The Meaning of Psalms 103:5 Explained

Psalms 103:5

KJV: Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.

YLT: Who is satisfying with good thy desire, Renew itself as an eagle doth thy youth.

Darby: Who satisfieth thine old age with good things; thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.

ASV: Who satisfieth thy desire with good things,'so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Who satisfieth  thy mouth  with good  [things; so that] thy youth  is renewed  like the eagle's. 

What does Psalms 103:5 Mean?

Context Summary

Psalm 103:1-12 - The Lord's Abundant Mercies
David's name heads this peerless psalm, which expresses, as none other, the soul of the universal Church and of the individual Christian. Notice the present tenses throughout these verses. God's tender dealings run parallel with our lives. He is never weary nor exhausted. When once He begins, He keeps on. Let us enumerate the blessings that He gives in such unbroken abundance, and as the fingers tell the successive beads, praise Him: forgiveness; healing, Exodus 15:26; redemption from perils and accidents, seen and unseen; the crowns that He places on our unworthy heads; entire satisfaction, Psalms 36:8; Isaiah 58:11; perennial youth.
It was a proverb among Orientals that the eagle literally grows younger. This is the psalmist's reference in Psalms 103:5. For us it means that the life which is fed from the eternal springs is eagle-like in royal strength and sunward flight. Ways or plans are revealed to the inner circle; the ordinary congregation knows only acts. The Father does chide, but only till we put sin away. Conceive the infinite spaces of East and West-such is the distance of forgiven sin from us. It is impossible that the blame or curse of it should ever return upon the redeemed soul. [source]

Chapter Summary: Psalm 103

1  An exhortation to bless God for his mercy
5  And for the constancy thereof

What do the individual words in Psalms 103:5 mean?

who satisfies with good [things] your mouth [So that] is renewed of like the eagle your youth
הַמַּשְׂבִּ֣יַע בַּטּ֣וֹב עֶדְיֵ֑ךְ תִּתְחַדֵּ֖שׁ כַּנֶּ֣שֶׁר נְעוּרָֽיְכִי

הַמַּשְׂבִּ֣יַע  who  satisfies 
Parse: Article, Verb, Hifil, Participle, masculine singular
Root: שָׂבַע  
Sense: to be satisfied, be sated, be fulfilled, be surfeited.
בַּטּ֣וֹב  with  good  [things] 
Parse: Preposition-b, Article, Noun, masculine singular
Root: טָבַב 
Sense: good, pleasant, agreeable.
עֶדְיֵ֑ךְ  your  mouth 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct, second person feminine singular
Root: עֲדִי  
Sense: ornaments.
תִּתְחַדֵּ֖שׁ  [So  that]  is  renewed 
Parse: Verb, Hitpael, Imperfect, third person feminine singular
Root: חָדַשׁ  
Sense: to be new, renew, repair.
כַּנֶּ֣שֶׁר  of  like  the  eagle 
Parse: Preposition-k, Article, Noun, masculine singular
Root: נֶשֶׁר  
Sense: eagle, vulture, griffon-vulture.
נְעוּרָֽיְכִי  your  youth 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural construct, second person feminine singular
Root: נְעוּרִים 
Sense: youth, early life.