The Meaning of Psalms 102:3 Explained

Psalms 102:3

KJV: For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as an hearth.

YLT: For consumed in smoke have been my days, And my bones as a fire-brand have burned.

Darby: For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as a firebrand.

ASV: For my days consume away like smoke, And my bones are burned as a firebrand.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

For my days  are consumed  like smoke,  and my bones  are burned  as an hearth. 

What does Psalms 102:3 Mean?

Context Summary

Psalm 102:1-11 - The Cry Of The Afflicted
This is the fifth of the Penitential Psalms. Some hold that it is one of the later psalms, asking for deliverance from captivity; others, emphasizing certain Davidic characteristics, ascribe it to the hand of the royal psalmist. Its actual authorship, however, is of comparatively small consequence; the main thing is to notice what adequate expression it gives to the sorrow of an almost broken heart.
The psalmist bases his cry for a speedy answer on the swiftness with which his days are passing away, like smoke escaping, from a chimney. His bones are calcined; his heart withers like Jonah's gourd; he is worn to a skeleton by his long and passionate lamentations. He finds his likeness in solitude-loving creatures, such as the pelican and the owl. Still another element in his suffering is the mockery of his foes. He cannot get away from it; it haunts him. Ashes, the token of his mourning, are his food, and tears fill his cup. But the bitterest element of all is the consciousness of God's displeasure. It seems as if God's hand is against him, and in the accumulated weight of grief, he deems that the day of his life must expire. However, in the concluding portion of the psalm his hope is renewed. [source]

Chapter Summary: Psalm 102

1  The prophet in his prayer makes a grievous complaint
12  He takes comfort in the eternity, and mercy of God
18  The mercies of God are to be recorded
23  He sustains his weakness by the unchangeableness of God

What do the individual words in Psalms 102:3 mean?

For are consumed like smoke my days and my bones like a hearth are burned
כִּֽי־ כָל֣וּ בְעָשָׁ֣ן יָמָ֑י וְ֝עַצְמוֹתַ֗י כְּמוֹ־ קֵ֥ד נִחָֽרוּ

כָל֣וּ  are  consumed 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, third person common plural
Root: כָּלָה  
Sense: to accomplish, cease, consume, determine, end, fail, finish, be complete, be accomplished, be ended, be at an end, be finished, be spent.
בְעָשָׁ֣ן  like  smoke 
Parse: Preposition-b, Noun, masculine singular
Root: עָשָׁן  
Sense: smoke.
יָמָ֑י  my  days 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural construct, first person common singular
Root: יׄום 
Sense: day, time, year.
וְ֝עַצְמוֹתַ֗י  and  my  bones 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Noun, feminine plural construct, first person common singular
Root: עֶצֶם 
Sense: bone, essence, substance.
כְּמוֹ־  like 
Parse: Preposition
Root: מֹוקֵד  
Sense: a burning mass, burning, hearth.
קֵ֥ד  a  hearth 
Parse: Adverb
Root: מֹוקֵד  
Sense: a burning mass, burning, hearth.
נִחָֽרוּ  are  burned 
Parse: Verb, Nifal, Perfect, third person common plural
Root: חָוַר 
Sense: to burn, be hot, be scorched, be charred.