Psalms 102:3-5

102:3 For my days go up in smoke, ¹ 

and my bones are charred like a fireplace. ² 

102:4 My heart is parched ³  and withered like grass,

for I am unable ⁴  to eat food. ⁵ 

102:5 Because of the anxiety that makes me groan,

my bones protrude from my skin. ⁶ 

[102:3]  ¹ tn Heb “for my days come to an end in smoke.”

[102:3]  ² tn The Hebrew noun מוֹ־קֵד (mo-qed, “fireplace”) occurs only here, in Isa 33:14 (where it refers to the fire itself), and perhaps in Lev 6:2.

[102:4]  ³ tn Heb “struck, attacked.”

[102:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “I forget.”

[102:4]  ⁵ sn I am unable to eat food. During his time of mourning, the psalmist refrained from eating. In the following verse he describes metaphorically the physical effects of fasting.

[102:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “from the sound of my groaning my bone[s] stick to my flesh.” The preposition at the beginning of the verse is causal; the phrase “sound of my groaning” is metonymic for the anxiety that causes the groaning. The point seems to be this: Anxiety (which causes the psalmist to groan) keeps him from eating (v. 4). This physical deprivation in turn makes him emaciated – he is turned to “skin and bones,” so to speak.