Psalms 109 · Verse 23

Psalms 109:23

I am gone like the shadow when it declineth: I am tossed up and down as the locust.
Psalms 109:23, King James Version

Psalms 109:23 in other translations

BSBI am fading away like a lengthening shadow; I am shaken off like a locust.
WEBI fade away like an evening shadow. I am shaken off like a locust.
ASVI am gone like the shadow when it declineth: I am tossed up and down as the locust.
YLTAs a shadow when it is stretched out I have gone, I have been driven away as a locust.
DARBYI am gone like a shadow when it lengtheneth; I am tossed about like the locust;
BBEI am gone like the shade when it is stretched out: I am forced out of my place like a locust.
WebsterI am gone like the shadow when it declineth: I am tossed up and down as the locust.

What does Psalms 109:23 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
23. like the shadow--(Compare Psa 102:11). tossed up and down--or, "driven" (Ex 10:19).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 23 I am gone like the shadow - "I have walked like the declining shadow," - I have passed my meridian of health and life; and as the sun is going below the horizon, so am I about to go under the earth. I am tossed up and down as the locust - When swarms of locusts take wing, and infest the countries in the east, if the wind happen to blow briskly, the swarms are agitated and driven upon each other, so as to appear to be heaved to and fro, or tossed up and down. Dr. Shaw, who has seen this, says it gives a lively idea of the comparisons of the psalmist.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Psalms 109:21-31

The psalmist takes God's comforts to himself, but in a very humble manner. He was troubled in mind. His body was wasted, and almost worn away. But it is better to have leanness in the body, while the soul prospers and is in health, than to have leanness in the soul, while the body is feasted. He was ridiculed and reproached by his enemies. But if God bless us, we need not care who curses us; for how can they curse…

Read the full comment on Psalms 109:21-31 →

Psalms 109:23 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

כְּצֵל\־ke.tzel-like a shadowH6738
כִּנְטוֹת֥וֹkin.to.Towhen stretches out itH5186
נֶהֱלָ֑כְתִּיne.he.La.khe.tiI have vanishedH1980
נִ֝נְעַ֗רְתִּיnin.'Ar.tiI have been shaken offH5287
כָּֽאַרְבֶּֽה\׃Ka.'ar.Behlike <the> locustH697

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Psalms 109:23

  • Exodus 10:19

    And the Lord turned a mighty strong west wind, which took away the locusts, and cast them into the Red sea; there remained not one locust in all the coasts of Egypt.

  • Job 14:2

    He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.

  • 1 Chronicles 29:15

    For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.

  • Psalms 102:10-11

    Because of thine indignation and thy wrath: for thou hast lifted me up, and cast me down. My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass.

  • Psalms 144:4

    Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away.

  • Exodus 10:13

    And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all that day, and all that night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts.

  • Ecclesiastes 6:12

    For who knoweth what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?

  • Ecclesiastes 8:13

    But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God.

  • James 4:14

    Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
gone.
102:11; 144:4; 1Ch 29:15; Job 14:2; Ec 6:12; 8:13; Jas 4:14
I am tossed.
102:10; Ex 10:13,19

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Psalms 109:22

    For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me.

  • Psalms 109:23

    I am gone like the shadow when it declineth: I am tossed up and down as the locust.

  • Psalms 109:24

    My knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh faileth of fatness.

Read all of Psalms 109

Psalms 109:23 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Voime como la sombra cuando declina; soy sacudido como langosta.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Je m’en vais comme l’ombre quand elle s’allonge; je suis jeté çà et là comme la sauterelle;
German
Elberfelder 1871		Wie ein Schatten, wenn er sich streckt, gehe ich dahin, werde hinweggescheucht wie die Heuschrecke.