For He knows our frame; He is mindful that we are dust.
Parallel translations
- WEB For he knows how we are made. He remembers that we are dust.
- KJV For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.
- NKJV For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.
- NASB For He Himself knows our form; He is mindful that we are nothing but dust.
- NLT For he knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust.
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
God knows how we are made and remembers that we are dust. His compassion is informed by His tender awareness of our frailty.
Overview
The Creator who formed Adam from the dust understands the weakness of His creatures. Rather than despising our frailty, He pities it. This same God entered our dust in the incarnation, that the One who knows our weakness might also sympathize with and redeem us.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Eccl 12:7before the dust returns to the ground from which it came and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
- Ps 78:38–39And yet He was compassionate; He forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them. He often restrained His anger and did not unleash His full wrath.
- Job 10:9Please remember that You molded me like clay. Would You now return me to dust?
- Ps 89:47Remember the briefness of my lifespan! For what futility You have created all men!
- Gen 3:19By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground—because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”
- Job 7:21Why do You not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For soon I will lie down in the dust; You will seek me, but I will be no more.”
- Job 7:5–7My flesh is clothed with worms and encrusted with dirt; my skin is cracked and festering.
- Job 13:25Would You frighten a windblown leaf? Would You chase after dry chaff?
- Isa 29:16You have turned things upside down, as if the potter were regarded as clay. Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, “He did not make me”? Can the pottery say of the potter, “He has no understanding”?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 103:14 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.