God’s Word Translation
Psalms 109:23
23I fade away like a lengthening shadow. I have been shaken off like a grasshopper.
Psalms 109:23 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)I am gone like the shadow when it declineth: I am tossed up and down as the locust.
- New International Version (NIV)I fade away like an evening shadow; I am shaken off like a locust.
- English Standard Version (ESV)I am gone like a shadow at evening; I am shaken off like a locust.
- New King James Version (NKJV)I am gone like a shadow when it lengthens; I am shaken off like a locust.
Context of Psalms 109:23
21O Lord Almighty, deal with me out of the goodness of your name. Rescue me because of your mercy. 22I am oppressed and needy. I can feel the pain in my heart. I fade away like a lengthening shadow. I have been shaken off like a grasshopper. 24My knees give way because I have been fasting. My body has become lean, without any fat. 25I have become the victim of my enemies’ insults. They look at me and shake their heads.
Read all of Psalms 109Psalms 109:23 word by word
כְּצֵל־כִּנְטוֹת֥וֹ נֶהֱלָ֑כְתִּי נִ֝נְעַ֗רְתִּי כָּֽאַרְבֶּֽה׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Psalms 109:23
- Psalms 102:11My days are like a shadow that is getting longer, and I wither away like grass.
- Psalms 144:4Humans are like a breath of air. Their life span is like a fleeting shadow.
- 1 Chronicles 29:15To you we are all like our ancestors— foreigners without permanent homes. Our days are as fleeting as shadows on the ground. There’s no hope ⌞for them⌟.
- Job 14:2He comes up like a flower; then he withers. He is like a fleeting shadow; he doesn’t stay long.
- Ecclesiastes 6:12Who knows what may be good for mortals while they are alive, during the brief, pointless days they live? Mortals pass by like a shadow. Who will tell them about their future under the sun?
- Ecclesiastes 8:13But it will not go well for the wicked. They will not live any longer. Their lives are like shadows, because they don’t fear God.
- James 4:14You don’t know what will happen tomorrow. What is life? You are a mist that is seen for a moment and then disappears.
- Psalms 102:10because of your hostility and anger, because you have picked me up and thrown me away.
- Exodus 10:13Moses held his staff over the land of Egypt, and the Lord made a wind from the east blow over the land all that day and all that night. By morning the east wind had brought the locusts.
Commentaries on Psalms 109:23
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 23I am gone like the shadow - "I have walked like the declining shadow," - I have passed my meridian of health and life; and as the sun is going below the horizon, so am I about to go under the earth. I am tossed up and down as the locust - When swarms of locusts take wing, and infest the countries in the east, if the wind happen to blow briskly, the swarms are agitated and driven upon each other, so as to appear to be heaved to and fro, or tossed up and…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 23I am gone like the shadow when it declineth - See the notes at Psalm 102:11. I am tossed up and down as the locust - Agitated, moved, driven about, as a cloud of locusts is by the wind. The meaning of the whole is, that he was frail and weak, and needed strength from on high.Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 21-31Verses 21-31 The psalmist takes God's comforts to himself, but in a very humble manner. He was troubled in mind. His body was wasted, and almost worn away. But it is better to have leanness in the body, while the soul prospers and is in health, than to have leanness in the soul, while the body is feasted. He was ridiculed and reproached by his enemies. But if God bless us, we need not care who curses us; for how can they curse whom God has not cursed…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 23A lengthening shadow suggests a temporary, empty life (Psalms 102:11; 144:4). A single locust can be easily brushed off clothing.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2323. like the shadow--(Compare Psa 102:11). tossed up and down--or, "driven" (Ex 10:19).Read the comment
Topics related to Psalms 109:23
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Psalms 109
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- The Treasury of David
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
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