On the way (ב as in Psalm 110:7) - not "by means of the way" (ב as in Psalm 105:18), in connection with which one would expect of find some attributive minuter definition of the way - God hath bowed down his strength (cf. Deuteronomy 8:2); it was therefore a troublous, toilsome way which he has been led, together with his people. He has shortened his days, so that he only drags on wearily, and has only a short distance still before him before he is entirely overcome. The Chethb כחו (lxx ἰσχύος αὐτοῦ) may be understood of God's irresistible might, as in Job 23:6; Job 30:18, but in connection with it the designation of the object is felt to be wanting. The introductory אמר (cf. Job 10:2), which announces a definite moulding of the utterance, serves to give prominence to the petition that follows. In the expression אל־תּעלני life is conceived of as a line the length of which accords with nature; to die before one's time is a being taken up out of this course, so that the second half of the line is not lived through (Psalm 55:24, Isaiah 38:10). The prayer not to sweep him away before his time, the poet supports not by the eternity of God in itself, but by the work of the rejuvenation of the world and of the restoration of Israel that is to be looked for, which He can and will bring to an accomplishment, because He is the ever-living One. The longing to see this new time is the final ground of the poet's prayer for the prolonging of his life. The confession of God the Creator in Psalm 102:26 reminds one in its form of Isaiah 48:13, cf. Psalm 44:24. המּה in Psalm 102:27 refers to the two great divisions of the universe. The fact that God will create heaven and earth anew is a revelation that is indicated even in Isaiah 34:4, but is first of all expressed more fully and in many ways in the second part of the Book of Isaiah, viz., Isaiah 51:6, Isaiah 51:16; Isaiah 65:17; Isaiah 66:22. It is clear from the agreement in the figure of the garment (Isaiah 51:6, cf. Psalm 50:9) and in the expression (עמד, perstare, as in Isaiah 66:22) that the poet has gained this knowledge from the prophet. The expressive אתּה הוּא, Thou art He, i.e., unalterably the same One, is also taken from the mouth of the prophet, Isaiah 41:4; Isaiah 43:10; Isaiah 46:4; Isaiah 48:12; הוּא is a predicate, and denotes the identity (sameness) of Jahve (Hofmann, Schriftbeweis, i. 63). In v. 29 also, in which the prayer for a lengthening of life tapers off to a point, we hear Isaiah 65:2; Isaiah 66:22 re-echoed. And from the fact that in the mind of the poet as of the prophet the post-exilic Jerusalem and the final new Jerusalem upon the new earth under a new heaven blend together, it is evident that not merely in the time of Hezekiah or of Manasseh (assuming that Isaiah 40:1 are by the old Isaiah), but also even in the second half of the Exile, such a perspectively foreshortened view was possible. When, moreover, the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews at once refers Psalm 102:26-28 to Christ, this is justified by the fact that the God whom the poet confesses as the unchangeable One is Jahve who is to come.

Psalm 103:3 Parallel Commentaries

forgiveth

Psalm 32:1-5 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered...

Psalm 51:1-3 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your loving kindness...

Psalm 130:8 And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

2 Samuel 12:13 And David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said to David, The LORD also has put away your sin...

Isaiah 43:25 I, even I, am he that blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and will not remember your sins.

Matthew 9:2-6 And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said to the sick of the palsy...

Mark 2:5,10,11 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the sick of the palsy, Son, your sins be forgiven you...

Luke 7:47,48 Why I say to you, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little...

Ephesians 1:7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

healeth

Psalm 30:2 O LORD my God, I cried to you, and you have healed me.

Psalm 38:1-7 O lord, rebuke me not in your wrath: neither chasten me in your hot displeasure...

Psalm 41:3,4,8 The LORD will strengthen him on the bed of languishing: you will make all his bed in his sickness...

Psalm 107:17-22 Fools because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted...

Psalm 147:3 He heals the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds.

Exodus 15:26 And said, If you will diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God, and will do that which is right in his sight...

Numbers 12:13 And Moses cried to the LORD, saying, Heal her now, O God, I beseech you.

Numbers 21:7-9 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against you; pray to the LORD...

Isaiah 33:24 And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.

Isaiah 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was on him...

Jeremiah 17:14 Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for you are my praise.

James 5:15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins...