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Psalms 102:23

New American Standard Bible (NASB ©1995) [2]
— He has weakened my strength in the way; He has shortened my days.
King James Version (KJV 1769) [2]
— He weakened my strength in the way; he shortened my days.
English Revised Version (ERV 1885)
— He weakened my strength in the way; he shortened my days.
American Standard Version (ASV 1901) [2]
— He weakened my strength in the way; He shortened my days.
Webster's Revision of the KJB (WEB 1833)
— He weakened my strength in the way; he shortened my days.
Darby's Translation (DBY 1890)
— He weakened my strength in the way, he shortened my days.
Rotherham's Emphasized Bible (EBR 1902)
— He hath prostrated, in the way, my strength,—He hath shortened my days.
Young's Literal Translation (YLT 1898)
— He hath humbled in the way my power, He hath shortened my days.
Douay-Rheims Challoner Revision (DR 1750)
— He answered him in the way of his strength: Declare unto me the fewness of my days.
Geneva Bible (GNV 1560)
— He abated my strength in the way, and shortened my dayes.
Original King James Bible (AV 1611) [2]
— He weakened my strength in the way: he shortened my dayes.
Lamsa Bible (1957)
— For they have weakened my strength on earth; they warned me of the shortage of my days.
Brenton Greek Septuagint (LXX, Restored Names)
— He answered him in the way of his strength: tell me the fewness of my days.
Full Hebrew Names / Holy Name KJV (2008) [2] [3]
— He weakened my strength in the way; he shortened my days.

Strong's Numbers & Hebrew NamesHebrew Old TestamentColor-Code/Key Word Studies
He weakened 6031
{6031} Prime
עָנָה
`anah
{aw-naw'}
A primitive root (possibly rather identical with H6030 through the idea of looking down or browbeating); to depress literally or figuratively, transitively or intransitively (in various applications). (sing is by mistake for H6030.).
z8765
<8765> Grammar
Stem - Piel (See H8840)
Mood - Perfect (See H8816)
Count - 2121
my strength 3581
{3581} Prime
כֹּחַ
koach
{ko'-akh}
From an unused root meaning to be firm; vigor, literally (force, in a good or a bad sense) or figuratively (capacity, means, produce); also (from its hardiness) a large lizard.
in the way; 1870
{1870} Prime
דֶּרֶךְ
derek
{deh'-rek}
From H1869; a road (as trodden); figuratively a course of life or mode of action, often adverbially.
he shortened 7114
{7114} Prime
קָצַר
qatsar
{kaw-tsar'}
A primitive root; to dock off, that is, curtail (transitively or intransitively, literally or figuratively); especially to harvest (grass or grain).
z8765
<8765> Grammar
Stem - Piel (See H8840)
Mood - Perfect (See H8816)
Count - 2121
my days. 3117
{3117} Prime
יוֹם
yowm
{yome}
From an unused root meaning to be hot; a day (as the warm hours), whether literally (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figuratively (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverbially).
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary

Psalms 102:23-28

_ _ The writer, speaking for the Church, finds encouragement in the midst of all his distresses. God’s eternal existence is a pledge of faithfulness to His promises.

_ _ in the way — of providence.

_ _ weakened — literally, “afflicted,” and made fearful of a premature end, a figure of the apprehensions of the Church, lest God might not perform His promise, drawn from those of a person in view of the dangers of early death (compare Psalms 89:47). Paul (Hebrews 1:10) quotes Psalms 102:26-28 as addressed to Christ in His divine nature. The scope of the Psalm, as already seen, so far from opposing, favors this view, especially by the sentiments of Psalms 102:12-15 (compare Isaiah 60:1). The association of the Messiah with a day of future glory to the Church was very intimate in the minds of Old Testament writers; and with correct views of His nature it is very consistent that He should be addressed as the Lord and Head of His Church, who would bring about that glorious future on which they ever dwelt with fond delightful anticipations.

Matthew Henry's Commentary

Psalms 102:23-28

_ _ We may here observe,

_ _ I. The imminent danger that the Jewish church was in of being quite extirpated and cut off by the captivity in Babylon (Psalms 102:23): He weakened my strength in the way. They were for many ages in the way to the performance of the great promise made to their fathers concerning the Messiah, longing as much for it as ever a traveller did to be at his journey's end. The legal institutions led them in the way; but when the ten tribes were lost in Assyria, and the two almost lost in Babylon, the strength of that nation was weakened, and, in all appearance, its day shortened; for they said, Our hope is lost; we are cut off for our parts, Ezekiel 37:11. And then what becomes of the promise that Shiloh should arise out of Judah, the star out of Jacob, and the Messiah out of the family of David? If these fail, the promise fails. This the psalmist speaks of as in his own person, and it is very applicable to two of the common afflictions of this time: — 1. To be sickly. Bodily distempers soon weaken our strength in the way, make the keepers of the house to tremble and the strong men to bow themselves. 2. To be short-lived. Where the former is felt, this is feared; when in the midst of our days, according to a course of nature, our strength is weakened, what can we expect but that the number of our months should be cut off in the midst? and what should we do but provide accordingly? We must own God's hand in it (for in his hand our strength and time are), and must reconcile it to his love, for it has often been the lot of those that have used their strength well to have it weakened, and of those that could very ill be spared to have their days shortened.

_ _ II. A prayer for the continuance of it (Psalms 102:24): “O my God! take me not away in the midst of my days; let not this poor church be cut off in the midst of the days assigned it by the promise; let it not be cut off till the Messiah shall come. Destroy it not, for that blessing is in it,Isaiah 65:8. She is a criminal, but, for the sake of that blessing which is in her, she pleads for a reprieve. This is a prayer for the afflicted, and which, with submission to the will of God, we may in faith put up, that God would not take us away in the midst of our days, but that, if it be his will, he would spare us to do him further service and to be made riper for heaven.

_ _ III. A plea to enforce this prayer taken from the eternity of the Messiah promised, Psalms 102:25-27. The apostle quotes these verses (Hebrews 1:10-12) and tells us, He saith this to the Son, and in that exposition we must acquiesce. It is very comfortable, in reference to all the changes that pass over the church, and all the dangers it is in, that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and for ever. Thy years are throughout all generations, and cannot be shortened. It is likewise comfortable in reference to the decay and death of our own bodies, and the removal of our friends from us, that God is an everliving God, and that therefore, if he be ours, in him we may have everlasting consolation. In this plea observe how, to illustrate the eternity of the Creator, he compares it with the mutability of the creature; for it is God's sole prerogative to be unchangeable. 1. God made the world, and therefore had a being before it from eternity. The Son of God, the eternal Word, made the world. It is expressly said, All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made; and therefore the same was in the beginning from eternity with God, and was God, John 1:1-3; Colossians 1:16; Ephesians 3:9; Hebrews 1:2. Earth and heaven, and the hosts of both, include the universe and its fulness, and these derive their being from God by his Son (Psalms 102:25): “Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth, which is founded on the seas and on the floods and yet it abides; much more shall the church, which is built upon a rock. The heavens are the work of thy hands, and by thee are all their motions and influences directed;” God is therefore the fountain, not only of all being, but of all power and dominion. See how fit the great Redeemer is to be entrusted with all power, both in heaven and in earth, since he himself, as Creator of both, perfectly knows both and is entitled to both. 2. God will unmake the world again, and therefore shall have a being to eternity (Psalms 102:26, Psalms 102:27): They shall perish, for thou shalt change them by the same almighty power that made them, and therefore, no doubt, thou shalt endure; thou art the same. God and the world, Christ and the creature, are rivals for the innermost and uppermost place in the soul of man, the immortal soul; now what is here said, one would think, were enough to decide the controversy immediately and to determine us for God and Christ. For, (1.) A portion in the creature is fading and dying: They shall perish; they will not last so long as we shall last. The day is coming when the earth and all the works that are therein shall be burnt up; and then what will become of those that have laid up their treasure in it? Heaven and earth shall wax old as a garment, not by a gradual decay, but, when the set time comes, they shall be laid aside like an old garment that we have no more occasion for: As a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed, not annihilated, but altered, it may be so that they shall not be at all the same, but new heavens and a new earth. See God's sovereign dominion over heaven and earth. He can change them as he pleases and when he pleases; and the constant changes they are subject to, in the revolutions of day and night, summer and winter, are earnests of their last and final change, when the heavens and time (which is measured by them) shall be no more. (2.) A portion in God is perpetual and everlasting: Thou art the same, subject to no change; and thy years have no end, Psalms 102:27. Christ will be the same in the performance that he was in the promise, the same to his church in captivity that he was to his church at liberty. Let not the church fear the weakening of her strength, or the shortening of her days, while Christ himself is both her strength and her life; he is the same, and has said, Because I live you shall live also. Christ came in the fulness of time, and set up his kingdom in spite of the power of the Old Testament Babylon, and he will keep it up in spite of the power of the New Testament Babylon.

_ _ IV. A comfortable assurance of an answer to this prayer (Psalms 102:28): The children of thy servants shall continue; since Christ is the same, the church shall continue from one generation to another; from the eternity of the head we may infer the perpetuity of the body, though often weak and distempered, and even at death's door. Those that hope to wear out the saints of the Most High will be mistaken. Christ's servants shall have children; those children shall have a seed, a succession, of professing people; the church, as well as the world, is under the influence of that blessing, Be fruitful and multiply. These children shall continue, not in their own persons, by reason of death, but in their seed, which shall be established before God (that is, in his service, and by his grace); the entail of religion shall not be cut off while the world stands, but, as one generation of good people passes away, another shall come, and thus the throne of Christ shall endure.

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Psalms 102:23

He — God. The way — In the midst of the course of our lives. Some think the psalmist here speaks of the whole commonwealth as of one man, and of its continuance, as of the life of one man.

Geneva Bible Translation Notes

Psalms 102:23

He (q) weakened my strength in the way; he shortened my days.

(q) The church lament that they see not the time of Christ, which was promised, but have but few years and short days.

Cross-Reference Topical ResearchStrong's Concordance
He weakened:
Heb. He afflicted,
Psalms 89:38-47 But thou hast cast off and abhorred, thou hast been wroth with thine anointed. ... Remember how short my time is: wherefore hast thou made all men in vain?
2 Thessalonians 2:3-12 Let no man deceive you by any means: for [that day shall not come], except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; ... That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
1 Timothy 4:1-3 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; ... Forbidding to marry, [and commanding] to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
2 Timothy 3:1-17 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. ... That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
Revelation 11:2-19 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty [and] two months. ... And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.
Revelation 12:13-17 And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man [child]. ... And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

shortened:

Job 21:21 For what pleasure [hath] he in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off in the midst?
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Chain-Reference Bible SearchCross References with Concordance

Jb 21:21. Ps 89:38. 2Th 2:3. 1Ti 4:1. 2Ti 3:1. Rv 11:2; 12:13.

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