Psalms 102:11
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My days are like lengthening shadows, and I wither away like grass.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
Some think that David penned this psalm at the time of Absalom's rebellion; others that Daniel, Nehemiah, or some other prophet, penned it for the use of the church, when it was in captivity in Babylon, because it seems to speak of the ruin of Zion and of a time set for the rebuilding of it, which Daniel understood by books, Dan 9:2. Or perhaps the psalmist was himself in great affliction, which he complains of in the beginning of the psalm, but (as in Ps. 77 and elsewhere) he comforts himself under it with the consideration of God's eternity, and the church's prosperity and perpetuity, how much soever it was now distressed and threatened. But it is clear, from the application of Psa 102:25, Psa 102:26, to Christ (Heb 1:10-12), that the psalm has reference to the days of the Messiah, and speaks either of his affliction or of the afflictions of his church for his sake. In the psalm we have, I. A sorrowful complaint which the psalmist makes, either for himself or in the name of the church, of great afflictions, which were very pressing (Psa 102:1-11). II. Seasonable comfort fetched in against these grievances, 1. From the eternity of God (Psa 102:12, Psa 102:24, Psa 102:27). 2. From a believing prospect of the deliverance which God would, in due time, work for his afflicted church (Psa 102:13-22) and the continuance of it in the world (Psa 102:28). In singing this psalm, if we have not occasion to make the same complaints, yet we may take occasion to sympathize with those that have, and then the comfortable part of this psalm will be the more comfortable to us in the singing of it. A prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before the Lord.
Open source ↗102:11 The psalmist’s existence seems empty and transitory (102:4; 109:23; 144:4).
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
Cross-references
Other passages the community most often connects to this one. Tap to read.
Like a flower, he comes forth, then withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.
I am fading away like a lengthening shadow; I am shaken off like a locust.
Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.
For, “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall,
But the one who is rich should exult in his low position, because he will pass away like a flower of the field.
You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
For who knows what is good for a man during the few days in which he passes through his fleeting life like a shadow? Who can tell a man what will come after him under the sun?