Psalms 73:21

King James Version

Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
When I became embitteredand my innermost being was wounded,

Hebrew Names Version
For my soul was grieved. I was embittered in my heart.

English Standard Version
When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart,

New Century Version
When my heart was sad and I was angry,

New English Translation
Yes, my spirit was bitter, and my insides felt sharp pain.

Amplified Bible
When my heart was embittered And I was pierced within [as with the fang of an adder],

New American Standard Bible
When my heart was embittered And I was pierced within,

World English Bible
For my soul was grieved. I was embittered in my heart.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Certainely mine heart was vexed, and I was pricked in my reines:

Legacy Standard Bible
When my heart was embitteredAnd I was pierced within,

Berean Standard Bible
When my heart was grieved and I was pierced within,

Contemporary English Version
Once I was bitter and brokenhearted.

Complete Jewish Bible
When I had a sour attitude and felt stung by pained emotions,

Darby Translation
When my heart was in a ferment, and I was pricked in my reins,

Easy-to-Read Version
I was so stupid. I thought about such people and became upset. God, I was upset and angry with you! I acted like a senseless animal. <

George Lamsa Translation
Thus my heart was grieved, and my conscience troubled me.

Good News Translation
When my thoughts were bitter and my feelings were hurt,

Lexham English Bible
When my heart was embittered and I felt stabbed in my kidneys,

Literal Translation
For my heart was in a ferment, and I was pierced in my reins.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Thus my hert was greued, & it wente euen thorow my reynes.

American Standard Version
For my soul was grieved, And I was pricked in my heart:

Bible in Basic English
My heart was made bitter, and I was pained by the bite of grief:

JPS Old Testament (1917)
For my heart was in a ferment, and I was pricked in my reins.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Ueryly thus was my heart inflamed: thus was my reynes pricked.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
For my heart has rejoiced, and my reins have been gladdened.

English Revised Version
For my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins:

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
For myn herte is enflaumed, and my reynes ben chaungid;

Update Bible Version
For my soul was grieved, And I was pricked in my heart:

Webster's Bible Translation
Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins.

New King James Version
Thus my heart was grieved, And I was vexed in my mind.

New Living Translation
Then I realized that my heart was bitter, and I was all torn up inside.

New Life Bible
My heart was troubled and I was hurt inside.

New Revised Standard
When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart,

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
But my heart had grown embittered, And, in my reins, had I received wounds;

Douay-Rheims Bible
(72-21) For my heart hath been inflamed, and my reins have been changed:

Revised Standard Version
When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart,

Young's Literal Translation
For my heart doth show itself violent, And my reins prick themselves,

THE MESSAGE
When I was beleaguered and bitter, totally consumed by envy, I was totally ignorant, a dumb ox in your very presence. I'm still in your presence, but you've taken my hand. You wisely and tenderly lead me, and then you bless me.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
When my heart was embittered And I was pierced within,

Contextual Overview

²¹ Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins. ²² So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee. ²³ Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand. ²⁴ Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. ²⁵ Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. ²⁶ My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. ²⁷ For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee. ²⁸ But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord God , that I may declare all thy works.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

my heart: Psalms 73:3, Psalms 37:1, Psalms 37:7

in my: Job 16:13, Lamentations 3:13

Reciprocal: 1 Kings 8:38 - the plague Psalms 16:7 - my reins

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Thus my heart was grieved,.... Not with his own sins, nor with the sins of the wicked, but at their prosperity; for this is an account of himself, while under the temptation, and before he went into the sanctuary of the Lord; or when he was "leavened" r, with the old leaven of wickedness, and envy, and indignation; he was in a ferment, so Plautus s uses the phrase for being in anger and wrath; he swelled, as what is leavened does, against God and his providence: or was "soured" t; he was out of humour and angry with God, or was exasperated and provoked at the favours bestowed upon the wicked. Some render it "inflamed" u, made hot; not with the love of God, and meditation upon it, but with wrath and indignation:

and I was pricked in my reins; disturbed and distracted in his thoughts, felt a great deal of pain in his mind, while he was considering the prosperity of the wicked; which was as a sword in his bones, and as an arrow shot into his reins; see Lamentations 3:13.

r יתחמץ "effervesceret fermenti instar", Tigurine version; "in fermento esset", Cocceius; so Ainsworth. s Casina, Act. 2. Sc. 5. v. 17. t Acescet Montanus; "quasi aceto acri perfundebatur", Vatablus. u "Inflammatum est", V. L.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Thus my heart was grieved - literally, and more expressively, “was soured.” The meaning is, that his heart was grieved, pained, dissatisfied. His mind was embittered, and he was rendered unhappy, by the views which he cherished about God, as doubting the wisdom and justice of his dealings with people - and about people, as being envious at their prosperity.

And I was pricked in my reins - The reins are often in the Scriptures represented as the seat of the thoughts or affections. See the notes at Psalms 7:9. The word rendered “pricked” means to sharpen, as a sword; and then, to pierce and penetrate as a sword does. The idea is, that these thoughts, so distressing and painful, seemed to be like a sharp sword penetrating to the seat of life.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Psalms 73:21. Thus may heart was grieved — The different views which I got of this subject quite confounded me; I was equally astonished at their sudden overthrow and my own ignorance. I felt as if I were a beast in stupidity. I permitted my mind to be wholly occupied with sensible things, like the beasts that perish, and did not look into a future state; nor did I consider, nor submit to, the wise designs of an unerring Providence.