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Translation
Young's Literal Translation
Because ashes as bread I have eaten, And my drink with weeping have mingled,
In the KJVVerse 15,531 of 31,102
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Commentary on Psalms 102 verses 1–11
1 ¶ A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before the LORD. Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come unto thee.
2 Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble; incline thine ear unto me: in the day when I call answer me speedily.
3 For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as an hearth.
4 My heart is smitten, and withered like grass; so that I forget to eat my bread.
5 By reason of the voice of my groaning my bones cleave to my skin.
6 I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert.
7 I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top.
8 Mine enemies reproach me all the day; and they that are mad against me are sworn against me.
9 For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping,
10 Because of thine indignation and thy wrath: for thou hast lifted me up, and cast me down.
11 My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass.
The title of this psalm is very observable; it is a prayer of the afflicted. It was composed by one that was himself afflicted, afflicted with the church and for it; and on those that are of a public spirit afflictions of that kind lie heavier than any other. It is calculated for an afflicted state, and is intended for the use of others that may be in the like distress; for whatsoever things were written aforetime were written designedly for our use. The whole word of God is of use to direct us in prayer; but here, as often elsewhere, the Holy Ghost has drawn up our petition for us, has put words into our mouths. Hos 14:2, Take with you words. Here is a prayer put into the hands of the afflicted: let them set, not their hands, but their hearts to it, and present it to God. Note, 1. It is often the lot of the best saints in this world to be sorely affected. 2. Even good men may be almost overwhelmed with their afflictions, and may be ready to faint under them. 3. When our state is afflicted, and our spirits are overwhelmed, it is our duty and interest to pray, and by prayer to pour out our complaints before the Lord, which intimates the leave God gives us to be free with him and the liberty of speech we have before him, as well as liberty of access to him; it intimates also what an ease it is to an afflicted spirit to unburden itself by a humble representation of its grievances and griefs. Such a representation we have here, in which,
I. The psalmist humbly begs of God to take notice of his affliction, and of his prayer in his affliction, Psa 102:1, Psa 102:2. When we pray in our affliction, 1. It should be our care that God would graciously hear us; for, if our prayers be not pleasing to God, they will be to no purpose to ourselves. Let this therefore be in our eye that our prayer may come unto God, even to his ears (Psa 18:6); and, in order to that, let us lift up the prayer, and our souls with it. 2. It may be our hope that God will graciously hear us, because he has appointed us to seek him and has promised we shall not seek him in vain. If we put up a prayer in faith, we may in faith say, Hear my prayer, O Lord! "Hear me," that is, (1.) "Manifest thyself to me, hide not thy face from me in displeasure, when I am in trouble. If thou dost not quickly free me, yet let me know that thou favourest me; if I see not the operations of thy hand for me, yet let me see the smiles of thy face upon me." God's hiding his face is trouble enough to a good man even in his prosperity (Psa 30:7, Thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled); but if, when we are in trouble, God hides his face, the case is sad indeed. (2.) "Manifest thyself for me; not only hear me, but answer me; grant me the deliverance I am in want of and in pursuit of; answer me speedily, even in the day when I call." When troubles press hard upon us, God gives us leave to be thus pressing in prayer, yet with humility and patience.
II. He makes a lamentable complaint of the low condition to which he was reduced by his afflictions. 1. His body was macerated and emaciated, and he had become a perfect skeleton, nothing but skin and bones. As prosperity and joy are represented by making fat the bones, and the bones flourishing like a herb, so great trouble and grief are here represented by the contrary: My bones are burnt as a hearth (Psa 102:3); they cleave to my skin (Psa 102:5); nay, my heart is smitten, and withered like grass (Psa 102:4); it touches the vitals, and there is a sensible decay there. I am withered like grass (Psa 102:11), scorched with the burning heat of my troubles. If we be thus brought low by bodily distempers, let us not think it strange; the body is like grass, weak and of the earth, no wonder then that it withers. 2. He was very melancholy and of a sorrowful spirit. He was so taken up with the thoughts of his troubles that he forgot to eat his bread (Psa 102:4); he had no appetite to his necessary food nor could he relish it. When God hides his face from a soul the delights of sense will be sapless things. He was always sighing and groaning, as one pressed above measure (Psa 102:5), and this wasted him and exhausted his spirits. He affected solitude, as melancholy people do. His friends deserted him and were shy of him, and he cared as little for their company (Psa 102:6, Psa 102:7): "I am like a pelican of the wilderness, or a bittern (so some) that make a doleful noise; I am like an owl, that affects to lodge in deserted ruined buildings; I watch, and am as a sparrow upon the house-top. I live in a garret, and there spend my hours in poring on my troubles and bemoaning myself." Those who do thus, when they are in sorrow, humour themselves indeed; but they prejudice themselves, and know not what they do, nor what advantage they hereby give to the tempter. In affliction we should sit alone to consider our ways (Lam 3:28), but not sit alone to indulge an inordinate grief. 3. He was evil-spoken of by his enemies, and all manner of evil was said against him. When his friends went off from him his foes set themselves against him (Psa 102:8): My enemies reproach me all the day, designing thereby both to create vexation to him (for an ingenuous mind regrets reproach) and to bring an odium upon him before men. When they could not otherwise reach him they shot these arrows at him, even bitter words. In this they were unwearied; they did it all the day; it was a continual dropping. His enemies were very outrageous: They are mad against me, and very obstinate and implacable. They are sworn against me; as the Jews that bound themselves with an oath that they would kill Paul; or, They have sworn against me as accusers, to take away my life. 4. He fasted and wept under the tokens of God's displeasure (Psa 102:9, Psa 102:10): "I have eaten ashes like bread; instead of eating my bread, I have lain down in dust and ashes, and I have mingled my drink with weeping; when I should have refreshed myself with drinking I have only eased myself with weeping." And what is the matter? He tells us (Psa 102:10): Because of thy wrath. It was not so much the trouble itself that troubled him as the wrath of God which he was under the apprehensions of as the cause of the trouble. This, this was the wormwood and the gall in the affliction and the misery: Thou hast lifted me up and cast me down, as that which we cast to the ground with a design to dash it to pieces; we lift up first, that we may throw it down with the more violence; or, "Thou hast formerly lifted me up in honour, and joy, and uncommon prosperity; but the remembrance of that aggravates the present grief and makes it the more grievous." We must eye the hand of God both in lifting us up and casting us down, and say, "Blessed be the name of the Lord, who both gives and takes away." 5. He looked upon himself as a dying man: My days are consumed like smoke (Psa 102:3), which vanishes away quickly. Or, They are consumed in smoke, of which nothing remains; they are like a shadow that declines (Psa 102:11), like the evening-shadow, or a forerunner of approaching night. Now all this, though it seems to speak the psalmist's personal calamities, and therefore is properly a prayer for a particular person afflicted, yet is supposed to be a description of the afflictions of the church of God, with which the psalmist sympathizes, making public grievances his own. The mystical body of Christ is sometimes, like the psalmist's body here, withered and parched, nay, like dead and dry bones. The church sometimes is forced into the wilderness, seems lost, and gives up herself for gone, under the tokens of God's displeasure.
Matthew Henry (1662–1714) — Commentary on the Whole Bible. This section covers verses 1–11. Public domain.
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Cyril of JerusalemAD 386
Catechetical Lecture 2:12
So then the prophet comforted David as we have seen, but that blessed man, though he received most gladly the assurance, “The Lord has put away your sin,” did not, king as he was, draw back from penitence. Indeed he put on sackcloth in place of his purple robe, and the king sat in ashes on the bare earth instead of on his gilded throne. And in ashes he did not merely sit but took them for eating, as he himself says, “I have eaten ashes as if bread and mingled my drink with weeping.” His lustful eye he wasted away with tears; as he says, “Every night I wash my bed and water my couch with my tears.” And when his courtiers exhorted him to take bread, he would not, but he prolonged his fast for seven whole days. Now if a king was apt to make confession after this manner, should not you, as a private person, make your confession? Again, after Absalom’s rebellion, when David was in flight, with many roads to choose from before him, he chose to make his escape by the Mount of Olives, as good as invoking in his own mind the Deliverer who should from there ascend into the heavens. And when Shimei cursed him bitterly, he said, “Let him be.” For he knew that forgiveness is for those who forgive.
John ChrysostomAD 407
ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 9:8
And after humility of mind, there is need of intense prayers, of many tears, tears by day and tears by night, for, he says, “every night will I wash my bed, I will water my couch with my tears. I am weary with my groaning.” And again, “For I have eaten ashes as if bread and mingled my drink with weeping.”
Paulinus of MilanAD 422
AMBROSE 9:39
Indeed, to the penitent confession alone does not suffice, unless correction of the deed follows, with the result that the penitent does not continue to do deeds that demand repentance. He should even humble his soul just as holy David, who, when he heard from the prophet, “Your sin is pardoned,” became more humble in the correction of his sin, so that “he did eat ashes like bread and mingled his drink with weeping.” THE LIFE OF ST.
Augustine of HippoAD 430
Exposition on Psalm 102
"I have eaten ashes as it were bread: and mingled my drink with weeping" [Psalm 102:9]. Because He chose to have among His members these kinds of men, that they should be healed and set free, thence is the evil repute. Now at this day what is the character of Pagan calumny against us? What, brethren, do ye conceive they tell us? You corrupt discipline, and pervert the morality of the human race. Why do you attack us; say why? What have we done? By giving, he replies, to men room for repentance, by promising impunity for all sins: for this reason men do evil deeds, careless of consequences, because everything is pardoned them, when they are converted....And what is to become of you, miserable man, if there shall be no harbour of impunity? If there is only licence for sinning, and no pardon for sins, where will you be, whither will you go? Surely even for you did it happen, that that afflicted one ate ashes as it were bread, and mingled His drink with weeping. Does not such a feast now please you? But nevertheless, he replies, men add to their sins under the hope of pardon. Nay, but they would add to them if they despaired of pardon. Do you not observe in what licentious cruelty gladiators live? Whence this, except because, as destined for the sword and sacrifice, they choose to sate their lust, before they pour forth their blood? Would you not also thus address yourself? I am already a sinner, already an unjust man, one already doomed to damnation, hope of pardon there is none: why should I not do whatever pleases me, although it be not lawful? Why not fulfil, as far as I can, any longings I may have, if, after these, nothing but torments only be in store? Would you not thus speak unto yourself, and from this very despair become still worse? Rather than this, then, He who promises forgiveness, does correct you, saying, "As I live, says the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live." [Ezekiel 13:11] ...For in order that men might not live the worse from despair, He promised a harbour of forgiveness; again, that they might not live the worse from hope of pardon, He made the day of death uncertain: fixing both with the utmost providence, both as a refuge for the returning, and a terror to the loitering. Eat ashes as bread, and mingle your drink with weeping; by means of this banquet you shall reach the table of God. Despair not; pardon has been promised you. Thanks be to God, he says, because it is promised; I hold fast the promise of God. Now therefore live well. Tomorrow, he replies, I will live well. God has promised the pardon; no one promised you tomorrow....
Theodoret of CyrusAD 458
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 102:3
“For I forgot to eat my bread. At the sound of my groaning, my bones stuck to my flesh.” I lost appetite for any food, and was completely bereft of my former good condition, my body being consumed by the wasting of discouragement; I am but skin and bones. The word of God, then, is our soul’s bread: just as ordinary bread nourishes the body, so the word from heaven [nourishes] the soul’s substance. In passing on the prayer, Christ said as much to the apostles, “Give us this day our daily bread.” So whoever forgets to eat it, that is, to be active (action, after all, constituting the eating of the spiritual bread, as is clear from the saying of the Lord to the apostles, “Be active, not for the eating, which perishes, but for that which endures to life eternal”), this one’s heart is stricken and dried up like hay. How does hay get stricken and dry up? When rain stops falling on it. As the heart, too, when suffering from a dearth of the word, is then stricken and dries up, the flower of virtue no longer has the strength to bloom.
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 102:9 powerfully articulates the psalmist's profound despair and overwhelming sorrow, employing stark, visceral imagery to convey a state where grief has permeated every aspect of existence, even the most basic sustenance. This verse vividly communicates a soul so consumed by affliction that the very acts of eating and drinking are corrupted by humiliation and ceaseless tears, illustrating an extreme and pervasive suffering that has become the psalmist's constant, inescapable reality.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Psalms 102:9 is rich in Imagery and Metaphor, painting a vivid picture of the psalmist's suffering. The central Metaphor of "eating ashes like bread" transforms the symbolic act of mourning into a literal, consuming reality, suggesting that grief has become the psalmist's very sustenance. This is further intensified by Hyperbole, as the literal consumption of ashes and tears is an exaggeration designed to convey the extreme, pervasive, and unbearable nature of his sorrow. The verse also employs Parallelism, specifically synonymous parallelism, where the second clause ("and mingled my drink with weeping") reinforces and expands upon the first ("For I have eaten ashes like bread"). Both clauses use the corruption of basic sustenance (food and drink) to illustrate the utter saturation of the psalmist's life with grief and humiliation. These devices combine to create a deeply emotive and unforgettable portrayal of profound despair.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Psalms 102:9 offers profound theological insights into the nature of human suffering and God's relationship to it. It powerfully validates the raw and unfiltered expression of anguish before the divine, affirming that God hears and acknowledges even the most extreme forms of human despair. The psalmist's complaint, though steeped in desolation, is directed to the Lord, underscoring the biblical principle that lament is a legitimate and necessary form of prayer, a testament to faith even amidst profound doubt and pain. This verse reminds us that the biblical narrative does not shy away from the harsh realities of life, but rather provides a framework for bringing our brokenness, our humiliation, and our ceaseless tears directly into God's presence, trusting in His ultimate compassion and enduring nature, which the psalm later affirms.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Psalms 102:9 provides a powerful and validating language for those experiencing overwhelming grief, depression, or profound despair. It acknowledges that suffering can be so pervasive that it affects our most basic functions, making life itself feel like a burden. In a world that often encourages us to "be strong" or "get over it," this verse gives us permission to acknowledge the depth of our pain, to confess that our very existence feels contaminated by sorrow. It invites us to bring our "ashes" and our "weeping" before God, not as a sign of weakness, but as an act of radical honesty and trust. The psalmist's example encourages us to pour out our hearts without reservation, reminding us that even when we feel abandoned, our cries are heard by the One who is eternal and compassionate, and who ultimately promises to give us "beauty for ashes" (Isaiah 61:3).
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Why does the psalmist use such extreme and graphic imagery?
Answer: The psalmist employs extreme and graphic imagery to convey the totality and overwhelming nature of his suffering. By stating he has "eaten ashes like bread" and "mingled my drink with weeping," he uses hyperbole and metaphor to communicate that his grief is not merely an emotion but has permeated every aspect of his existence, corrupting even his most basic sustenance. This vivid language serves to shock the reader, emphasize the depth of his despair, and fully express the extent of his complaint to God. It draws on culturally resonant symbols of mourning (ashes) to underscore his profound humiliation and sorrow, making his anguish palpable and undeniable. The intensity of the language reflects the intensity of his internal experience, leaving no doubt as to the severity of his affliction.
Is this verse only about physical suffering, or does it refer to emotional/spiritual anguish?
Answer: While the imagery of eating and drinking relates to physical acts, the suffering described in Psalms 102:9 is primarily an expression of profound emotional and spiritual anguish that manifests in physical ways. The "ashes" and "weeping" are metaphorical for the psalmist's pervasive despair, humiliation, and sorrow. His physical body is wasting away (as described in earlier verses of Psalm 102), but the core of his complaint here is the internal state of being utterly consumed by grief. The verse illustrates how deep emotional and spiritual pain can indeed affect one's physical well-being and ability to function normally, making even the acts of eating and drinking feel corrupted by sorrow. It speaks to a holistic experience of suffering where the inner turmoil profoundly impacts the outer life.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
The psalmist's cry of consuming sorrow in Psalms 102:9 finds its ultimate echo and transformation in the person of Jesus Christ. He is the true "Man of Sorrows, and acquainted with grief" (Isaiah 53:3), who fully entered into the human experience of suffering, even to the point of feeling utterly forsaken. While Jesus did not literally eat ashes, He bore the ashes of our sin and humiliation on the cross, becoming sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21). His anguish in Gethsemane was so profound that His sweat became "like great drops of blood falling to the ground" (Luke 22:44), a physical manifestation of an emotional and spiritual burden that far surpassed any human weeping. On the cross, He cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46), experiencing a spiritual desolation that mirrored the psalmist's deepest lament. Through His perfect suffering, the Lamb of God (John 1:29) drank the cup of God's wrath and bore the weight of all human sorrow, transforming our ashes into beauty (Isaiah 61:3) and our weeping into eternal joy (Psalm 30:5). In Christ, our deepest laments are heard, understood, and ultimately redeemed, for He is our sympathetic High Priest who has been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15).