remembered that we be but dust),

15 a man is as hay; his day[s] shall flower out so as a flower of the field. (for a person's days be like the hay, or the grass; and he shall flower out like the flowers in the field.)

16 For the spirit shall pass in him, and it shall not abide; and it shall no more know his place. (For the wind passeth over it, and it shall not remain there long; and then its place shall know it no more.)