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In the KJVVerse 15,545 of 31,102
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Commentary on Psalms 102 verses 23–28
23 ¶ He weakened my strength in the way; he shortened my days.
24 I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: thy years are throughout all generations.
25 Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands.
26 They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed:
27 But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end.
28 The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established before thee.
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 (Psa 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, Eze 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 (Psa 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," Isa 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, Psa 102:25-27. The apostle quotes these verses (Heb 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, Joh 1:1-3; Col 1:16; Eph 3:9; Heb 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 (Psa 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 (Psa 102:26, Psa 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, Psa 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 (Psa 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.
Matthew Henry (1662–1714) — Commentary on the Whole Bible. This section covers verses 23–28. Public domain.
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Dionysius of AlexandriaAD 264
FRAGMENT 1:3.11
And this is true. For no one is able to comprehend the works of God altogether. Moreover, the world is the work of God. No one, then, can find out as to this world what is its space from the beginning and to the end, that is to say, the period appointed for it and the limits before determined for it; in view of the fact that God has set the whole world as a realm of ignorance in our hearts. And thus one says, “Declare to me the shortness of my days.” In this manner, and for our profit, the end of this world [age]—that is to say, this present life—is a thing of which we are ignorant.
Athanasius of AlexandriaAD 373
DEFENSE OF HIS FLIGHT 14
For although it is hidden and unknown to all, what period of time is allotted to each and how it is allotted, yet every one knows this, that as there is a time for spring and for summer, and for autumn and for winter, so, as it is written, there is a time to die and a time to live. And so the time of the generation that lived in the days of Noah was cut short, and their years were contracted, because the time of all things was at hand. But to Hezekiah were added fifteen years. As God promises to them that serve him truly, “I will fulfill the number of your days,” Abraham dies “full of days,” and David urgently begged God, saying, “Don’t take me away in the midst of my days.” And Eliphaz, one of the friends of Job, being assured of this truth, said, “You shall come to your grave like ripe corn, gathered in due time, and like as a shock of corn comes in its season.” Solomon, confirming his words, says, “The souls of the unrighteous are untimely taken away.” And therefore he exhorts in the book of Ecclesiastes, saying, “Don’t be too wicked, neither be hard: why should you die before your time?”
Athanasius of AlexandriaAD 373
DEFENSE OF HIS FLIGHT 15
Now as these things are written in the Scriptures, the case is clear, that the saints know that a certain time is measured to every person, but that no one knows the end of that time is plainly intimated by the words of David, “Declare to me the shortness of my days.” He desired information about that which he did not know. Accordingly the rich man also, while he thought that he had still a long time to live, heard the words, “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?” And the Preacher speaks confidently in the Holy Spirit and says, “A person also does not know his time.” Wherefore the patriarch Isaac said to his son Esau, “Behold, I am old, and I know not the day of my death.”
Augustine of HippoAD 430
Exposition on Psalm 102
"She answered Him in the way of His strength" [Psalm 102:23]....The preceding words show, that either "His praise," or "Jerusalem," answered: for it was said, "And His praise in Jerusalem; in the nations gathering together in one, and the kingdoms, that they may serve the Lord. Respondit ei." We cannot say, "the kingdoms answered," for he would have said responderunt. Respondit ei. We cannot say, "the nations answered," for he would have said, responderunt (in the plural). Since then it is Respondit ei, in the singular, we look for the singular number above, and find that the words, "His praise," and "Jerusalem," are the only words in which we find it. But since it is doubtful, whether it be "His praise," or "Jerusalem," let us expound it each way. How did "His praise" answer Him? When they who are called by Him thank Him. For He calls, we answer; not by our voice, but by our faith; not by our tongue, but by our life....From His elect and holy men, Jerusalem also answers Him. For Jerusalem also was called: and the first Jerusalem refused to hear, and it was said unto her, "Behold, your house shall be left unto the desolate." [Matthew 23:38] ...But that Jerusalem, of whom it was written, "Sing, O barren, you that did not bear," "She has answered Him." What means, "She has answered Him"? She despises Him not when He called. He sent rain, She gave fruit.
Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.
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SUMMARY
Psalms 102:23 presents a poignant lament from an afflicted psalmist, expressing a profound sense of physical and existential decline. The speaker attributes this weakening of strength and shortening of days directly to God's sovereign hand, a raw and honest cry from one overwhelmed by suffering who feels their life force diminishing and their time on earth prematurely curtailed. This verse encapsulates intense personal anguish, serving as a desperate plea for divine intervention and a backdrop to the psalm's broader prayer for the restoration of Zion.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
The profound lament in Psalms 102:23 is amplified through several carefully employed literary devices. The most prominent is Parallelism, specifically a form of synonymous or intensifying parallelism. The two clauses, "He weakened my strength in the way" and "he shortened my days," convey a similar core idea of diminishment and decline, with the second clause intensifying the temporal aspect of the psalmist's suffering from a loss of vitality to a fear of premature death. This repetition with variation emphasizes the comprehensive nature of the affliction, impacting both the quality and perceived length of life. The psalmist also employs Anthropomorphism by attributing human-like, active verbs—weakening and shortening—to God, underscoring the direct and active role he perceives God playing in his distress. Furthermore, the language likely contains elements of Hyperbole, a common feature in lament psalms, where the psalmist expresses the feeling of being at death's door or having his life cut short, even if not literally on his deathbed, to convey the overwhelming depth of his despair and the severity of his suffering. The phrase "my strength in the way" can also be seen as a Metaphor for the energy, resilience, and vital capacity needed to navigate the challenges and progression of the journey of life.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Psalms 102:23 stands as a raw testament to the human experience of suffering and the theological wrestling that often accompanies it. The psalmist's direct attribution of his weakened state and shortened days to God highlights a robust understanding of divine sovereignty, where God is seen as ultimately in control of all circumstances, even those that bring pain and distress. This perspective, while challenging to modern sensibilities, provided a framework for honest lament in ancient Israel, allowing the sufferer to bring their deepest grievances directly to the One they believed held all power. It underscores that true faith does not deny the reality of pain or shy away from questioning God's ways, but rather brings those questions into the divine presence. The verse also implicitly sets the stage for the psalm's later shift to God's eternal nature, contrasting the fleeting, fragile existence of humanity with the unchanging, everlasting God, thereby grounding the psalmist's ultimate hope not in his own strength or longevity, but in the enduring character and faithfulness of the Creator.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Psalms 102:23 offers a profound invitation for believers to engage honestly with their suffering and vulnerability. It validates the experience of feeling overwhelmed, physically drained, and as though life's vitality is being prematurely sapped. The psalmist's direct, unvarnished complaint to God, even attributing his distress to divine action, teaches us that authentic faith does not require us to sanitize our emotions or pretend that God is absent from our pain. Instead, it encourages us to bring our rawest laments, deepest fears, and most perplexing questions before Him, trusting that He hears and cares. This verse reminds us that our lives, our strength, and the very length of our days are ultimately in God's sovereign hands, a truth that can be both profoundly humbling and deeply comforting. While we may not always understand the reasons for our suffering or the brevity of our days, acknowledging God's ultimate control can paradoxically lead to deeper trust, surrender, and a more profound reliance on His enduring character rather than our fleeting circumstances. It also serves as a poignant reminder of the fragility of human existence, prompting us to live with purpose, intentionality, and an eternal perspective, seeking to honor God in the time and strength He has given us, regardless of its perceived length or the trials encountered along the way.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Why does the psalmist attribute his suffering directly to God?
Answer: In ancient Israelite theology, God was understood as supremely sovereign over all things, both good and bad. This comprehensive worldview meant that nothing was seen as happening outside of God's ultimate control or allowance. Therefore, when suffering or misfortune occurred, it was often attributed directly to God's hand, not necessarily as a malicious act of cruelty, but as part of His divine governance, judgment, or mysterious purposes. The psalmist's statement is a raw, honest expression of a suffering individual grappling with a deep theological conviction that God is actively involved in all aspects of life, even the most painful. It signifies a profound trust that even in the midst of affliction, the psalmist's complaint is directed to the only One who has the power to intervene and restore. This perspective is echoed in other biblical texts, such as Job 1:21 where Job declares, "The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD."
What does "in the way" mean here?
Answer: The phrase "in the way" (Hebrew: בַּדֶּרֶךְ, baderekh) can have several layers of meaning. Most commonly, it refers to the journey or course of one's life. Thus, "He weakened my strength in the way" suggests that the psalmist's vitality is being sapped or diminished during his life's progression, perhaps unexpectedly or prematurely, as he walks his path. It could also imply that the weakening occurred on his path of righteousness or duty, making the suffering even more perplexing or seemingly unjust. In essence, it intensifies the sense that his affliction is not merely an end-of-life decline but an active, ongoing process that is hindering his ability to continue his life's journey with vigor and purpose.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Psalms 102:23, with its poignant cry of weakened strength and shortened days, finds its ultimate and profound fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus Christ. While the psalmist laments his personal suffering, Jesus, the perfect Man, truly experienced the ultimate weakening and shortening of days for the sake of humanity. He was indeed a "man of sorrows and acquainted with grief" (Isaiah 53:3), whose strength was utterly sapped in Gethsemane as He wrestled with the crushing weight of the world's sin, crying out, "My soul is very sorrowful, even to death" (Matthew 26:38). His life was undeniably "shortened" by a brutal, premature death on the cross, a death He willingly embraced not for His own sin, but as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Yet, unlike the psalmist's lament over personal affliction, Christ's suffering was uniquely redemptive. He, who knew no sin, became sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). Through His weakened strength and shortened days, He conquered sin, death, and the power of the grave, offering eternal life and true spiritual strength to all who believe. His experience validates our laments and assures us that we have a High Priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses (Hebrews 4:15), ultimately promising a future where God will wipe away every tear and there will be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor pain (Revelation 21:4).