I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top.
Parallel translations
- WEB I watch, and have become like a sparrow that is alone on the housetop.
- BSB I lie awake; I am like a lone bird on a housetop.
- NKJV I lie awake, And am like a sparrow alone on the housetop.
- NASB I lie awake, I have become like a solitary bird on a housetop.
- NLT I lie awake, lonely as a solitary bird on the roof.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
He lies awake, like a solitary sparrow on a rooftop. Sleepless and alone, he bears his grief.
Overview
The image of a lone sparrow on a housetop captures the psalmist's sleepless, friendless suffering. Isolation deepens the pain of affliction. Yet even in such solitude, he continues to pour out his heart to the God who never abandons His own.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Ps 77:4Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
- Lam 3:28–30He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him.
- Mark 14:33–37And he taketh with him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy;
- Ps 38:11My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore; and my kinsmen stand afar off.
- Deut 28:66–67And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life:
- Ps 130:6My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning.
- Ps 22:2O my God, I cry in the day time, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.
- Job 7:13–16When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint;
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 102:7 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.