Psalms 109:24
in Psalms 109My knees are weak from fasting, and my body grows lean and gaunt.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
My knees are weak through fasting; And my flesh faileth of fatness.
KJV
My knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh faileth of fatness.
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This verse in Psalms 109
Commentary
10 notes on this verseMy knees are weak through fasting,..... Either voluntary or forced, through want of food or refreshment; this was verified in Christ, when he kneeled and prayed, and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling to the ground; see Psa 69:10. And my flesh faileth of fatness; or "for want of oil" (k); the radical moisture of his flesh being dried up like a potsherd, Psa 22:15. (k) משמן δι' ελαιον, Sept. "propter oleum", V. L. "propter defectum olei", Eth. Arab.
This site's exposition
like a lengthening shadow
on Psalms 109:23-25
Three pictures stand together, a lengthening shadow, a locust shaken off, and knees weak from fasting. The body grows lean and gaunt. The accusers see him and shake their heads, the gesture the mockers make at Psalm 22:7.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
A commentator
Philoxenus of Mabbug13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 11 -- On Abstinence · Written before 523.
proposed
And thus also thou canst shew that all the righteous men and Prophets, either by their own will, or by God's command unto them, endured always tribulations and labours, even as the blessed David maketh known that from the severity of his fasting the very …
My knees are weakened from fasting. Take consolation, O monk, in fasting: since the Lord too did this. I say that when a monk fasts, he becomes stronger through fasting; and when his knees are weakened by fasting, then he is most of all strengthened. And my flesh is changed on account of oil. I seem to be saying a difficult thing, and I interpret it according to the letter, that I may edify my hearers: for even the letter edifies me. It is good to fast, it is good to flee from delicacies.
"I became also a reproach unto them" [Psalm 109:24]: through the death of the Cross. "For Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." [Galatians 3:13] "They looked upon Me, and shaked their heads." Because they beheld His crucifixion, without beholding His resurrection: they saw when His knees were weakened, they saw not when His flesh was changed.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
): My knees are weak through fasting, either forced fasting (for want of food when he was persecuted, or for want of appetite when he was sick) or voluntary fasting, when he chastened his soul either for sin or affliction, his own or other's, Ps. xxxv.
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The Nineteenth Century1 voice
My knees are weak through fasting; either religious fasting, to which he resorted in the dire extremity of his grief, or else through loss of appetite occasioned by distress of mind. Who can eat when every morsel is soured by envy? This is the advantage of the slanderer, that he feels nothing himself, while his sensitive victim can scarcely eat a morsel of bread because of his sensitiveness. However, the good God knoweth all this, and will succour his afflicted. The Lord who bids us confirm the feeble knees will assuredly do it himself. "And my flesh faileth of fatness."
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
My knees are weak through fasting; either religious fasting, to which he resorted in the dire extremity of his grief, or else through loss of appetite occasioned by distress of mind. Who can eat when every morsel is soured by envy? This is the advantage of the slanderer, that he feels nothing himself, while his sensitive victim can scarcely eat a morsel of bread because of his sensitiveness. However, the good God knoweth all this, and will succour his afflicted. The Lord who bids us confirm the feeble knees will assuredly do it himself. "And my flesh faileth of fatness." He was wasted to a skeleton, and as his body was emaciated, so was his soul bereft of comfort: he was pining away, and all the while his enemies saw it and laughed at his distress. How pathetically he states his case; this is one of the truest forms of prayer, the setting forth of our sorrow before the Lord. Weak knees are strong with God, and failing flesh has great power in pleading.
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.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
My knees are weak through fasting - Hunger; want of food. Strength to stand is connected with firmness in the knee-joints, and hence, weakness and feebleness are denoted by the giving way of the knees. Compare Heb 12:12. And my flesh faileth of fatness - I am lean and weak. There is not the proper supply for my strength. The idea seems to have been that fatness (Hebrew, oil) was necessary to strength.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בִּ֭רְכַּי | birkai | knees my | H1290 → | |
| כָּשְׁל֣וּ | kashelu | they have staggered | H3782 → | 62 times |
| מִצּ֑וֹם | mitzom | from fasting | H6685 → | 26 times |
| וּ֝בְשָׂרִ֗י | uvesari | and flesh my | H1320 → | 270 times |
| כָּחַ֥שׁ | kachash | it has become lean | H3584 → | 22 times |
| מִשָּֽׁמֶן׃ | mishamen | from fatness | H8081 → | 193 times |
בִּ֭רְכַּיknees my
birkaiH1290 →
כָּשְׁל֣וּthey have staggered
kasheluH3782 →62 times
מִצּ֑וֹםfrom fasting
mitzomH6685 →26 times
וּ֝בְשָׂרִ֗יand flesh my
uvesariH1320 →270 times
כָּחַ֥שׁit has become lean
kachashH3584 →22 times
מִשָּֽׁמֶן׃from fatness
mishamenH8081 →193 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Hebrews 12:12Therefore strengthen your limp hands and weak knees.
it leads to
- Isaiah 35:3
Strengthen the limp hands and steady the feeble knees!
- Hebrews 12:3
Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
- Job 4:3–4
Surely you have instructed many, and have strengthened their feeble hands.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:14
And we urge you, brothers, to admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, and be patient with everyone.
- Isaiah 35:3
Through
Matthew 4:2After fasting forty days and forty nights, He was hungry.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 9:18
Then I fell down before the LORD for forty days and forty nights, as I had done the first time. I did not eat bread or drink water because of all the sin you…
- Exodus 34:28
So Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments.
- 1 Kings 19:8
So he got up and ate and drank. And strengthened by that food, he walked forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.
- Luke 4:2
where for forty days He was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He was hungry.
- Deuteronomy 9:18
Where this verse is studied
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About Psalms
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Psalms; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 109; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 5; Jerome, Homily 35, on Psalm 108; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Philoxenus of Mabbug, 13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 11 -- On Abstinence.