Psalms 109 · Verse 24

Psalms 109:24

My knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh faileth of fatness.
Psalms 109:24, King James Version

Psalms 109:24 in other translations

BSBMy knees are weak from fasting, and my body grows lean and gaunt.
WEBMy knees are weak through fasting. My body is thin and lacks fat.
ASVMy knees are weak through fasting; And my flesh faileth of fatness.
YLTMy knees have been feeble from fasting, And my flesh hath failed of fatness.
DARBYMy knees are failing through fasting, and my flesh hath lost its fatness;
BBEMy knees are feeble for need of food; there is no fat on my bones.
WebsterMy knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh faileth of fatness.

What does Psalms 109:24 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Psalms 109:24-25
24-25. Taunts and reproaches aggravate his afflicted and feeble state (Psa 22:6, 7).

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

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 24 My knees are weak through fasting - That hunger is as soon felt in weakening the knees, as in producing an uneasy sensation in the stomach, is known by all who have ever felt it. Writers in all countries have referred to this effect of hunger. Thus Tryphioderus Il. Excid. ver 155: Τειρομενου βαρυθειεν ατερπεΐ γουνατα λιμῳ. "Their knees might fail, by hunger's force subdued; And sink, unable to sustain their load." Merrick. So Plautus, Curcul, act. ii., scen. 3: - Tenebrae oboriuntur, genua inedia succidunt. "My eyes grow dim; my knees are weak with hunger." And Lucretius, lib. 4: ver. 950: - Brachia, palpebraeque cadunt, poplitesque procumbunt. "The arms, the eyelids fall; the knees give way." Both the knees and the sight are particularly affected by hunger.

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 109:24 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.

בִּ֭רְכַּיBir.kaiknees myH1290
כָּשְׁל֣וּka.she.Luthey have staggeredH3782
מִצּ֑וֹםmi.Tzomfrom fastingH6685
וּ֝בְשָׂרִ֗יu.ve.sa.Riand flesh myH1320
כָּחַ֥שׁka.Chashit has become leanH3584
מִשָּֽׁמֶן\׃mi.Sha.menfrom fatnessH8081

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

Cross references for Psalms 109:24

  • Psalms 32:3-4

    When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.

  • Matthew 4:2

    And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.

  • Psalms 22:14

    I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.

  • Hebrews 12:12

    Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;

  • Psalms 35:13-14

    But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom. I behaved myself as though he had been my friend or brother: I bowed down heavily, as one that mourneth for his mother.

  • Psalms 69:10

    When I wept, and chastened my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach.

  • Psalms 38:5-8

    My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness. I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long. For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease: and there is no soundness in my flesh. I am feeble and sore broken: I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart.

  • 2 Corinthians 11:27

    In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.

  • Psalms 102:4-5

    My heart is smitten, and withered like grass; so that I forget to eat my bread. By reason of the voice of my groaning my bones cleave to my skin.

  • Job 19:20

    My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
knees.
22:14; 35:13,14; 69:10; Mt 4:2; 2Co 11:27; Heb 12:12
my flesh.
32:3,4; 38:5-8; 102:4,5; Job 19:20

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

Context

  • 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.

  • Psalms 109:25

    I became also a reproach unto them: when they looked upon me they shaked their heads.

Read all of Psalms 109

Psalms 109:24 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Mis rodillas están debilitadas á causa del ayuno, y mi carne desfallecida por falta de gordura.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Mes genoux chancellent par le jeûne, et ma chair s’est amaigrie et n’a plus sa graisse.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Meine Knie wanken vom Fasten, und mein Fleisch ist abgemagert.