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Friday, November 8th, 2024
the Week of Proper 26 / Ordinary 31
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World English Bible

Psalms 103:14

For he knows how we are made. He remembers that we are dust.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Afflictions and Adversities;   Death;   God Continued...;   Life;   Thompson Chain Reference - Body;   Dust;   Frailty of Man;   Human;   Man;   Transient-Enduring;   The Topic Concordance - Knowledge;   Man;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Earth, the;   Wisdom of God, the;  

Dictionaries:

- Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Nature, Natural;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Grass;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Anthropology;   Frame;   Life;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Heredity;   Joy;   Love, Lover, Lovely, Beloved;   Psalms;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Dust;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Psalms the book of;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Death;   Dust;   Frame;   Imagination;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Didascalia;   Judaism;  

Devotionals:

- Daily Light on the Daily Path - Devotion for November 24;   Every Day Light - Devotion for February 11;  

Parallel Translations

New Living Translation
For he knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust.
English Revised Version
For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.
Update Bible Version
For he knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.
New Century Version
He knows how we were made; he remembers that we are dust.
New English Translation
For he knows what we are made of; he realizes we are made of clay.
Webster's Bible Translation
For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we [are] dust.
Amplified Bible
For He knows our [mortal] frame; He remembers that we are [merely] dust.
English Standard Version
For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
for he knewe oure makyng.
Berean Standard Bible
For He knows our frame; He is mindful that we are dust.
Contemporary English Version
because he knows we are made of dust.
American Standard Version
For he knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust.
Bible in Basic English
For he has knowledge of our feeble frame; he sees that we are only dust.
Complete Jewish Bible
For he understands how we are made, he remembers that we are dust.
Darby Translation
For himself knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.
Easy-to-Read Version
He knows all about us. He knows we are made from dust.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
For He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust.
King James Version (1611)
For he knoweth our frame: hee remembreth that we are dust.
New Life Bible
For He knows what we are made of. He remembers that we are dust.
New Revised Standard
For he knows how we were made; he remembers that we are dust.
Geneva Bible (1587)
For he knoweth whereof we be made: he remembreth that we are but dust.
George Lamsa Translation
For he knows whereof we are made; he remembers that we are dust.
Good News Translation
He knows what we are made of; he remembers that we are dust.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
For, he, knoweth how we are formed, He is mindful that, dust, we are.
Douay-Rheims Bible
(102-14) For he knoweth our frame. He remembereth that we are dust:
Revised Standard Version
For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
For he knoweth wherof we be made: he remembreth that we are but dust.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
For he knows our frame: remember that we are dust.
Christian Standard Bible®
For he knows what we are made of,remembering that we are dust.
Hebrew Names Version
For he knows how we are made. He remembers that we are dust.
King James Version
For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.
Lexham English Bible
For he knows our frame. He remembers that we are dust.
Literal Translation
For He knows how we are made, remembering that we are dust.
Young's Literal Translation
For He hath known our frame, Remembering that we [are] dust.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
For he knoweth wherof we be made, he remembreth that we are but dust.
New American Standard Bible
For He Himself knows our form; He is mindful that we are nothing but dust.
New King James Version
For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust.
Legacy Standard Bible
For He Himself knows our form;He remembers that we are but dust.

Contextual Overview

6 Yahweh executes righteous acts, And justice for all who are oppressed. 7 He made known his ways to Moses, His deeds to the children of Israel. 8 Yahweh is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness. 9 He will not always accuse; Neither will he stay angry forever. 10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor rewarded us for our iniquities. 11 For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is his lovingkindness toward those who fear him. 12 As far as the east is from the west, So far has he removed our transgressions from us. 13 Like a father has compassion on his children, So Yahweh has compassion on those who fear him. 14 For he knows how we are made. He remembers that we are dust. 15 As for man, his days are like grass. As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

he knoweth: Psalms 78:38, Psalms 78:39, Psalms 89:47

we are dust: Genesis 3:19, Job 7:5-7, Job 7:21, Job 10:9, Job 13:25, Ecclesiastes 12:7

Reciprocal: Genesis 2:7 - dust Judges 6:36 - If thou wilt 1 Kings 19:7 - because the journey Job 6:11 - What Psalms 125:3 - the rod Isaiah 27:8 - measure Isaiah 42:3 - bruised John 20:27 - Reach hither thy finger

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For he knoweth our frame,.... The outward frame of their bodies, what brittle ware, what earthen vessels, they be; he being the potter, they the clay, he knows what they are able to bear, and what not; that if he lays his hand too heavy, or strikes too hard, or repeats his strokes too often, they will fall in pieces: he knows the inward frame of their minds, the corruption of their nature, how prone they are to sin; and therefore does not expect perfect services from them: how impotent they are to that which is good; that they can do nothing of themselves; nor think a good thought, nor do a good action; and that their best frames are very uncertain ones; and that, though the spirit may be willing, the flesh is weak. The word used is the same that is rendered "imagination", Genesis 6:5, and by which the Jews generally express the depravity and corruption of nature; and so the Targum here paraphrases it,

"for he knows our evil concupiscence, which causes us to sin;''

and to this sense Kimchi.

He remembereth that we are dust b; are of the dust originally, and return to it again at death; and into which men soon crumble when he lays his hand upon them; this he considers, see Psalms 78:38. The Targum is,

"it is remembered before him, that we are of the dust:''

the Septuagint version makes a petition of it, "remember that we are dust"; and so the Arabic version. And we should remember it ourselves, and be humble before God; and wonder at his grace and goodness to us,

Genesis 18:27.

b "Pulvis et umbra sumus", Horat. Carmin. l. 4. Ode 7. v. 16.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For he knoweth our frame - Our formation; of what we are made; how we are made. That is, he knows that we are made of dust; that we are frail; that we are subject to decay; that we soon sink under a heavy load. This is given as a reason why he pities us - that we are so frail and feeble, and that we are so easily broken down by a pressure of trial.

He remembereth that we are dust - Made of the earth. Genesis 2:7; Genesis 3:19. In his dealings with us he does not forget of what frail materials he made us, and how little our frames can bear. He tempers his dealings to the weakness and frailty of our nature, and his compassion interposes when the weight of sorrows would crush us. Remembering, too, our weakness, he interposes by his power to sustain us, and to enable us to bear what our frame could not otherwise endure. Compare the notes at Isaiah 57:16.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Psalms 103:14. For he knoweth our frame — יצרנו yitsrenu, "our formation;" the manner in which we are constructed, and the materials of which we are made. He knows we cannot contend with him, and if he uses his power against us, we must be crushed to destruction. In all his conduct towards us he considers the frailty of our nature, the untowardness of our circumstances, the strength and subtlety of temptation, and the sure party (till the heart is renewed) that the tempter has within us. Though all these things are against us, yet it must ever be said, whatever use we make of it, "the grace of God is sufficient for us." But alas! alas! who makes use of that sufficient grace? Here, then, is cause for condemnation. But, O amazing mercy! if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him; for he knoweth our frame, he remembereth that we are but dust. The man who can say, in the face of these Scriptures, Let us sin that grace may abound, is a brute and demon, who has neither lot nor part in this thing.


 
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