For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.
Parallel translations
- WEB For he knows how we are made. He remembers that we are dust.
- BSB For He knows our frame; He is mindful 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 12:7Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
- Ps 78:38–39But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.
- Job 10:9Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay; and wilt thou bring me into dust again?
- Ps 89:47Remember how short my time is: wherefore hast thou made all men in vain?
- Gen 3:19In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
- Job 7:21And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be.
- Job 7:5–7My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken, and become loathsome.
- Job 13:25Wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro? and wilt thou pursue the dry stubble?
- Isa 29:16Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter’s clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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.