for I am poor and needy. My heart is wounded within me.
I fade away like an evening shadow. I am shaken off like a locust.
My knees are weak through fasting. My body is thin and lacks fat.
Parallel Translations
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for I am poor and needy. My heart is wounded within me.
I fade away like an evening shadow. I am shaken off like a locust.
My knees are weak through fasting. My body is thin and lacks fat.
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For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me.
I am gone like the shadow when it declineth: I am tossed up and down as the locust.
My knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh faileth of fatness.
Show all 3 translations
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For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me.
I am gone like the shadow when it lengtheneth; I am shaken off as the locust.
My knees totter through fasting; and my flesh is lean, and hath no fatness.
Cross-references (33)
- Psalms 86:1 (v22) Hear, Yahweh, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.
- Psalms 40:17 (v22) But I am poor and needy. May the Lord think about me. You are my help and my deliverer. Don’t delay, my God.
- Psalms 102:4 (v22) My heart is blighted like grass, and withered, for I forget to eat my bread.
- Exodus 10:19 (v23) Yahweh sent an exceedingly strong west wind, which took up the locusts, and drove them into the Red Sea. There remained not one locust in…
- 2 Kings 4:27 (v22) When she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught hold of his feet. Gehazi came near to thrust her away; but the man of God said,…
Show all 33 cross-references
- Psalms 22:6 (v22) But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised by the people.
- Psalms 22:14 (v24) I am poured out like water. All my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is melted within me.
- Psalms 32:3-4 (v24) When I kept silence, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy on me. My strength was…
- Matthew 4:2 (v24) When he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was hungry afterward.
- John 12:27 (v22) “Now my soul is troubled. What shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this time?’ But I came to this time for this cause.
- 2 Corinthians 8:9 (v22) For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty…
- Hebrews 12:12 (v24) Therefore lift up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees,
- 1 Chronicles 29:15 (v23) For we are strangers before you, and foreigners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is no remaining.
- Job 6:4 (v22) For the arrows of the Almighty are within me. My spirit drinks up their poison. The terrors of God set themselves in array against me.
- Job 14:2 (v23) He grows up like a flower, and is cut down. He also flees like a shadow, and doesn’t continue.
- Job 19:20 (v24) My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh. I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
- Psalms 35:13-14 (v24) But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth. I afflicted my soul with fasting. My prayer returned into my own bosom. I…
- Psalms 38:5-8 (v24) My wounds are loathsome and corrupt because of my foolishness. I am in pain and bowed down greatly. I go mourning all day long. For my…
- Psalms 69:10 (v24) When I wept and I fasted, that was to my reproach.
- Psalms 88:15-16 (v22) I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up. While I suffer your terrors, I am distracted. Your fierce wrath has gone over me. Your…
- Psalms 102:4-5 (v24) My heart is blighted like grass, and withered, for I forget to eat my bread. By reason of the voice of my groaning, my bones stick to my…
- Psalms 102:10-11 (v23) because of your indignation and your wrath; for you have taken me up and thrown me away. My days are like a long shadow. I have withered…
- Psalms 102:17-20 (v22) He has responded to the prayer of the destitute, and has not despised their prayer. This will be written for the generation to come. A…
- Psalms 109:16 (v22) because he didn’t remember to show kindness, but persecuted the poor and needy man, the broken in heart, to kill them.
- Isaiah 53:3 (v22) He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering and acquainted with disease. He was despised as one from whom men hide their face;…
- Matthew 8:20 (v22) Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
- Luke 22:44 (v22) Being in agony he prayed more earnestly. His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground.
- 2 Corinthians 11:27 (v24) in labor and travail, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, and in cold and nakedness.
- Exodus 10:13 (v23) Moses stretched out his rod over the land of Egypt, and Yahweh brought an east wind on the land all that day, and all night; and when it…
- Psalms 144:4 (v23) Man is like a breath. His days are like a shadow that passes away.
- Ecclesiastes 6:12 (v23) For who knows what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he spends like a shadow? For who can tell a man what will…
- Ecclesiastes 8:13 (v23) But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he lengthen days like a shadow, because he doesn’t fear God.
- James 4:14 (v23) Whereas you don’t know what your life will be like tomorrow. For what is your life? For you are a vapor that appears for a little time, and…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (16 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv23–24 23 I walk about as a shadow. These are…
23 I walk about as a shadow. These are two very appropriate similitudes: to the first of them I formerly adverted in Psalm 102:12; namely, that the afflicted person, and he who is almost lifeless, is very fitly compared to the shadow of the evening. At sunrise, or when he is shining in noon-day brightness, the constant shifting of the shadow is not so perceptible; but, towards sunset, the shadow flits before us during every moment that passes. By the other similitude, the transitory nature of all sublunary things is pointed out. For as the locusts are constantly skipping from one place to another, so David complains of his life being ever rendered uneasy by incessant persecution, so that no space was allowed him for repose; and this is similar to what he says in Psalm 11:1, that he was compelled to flee like a sparrow, for which the fowler lays snares in all directions. In short, he mourns over his forlorn situation, that he could find no place of safety, and that, even among men, he could get no habitation. And, as in this psalm, he presents us with a picture of the whole Church, we need not be surprised if God try us, and arouse us from our lethargy, by an innumerable variety of events. Accordingly, Paul, 1 Corinthians 4:11, speaking of himself and others, says, that they have no certain dwelling-place; a description which is more or less applicable to all the children of God.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv23–24 Meaning, that he hath no stay nor assurance in…
Meaning, that he hath no stay nor assurance in this world.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv22–24 Psa 109:22 For I [am] poor and needy, and…
Psa 109:22 For I [am] poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me.
Ver. 22. For I am poor and needy] As a leper showeth his ulcers to move pity, so doth David his indigency and ailments.
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And my heart is wounded] I have my inward troubles also: or I am cordicitus vulneratus, almost dead, animam ago.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv22–24 I am poor and needy; and therefore a very…
I am poor and needy; and therefore a very proper object for thy pity and help. I am wounded not slightly, but to the very heart with soul-piercing sorrows.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv22–24 I am gone like the shadow when it declineth,....…
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, Ch1 29:15 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, Jos 23:14 and so is the death of Christ, Luk 22:22, it may be rendered, "I am made to go" (h), 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, Isa 53:8.
I am tossed up and down as the locust; or "shaken out" (i) by the wind, as the locust is by the east wind, and carried from place to place, Exo 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.
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(h) "cogor abire", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius; "abire factus sum", Gejerus, Michaelis. (i) "excussus sum", Montanus, Vatablus Gejerus, Michaelis; "excutior", Tigurine version, Musculus, Cocceius.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v23 When - Towards the evening, when the sun is…
When - Towards the evening, when the sun is setting. The locust - Which is easily driven away with every wind.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv22–24 Verse 22. I am poor and needy] I am…
Verse 22. I am poor and needy] I am afflicted and impoverished; and my heart is wounded - my very life is sinking through distress.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv23–24 Psa 109:23. I am gone, &c. — Hebrew, נהלכתי,…
Psa 109:23. I am gone, &c. — Hebrew, נהלכתי, neehlacheti, I am made to go, either, 1st, From place to place; which was David’s case when he was persecuted by Saul and by Absalom, and Christ’s case upon earth when he had no certain place where to lay his head. Or, 2d, Into the grave, as this phrase frequently signifies; like the shadow when it declineth — Toward the evening, when, the sun setting, it vanisheth instantly and irrecoverably. I am tossed up and down as a locust — Which of itself is unstable, continually leaping and moving from place to place, and is easily driven away with every wind. So am I exposed to perpetual and successive changes within myself, and to a thousand violences and mischiefs from other persons and things.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv22–24 For I am poor and needy - I am…
For I am poor and needy - I am helpless and dependent. I am in a condition where I need thy gracious interposition.
And my heart is wounded within me - I am as one that is prostrated by a weapon - as if my heart had been pierced. I have no courage, no strength. I am like one who lies wounded on a battlefield.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv22–24 22. I am poor and needy—A plaintive confession, often…
22. I am poor and needy—A plaintive confession, often made, and always urged as the counterpart of exclusive hope in God.
My heart is wounded—Pierced as with a sword. So the word, Eze_32:26. The adjective almost always has this sense, as Lam_2:12. In this pathetic strain the psalmist tells his misery and suffering in the three verses following.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv22–24 22. Cp. Psa_109:16; Psa_40:17; Psa_55:4.
22. Cp. Psa_109:16; Psa_40:17; Psa_55:4.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv23–24 (23) Shadow when it declineth.—Literally, a lengthened shade. (Comp.…
(23) Shadow when it declineth.—Literally, a lengthened shade. (Comp. Psa_102:11, and see Note. Son_2:17.) When the day declines the shadow lengthens, it becomes longer and longer, till it vanishes in the universal darkness. Thus does the life of the suffering generation pass away.
Tossed up and down.—Better, tossed or shaken out, as from the lap. So LXX. and Vulg. (See Neh_5:13, where the same verb is three times used.) The grasshopper was an emblem of timidity (Job_39:20).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv22–24 For I am poor and needy (comp. ver. 16).…
For I am poor and needy (comp. ver. 16). David was "poor and needy" both when hunted upon the mountains by Saul, and when forced to flee from Absalom. And my heart is wounded within me. The wound to David"s heart was, on the former occasion, from the malignity of Saul; on the latter, especially from the desertion of his "own familiar friend whom he trusted."
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain On vv22–24 Ver. 22. For I am poor and needy. When…
Ver. 22. For I am poor and needy. When he does plead anything about himself he urges not his riches or his merits, but his poverty and his necessities: this is gospel supplication, such as only the Spirit of God can indite upon the heart. This lowliness does not comport with the supposed vengeful spirit of the preceding verses: there must therefore be some interpretation of them which would make them suitable in the lips of a lowly minded man of God.
And my heart is wounded within me. The Lord has always a tender regard to broken hearted ones, and such the psalmist had become: the undeserved cruelty, the baseness, the slander of his remorseless enemies had pierced him to the soul, and this sad condition he pleads as a reason for speedy help. It is time for a friend to step in when the adversary cuts so deep. The case has become desperate without divine aid; now, therefore, is the Lord's time.
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Ver. 22. For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me. Note here, how beautifully he unites these arguments. He had said, Because Thy mercy is good; and he adds, "Because I am poor and needy." He could not have added anything more appropriate: for this is the nature of goodness and mercy, even in the human heart, much more in God, the best and most merciful of all beings, that nothing more easily moves it to give succour, than the affliction, calamity, and misery of those by whom it is invoked. Wolfgang Musculus.
Ver. 22. My heart is wounded within me. The hearts of the saints and pious men are not as brass or stone, that the apathy of the Stoics should have lodging in them, but are susceptible to griefs and passions. Musculus.
Ver. 22. The inward sorrows of a saint. Their cause, effects, consolations and cure.
Psalms 109:23*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v24 My knees are weak
My knees are weak
This means that he is weak and it is difficult for him to stand. AT: "I have difficulty standing" or "My body is weak" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
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from fasting
"because I am not eating any food"
I am turning to skin and bones
This means that he has lost a lot of weight. AT: "my body has become very thin" (See: Idiom)
I am disdained by my accusers
This can be stated in active form. AT: "My accusers ridicule me" (See: Active or Passive)
shake their heads
This is an act of disapproval.
translationWords
fast
accuse
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v23 109:23 A shadow at dusk suggests a transitory, empty…
109:23 A shadow at dusk suggests a transitory, empty existence (102:11; 144:4); a single locust could easily be brushed off one’s clothing.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.