Mazmur 102:2-4

102:2 Do not ignore me in my time of trouble! ¹ 

Listen to me! ² 

When I call out to you, quickly answer me!

102:3 For my days go up in smoke, ³ 

and my bones are charred like a fireplace. ⁴ 

102:4 My heart is parched ⁵  and withered like grass,

for I am unable ⁶  to eat food. ⁷ 

[102:2]  ¹ tn Heb “do not hide your face from me in the day of my trouble.” The idiom “to hide the face” can mean “to ignore” (see Pss 10:11; 13:1; 51:9) or carry the stronger idea of “to reject” (see Pss 29:7; 30:7; 88:14).

[102:2]  ² tn Heb “turn toward me your ear.”

[102:3]  ³ tn Heb “for my days come to an end in smoke.”

[102:3]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew noun מוֹ־קֵד (mo-qed, “fireplace”) occurs only here, in Isa 33:14 (where it refers to the fire itself), and perhaps in Lev 6:2.

[102:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “struck, attacked.”

[102:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “I forget.”

[102:4]  ⁷ sn I am unable to eat food. During his time of mourning, the psalmist refrained from eating. In the following verse he describes metaphorically the physical effects of fasting.