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Read the Bible

Easy-to-Read Version

Psalms 102:7

I cannot sleep. I am like a lonely bird on the roof.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Afflictions and Adversities;   Fellowship;   Watchfulness;   Thompson Chain Reference - Birds;   Friendship-Friendlessness;   Loneliness;   Sparrows;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Watchfulness;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Sparrow;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Person, Personhood;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Sparrow;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Birds;   Desert;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Praise;   Prayer;   Psalms;   Sparrow;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Sparrow,;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Owl;   Pelican;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Psalms the book of;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Christ;   Sparrow;   Watch;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Pelican;   Sparrow;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Sparrow;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Pelican;   Wilderness;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
I stay awake;I am like a solitary bird on a roof.
Hebrew Names Version
I watch, and have become like a sparrow that is alone on the housetop.
King James Version
I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top.
English Standard Version
I lie awake; I am like a lonely sparrow on the housetop.
New Century Version
I lie awake. I am like a lonely bird on a housetop.
New English Translation
I stay awake; I am like a solitary bird on a roof.
Amplified Bible
I am sleepless and lie awake [mourning], I have become like a lonely bird on a housetop.
New American Standard Bible
I lie awake, I have become like a solitary bird on a housetop.
World English Bible
I watch, and have become like a sparrow that is alone on the housetop.
Geneva Bible (1587)
I watch and am as a sparrowe alone vpon the house top.
Legacy Standard Bible
I lie awake,I have become like a lonely bird on a roof.
Berean Standard Bible
I lie awake; I am like a lone bird on a housetop.
Contemporary English Version
or a restless sparrow alone on a roof.
Complete Jewish Bible
I am like a great owl in the desert, I've become like an owl in the ruins.
Darby Translation
I watch, and am like a sparrow alone upon the housetop.
George Lamsa Translation
I am shaken and alone like a sparrow upon the house tops.
Good News Translation
I lie awake; I am like a lonely bird on a housetop.
Lexham English Bible
I lie awake and I am like a lone bird on a roof.
Literal Translation
I watch and am like a sparrow alone on the housetop.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
I wake, and am euen as it were a sparow sittinge alone vpon the house toppe.
American Standard Version
I watch, and am become like a sparrow That is alone upon the house-top.
Bible in Basic English
I keep watch like a bird by itself on the house-top.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
I am like a pelican of the wilderness; I am become as an owl of the waste places.
King James Version (1611)
I watch, and am as a sparowe alone vpon the house top.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
I watch, and am as it were a sparrowe that sitteth alone vpon the house toppe.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
I have become like an owl in a ruined house. I have watched, and am become as a sparrow dwelling alone on a roof.
English Revised Version
I watch, and am become like a sparrow that is alone upon the housetop.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
I wakide; and Y am maad as a solitarie sparowe in the roof.
Update Bible Version
I watch, and have become like a sparrow That is alone on the house-top.
Webster's Bible Translation
I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top.
New King James Version
I lie awake, And am like a sparrow alone on the housetop.
New Living Translation
I lie awake, lonely as a solitary bird on the roof.
New Life Bible
I lie awake. And I feel like a bird alone on the roof.
New Revised Standard
I lie awake; I am like a lonely bird on the housetop.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
I have watched and am become, Like a bird sitting alone upon a housetop.
Douay-Rheims Bible
(101-8) I have watched, and am become as a sparrow all alone on the housetop.
Revised Standard Version
I lie awake, I am like a lonely bird on the housetop.
Young's Literal Translation
I have watched, and I am As a bird alone on the roof.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
I lie awake, I have become like a lonely bird on a housetop.

Contextual Overview

1

A prayer for a time of suffering, when anyone feels weak and wants to tell their complaints to the Lord .

Lord , hear my prayer. Listen to my cry for help. 2 Don't turn away from me when I have troubles. Listen to me, and answer me quickly when I cry for help. 3 My life is passing away like smoke. My life is like a fire slowly burning out. 4 My strength is gone— I am like dry, dying grass. I even forget to eat. 5 Because of my sadness, I am losing so much weight that my skin hangs from my bones. 6 I am lonely, like an owl living in the desert, like an owl living among old ruined buildings. 7 I cannot sleep. I am like a lonely bird on the roof. 8 My enemies insult me all the time. They make fun of me and use me as an example in their curses. 9 My great sadness is my only food. My tears fall into my drink. 10 You were angry with me, so you picked me up and threw me away.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

watch: Psalms 22:2, Psalms 77:4, Psalms 130:6, Deuteronomy 28:66, Deuteronomy 28:67, Job 7:13-16, Mark 14:33-37

alone: Psalms 38:11, Lamentations 3:28-30

Gill's Notes on the Bible

I watch,.... Night after night, and take no sleep; cannot get any by reason of thoughtfulness, care, and trouble:

and am as a sparrow alone upon the housetop; or, "as a bird" o; for there is no necessity of limiting it to a sparrow, to which the account does not seem so well to agree; for sparrows will not only perch on housetops and solitary places, but will make their nests in dwelling houses, and in places of public resort, as temples; hence David speaks of the sparrow finding an house near the altars of God,

Psalms 84:3 and Herodotus p makes mention of sparrows and other birds making their nests in the temple at Branchides; which may serve to illustrate the text last mentioned: wherefore this may be understood of any solitary bird, and especially of the owl q; the Jews had flat roofs upon their houses, and here birds of solitude would come and sit alone in the night season, to which the psalmist likens himself; being either forsaken by his friends and acquaintance; or, being in melancholy circumstances, he chose to be alone, mourning over his sorrowful state and condition.

o כצפור "sicut avis", Gejerus, Schmidt. p Clio, sive, l. 1. c. 159. q "--------tectoque prophanus Incubuit bubo" Ovid. Metamorph. l. 6. Fab. 8. "E tectis strix", &c. Tibullus, l. 1. Eleg. 5. v. 52.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house-top - That is, I am “sleepless;” trouble drives sleep from my eyes, and I am kept awake at night - a common effect of grief. The following remarks, copied from the “Land and the Book” (i. 54, 55), will furnish all the illustration needful of this verse. “They are a tame, troublesome, and impertinent generation, and nestle just where you don’t want them. They stop up your stove and waterpipes with their rubbish, build in the windows and under the beams of the roof, and would stuff your hat full of stubble in half a day if they found it hanging in a place to suit them ... . When one of them has lost its mate - a matter of everyday occurrence - he will sit on the house-top alone, and lament by the hour his sad bereavement.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Psalms 102:7. As a sparrow alone — צפור tsippor, seems to be often used for any small bird, such as the swallow, sparrow, or the like. Bochart supposes the screech owl is intended.


 
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