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Psalm 102:3-5
New English Translation
Psalm 102:3-5
New English Translation
3 For my days go up in smoke,[a]
and my bones are charred as in a fireplace.[b]
4 My heart is parched[c] and withered like grass,
for I am unable[d] to eat food.[e]
5 Because of the anxiety that makes me groan,
my bones protrude from my skin.[f]
Footnotes
- Psalm 102:3 tn Heb “for my days come to an end in smoke.”
- Psalm 102:3 tn The Hebrew noun קֵד (qed, “fireplace”) occurs only here, in Isa 33:14 (where it refers to the fire itself), and perhaps in Lev 6:2.
- Psalm 102:4 tn Heb “struck, attacked.”
- Psalm 102:4 tn Heb “I forget.”
- Psalm 102:4 sn I am unable to eat food. During his time of mourning, the psalmist refrained from eating. In the following verse he describes metaphorically the physical effects of fasting.
- Psalm 102:5 tn Heb “from the sound of my groaning my bone[s] stick to my flesh.” The preposition at the beginning of the verse is causal; the phrase “sound of my groaning” is metonymic for the anxiety that causes the groaning. The point seems to be this: Anxiety (which causes the psalmist to groan) keeps him from eating (v. 4). This physical deprivation in turn makes him emaciated—he is turned to “skin and bones,” so to speak.
New English Translation (NET)
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