Psalms 109:23

Psa 109:23 I am gone like the shadow when it declineth: I am tossed up and down as the locust.

Ver. 23. I am gone like the shadow] Abii, perii, evanui, I vanish, as the long shadows do so soon as the sun setteth.

As the locust] Leapeth from hedge to hedge, so do I from place to place, being tossed from post to pillar, αστατουμεν, 1Co 4:11

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Psa 109:23. I am gone, &c. — Hebrew, נהלכתי, neehlacheti, I am made to go, either, 1st, From place to place; which was David’s case when he was persecuted by Saul and by Absalom, and Christ’s case upon earth when he had no certain place where to lay his head. Or, 2d, Into the grave, as this phrase frequently signifies; like the shadow when it declineth — Toward the evening, when, the sun setting, it vanisheth instantly and irrecoverably. I am tossed up and down as a locust — Which of itself is unstable, continually leaping and moving from place to place, and is easily driven away with every wind. So am I exposed to perpetual and successive changes within myself, and to a thousand violences and mischiefs from other persons and things.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

23. (Psa 109:23) Like a shadow at its turning I am gone; I am driven away like the locust. The first comparison is the same with that in Psa 102:12. Our idiom enables us to imitate the phrase I am gone, a passive which in Hebrew occurs only here. The other verb is rare, but its meaning is suffi-ciently determined by usage. The allusion here is to the violence with which a cloud of locusts in the east is scattered by the wind. Compare Exo 10:19, Joe 2:20, Nah 3:17.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

109:23 A shadow at dusk suggests a transitory, empty existence (102:11; 144:4); a single locust could easily be brushed off one’s clothing.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Meaning, that he hath no stay nor assurance in this world.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 23. I am gone like the shadow] "I have walked like the declining shadow,"-I have passed my meridian of health and life; and as the sun is going below the horizon, so am I about to go under the earth.

I am tossed up and down as the locust.] When swarms of locusts take wing, and infest the countries in the east, if the wind happen to blow briskly, the swarms are agitated and driven upon each other, so as to appear to be heaved to and fro, or tossed up and down. Dr. Shaw, who has seen this, says it gives a lively idea of the comparisons of the psalmist.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

23 I walk about as a shadow. These are two very appropriate similitudes: to the first of them I formerly adverted in Psalm 102:12; namely, that the afflicted person, and he who is almost lifeless, is very fitly compared to the shadow of the evening. At sunrise, or when he is shining in noon-day brightness, the constant shifting of the shadow is not so perceptible; but, towards sunset, the shadow flits before us during every moment that passes. By the other similitude, the transitory nature of all sublunary things is pointed out. For as the locusts are constantly skipping from one place to another, so David complains of his life being ever rendered uneasy by incessant persecution, so that no space was allowed him for repose; and this is similar to what he says in Psalm 11:1, that he was compelled to flee like a sparrow, for which the fowler lays snares in all directions. In short, he mourns over his forlorn situation, that he could find no place of safety, and that, even among men, he could get no habitation. And, as in this psalm, he presents us with a picture of the whole Church, we need not be surprised if God try us, and arouse us from our lethargy, by an innumerable variety of events. Accordingly, Paul, 1 Corinthians 4:11, speaking of himself and others, says, that they have no certain dwelling-place; a description which is more or less applicable to all the children of God.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(23) Shadow when it declineth.—Literally, a lengthened shade. (Comp. Psa_102:11, and see Note. Son_2:17.) When the day declines the shadow lengthens, it becomes longer and longer, till it vanishes in the universal darkness. Thus does the life of the suffering generation pass away.

Tossed up and down.—Better, tossed or shaken out, as from the lap. So LXX. and Vulg. (See Neh_5:13, where the same verb is three times used.) The grasshopper was an emblem of timidity (Job_39:20).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

23. Like a shadow when it declines or is stretched out towards evening (Psa_102:11), and is about to disappear altogether, so am I made to depart: the form of the verb implies compulsion from without.

I am tossed up and down] Or, driven away. The point of comparison is the helplessness of the locust swept along by the wind (Exo_10:19; Joe_2:20).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

My knees are weak through fasting,..... Either voluntary or forced, through want of food or refreshment; this was verified in Christ, when he kneeled and prayed, and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling to the ground; see Psa 69:10.

And my flesh faileth of fatness; or "for want of oil" (k); the radical moisture of his flesh being dried up like a potsherd, Psa 22:15.

(k) , Sept. "propter oleum", V. L. "propter defectum olei", Eth. Arab.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

I am gone like the shadow when it declineth - See the notes at Psa 102:11.

I am tossed up and down as the locust - Agitated, moved, driven about, as a cloud of locusts is by the wind. The meaning of the whole is, that he was frail and weak, and needed strength from on high.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

I am gone, Heb. I am made to go; either,

1. From place to place; which was David’s case, when he was persecuted by Saul and by Absalom; and Christ’s case upon earth, where he had no certain place

where to lay his head: Mat 8:20. Or,

2. Into the grave, as this phrase is used, 1Ch 17:11; Psa 58:8, and oft elsewhere. Declineth; towards the evening, when, the sun setting, it vanisheth instantly, and irrecoverably, until the sun rise again, which it never will do to me in this world, when once I am gone out of it.

As the locust; which of itself is unstable, continually skipping from place to place, and is easily driven away with every wind; so am I exposed to perpetual and successive changes within myself, and to a thousand violences and mischiefs from other persons and things.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ver. 23. I am gone like the shadow when it declineth. I am a mere shadow, a shadow at the vanishing point, when it stretches far, but is almost lost in the universal gloom of evening which settles over all, and so obliterates the shadows cast by the setting sun. Lord, there is next to nothing left of me, wilt thou not come in before I am quite gone?

I am tossed up and down as the locust, which is the sport of the winds, and must go up or down as the breeze carries it. The psalmist felt as powerless in his distress as a poor insect, which a child may toss up and down at its pleasure. He entreats the divine pity, because he had been brought to this forlorn and feeble condition by the long persecution which his tender heart had endured. Slander and malice are apt to produce nervous disorders and to lead on to pining diseases. Those who use these poisoned arrows are not always aware of the consequences; they scatter fire brands and death and say it is sport.

Ver. 23. I am gone like the shadow when it declineth. Bishop Horsley renders, "I am just gone, like the shadow stretched to its utmost length"; and remarks: "The state of the shadows of terrestrial objects at sunset, lengthening every instant, and growing faint as they lengthen; and in the instant that they shoot to an immeasurable length disappearing."

Ver. 23. I am tossed up and down as the locust. Although the locusts have sufficient strength of flight to remain on the wing for a considerable period, and to pass over great distances, they have little or no command over the direction of their flight, always travel with the wind, in the same way as the quail. So entirely are they at the mercy of the wind, that if a sudden gust arises the locusts are tossed about in the most helpless manner; and if they should happen to come across one of the circular air currents that are so frequently found in the countries which they inhabit, they are whirled round and round without the least power of extricating themselves. J.G. Wood.

Ver. 23. I am tossed up and down as the locust. This reference is to the flying locust. I have had frequent opportunities to notice how these squadrons are tossed up and down, and whirled round and round by the ever varying currents of the mountain winds. W.M. Thomson.

Psalms 109:24*

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

23. Gone like the shadow—Like a disappearing evening shadow, till its form and outline are lost in the darkness.

I am tossed up and down—I am shaken out. I have been violently cast out of home and country. So Exo_14:27, “The Lord shook off [margin] the Egyptians” Neh_5:13, “So God shake out every man from his house.”

As the locust—An allusion to their being tossed up and down by violent winds. Thus Morier: “On looking up we perceived an immense cloud, here and there semi-transparent, in other parts quite black, that spread itself all over the sky, and at intervals shadowed the sun. This we soon found to be locusts, whole swarms of them falling about us; but their passage was but momentary, for a fresh wind from the southwest, which had brought them to us, so completely drove them forward that not a vestige of them was seen two hours after.”

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I am gone like the shadow when it declineth; rather, lille a shodow. (comp. Psa_102:11) When shadows "decline," they are just about to cease and disappear. I am tossed up and down as the locust; or, "I am carried away swept off, i.e. , or just ready to be swept off, from the face of the earth. (see Exo_10:19 Joe_2:20 Nah_3:17)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

When - Towards the evening, when the sun is setting. The locust - Which is easily driven away with every wind.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Like a shadow when it lengthens at eventide.

I was stirred up an expression of stirring and mixing and astonishment, like a locust, which wanders to and fro and is stirred up. [This] I found:

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.