Psalms 41:3

3 The LORD sustains them on their sickbed and restores them from their bed of illness.

Psalms 41:3 in Other Translations

KJV
3 The LORD will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness.
ESV
3 The LORD sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness you restore him to full health.
NLT
3 The LORD nurses them when they are sick and restores them to health.
MSG
3 Whenever we're sick and in bed, God becomes our nurse, nurses us back to health.
CSB
3 The Lord will sustain him on his sickbed; You will heal him on the bed where he lies.

Psalms 41:3 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 41:3

The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing
When on a sick bed, or a death bed, where he lies languishing, and ready to expire; when his natural strength, spirits, and heart fail him, then the Lord strengthens him with strength in his soul; and is the strength of his heart, and his portion for ever. The Targum is,

``the Word of the Lord shall help him in his life, and shall appear to him on the bed of his illness, to quicken him;''

thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness;
or "all his bed thou hast turned" or "wilt turn in his sickness" F20; meaning not the recovery of him from a bed of sickness to a state of health, which is the sense given by many; much less a turning him from a state of ease and rest into trouble and distress; but making him easy and comfortable on a bed of sickness; which, in a literal sense, is done when a sick person's bed is turned or made, or he is turned upon it from side to side; so the Lord, by the comforts of his Spirit, makes a sick and death bed easy to them that believe in Christ, and often puts that triumphant song into their mouths in their dying moments, "O death! where is that sting?" &c. ( 1 Corinthians 15:55 ) ; and this is the peaceful end and blissful state of such who wisely consider Christ and believe in him; low estate, through the sins of his the insults of his enemies, and the treachery of one of his disciples, is described in the following verses.


FOOTNOTES:

F20 (tkph) "versasti", Pagninus, Montanus; "vertisti", Vatablus; "ita vertes", Michaelis; so Ainsworth; (demnia oi meteyhken) , Apollinarius.

Psalms 41:3 In-Context

1 Blessed are those who have regard for the weak; the LORD delivers them in times of trouble.
2 The LORD protects and preserves them— they are counted among the blessed in the land— he does not give them over to the desire of their foes.
3 The LORD sustains them on their sickbed and restores them from their bed of illness.
4 I said, “Have mercy on me, LORD; heal me, for I have sinned against you.”
5 My enemies say of me in malice, “When will he die and his name perish?”

Cross References 2

  • 1. Psalms 6:6
  • 2. 2 Samuel 13:5; 2 Kings 1:4
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