Psalms 102:5

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

my bones protrude from my skin. ¹ 

Psalms 32:3

32:3 When I refused to confess my sin, ² 

my whole body wasted away, ³ 

while I groaned in pain all day long.

Psalms 6:2

6:2 Have mercy on me, ⁴  Lord, for I am frail!

Heal me, Lord, for my bones are shaking! ⁵ 

Psalms 139:15

139:15 my bones were not hidden from you,

when ⁶  I was made in secret

and sewed together in the depths of the earth. ⁷ 

[102:5]  ¹ 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.

[32:3]  ² tn Heb “when I was silent.”

[32:3]  ³ tn Heb “my bones became brittle.” The psalmist pictures himself as aging and growing physically weak. Trying to cover up his sin brought severe physical consequences.

[6:2]  ³ tn Or “show me favor.”

[6:2]  ⁴ tn Normally the verb בָּהַל (bahal) refers to an emotional response and means “tremble with fear, be terrified” (see vv. 3, 10). Perhaps here the “bones” are viewed as the seat of the psalmist’s emotions. However, the verb may describe one of the effects of his physical ailment, perhaps a fever. In Ezek 7:27 the verb describes how the hands of the people will shake with fear when they experience the horrors of divine judgment.

[139:15]  ⁴ tc The Hebrew term אֲשֶׁר (’asher, “which”) should probably be emended to כֲּאַשֶׁר (ka’asher, “when”). The kaf (כ) may have been lost by haplography (note the kaf at the end of the preceding form).

[139:15]  ⁵ sn The phrase depths of the earth may be metaphorical (euphemistic) or it may reflect a prescientific belief about the origins of the embryo deep beneath the earth’s surface (see H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament, 96-97). Job 1:21 also closely associates the mother’s womb with the earth.