The days of his youth hast thou shortened: thou hast covered him with shame. Selah.
Parallel translations
- WEB You have shortened the days of his youth. You have covered him with shame. Selah.
- BSB You have cut short the days of his youth; You have covered him with shame. Selah
- NKJV The days of his youth You have shortened; You have covered him with shame. Selah
- NASB You have shortened the days of his youth; You have covered him with shame. Selah
- NLT You have made him old before his time and publicly disgraced him. Interlude
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 has cut short the king's vigor and covered him with shame.
Overview
The king's days of youthful strength are shortened, and he is wrapped in disgrace. The "Selah" pauses on this depth of humiliation. Such shame borne by God's anointed points toward the suffering Messiah who bore our shame before His exaltation (Heb. 12:2).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Ps 109:29Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle.
- Ps 44:15My confusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me,
- Ps 102:23He weakened my strength in the way; he shortened my days.
- Mic 7:10Then she that is mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her which said unto me, Where is the LORD thy God? mine eyes shall behold her: now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets.
- Isa 63:18The people of thy holiness have possessed it but a little while: our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary.
- 2 Chr 10:19And Israel rebelled against the house of David unto this day.
- Ps 71:13Let them be confounded and consumed that are adversaries to my soul; let them be covered with reproach and dishonour that seek my hurt.
- Ps 89:28–29My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him.
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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 89:45 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
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