Psa 102:1-2 | KD | STEP | utters the sigh: When wilt Thou come to me? and Ps 102 with the inscription: Prayer for an afflicted one when he pineth away and poureth forth his complaint before Jahve , prays, Let my prayer come unto Thee . It is to be taken, too, just as personally as it sounds, and the person is not to be construed into a nation. The song of the עני is, however, certainly a national song; the poet is a servant of Jahve, who shares the calamity that has befallen Jerusalem and its homeless people, both in outward circumstances and in the very depth of his soul. עטף signifies to pine away, languish, as in , ; and שׁפך שׂיחו to pour out one’s thoughts and complaints, one’s anxious care, as in , cf. 1Sa 1:15. As in the case already with many of the preceding Psalms, the deutero-Isaianic impression accompanies us in connection with this Psalm also, even to the end; and the further we get in it the more marked does the echo of its prophetical prototype become. The poet also allies himself with earlier Psalms, such as Ps 22, Ps 69, and , although himself capable of lofty poetic flight, in return for which he makes us feel the absence of any safely progressive unfolding of the thoughts.

‏ Psalms 102:1-2

Prayer of a Patient Sufferer for Himself and for the Jerusalem That Lies in Ruins

Psa 101:1-8 utters the sigh: When wilt Thou come to me? and Ps 102 with the inscription: Prayer for an afflicted one when he pineth away and poureth forth his complaint before Jahve, prays, Let my prayer come unto Thee. It is to be taken, too, just as personally as it sounds, and the person is not to be construed into a nation. The song of the עני is, however, certainly a national song; the poet is a servant of Jahve, who shares the calamity that has befallen Jerusalem and its homeless people, both in outward circumstances and in the very depth of his soul. עטף signifies to pine away, languish, as in Psa 61:3, Isa 57:16; and שׁפך שׂיחו to pour out one’s thoughts and complaints, one’s anxious care, as in Psa 142:3, cf. 1Sa 1:15.

As in the case already with many of the preceding Psalms, the deutero-Isaianic impression accompanies us in connection with this Psalm also, even to the end; and the further we get in it the more marked does the echo of its prophetical prototype become. The poet also allies himself with earlier Psalms, such as Ps 22, Ps 69, and Psa 79:1-13, although himself capable of lofty poetic flight, in return for which he makes us feel the absence of any safely progressive unfolding of the thoughts. Psa 102:1-2

The Psalm opens with familiar expressions of prayer, such as rise in the heart and mouth of the praying one without his feeling that they are of foreign origin; cf. more especially Psa 39:13; Psa 18:7; Psa 88:3; and on Psa 102:3 : Psa 27:9 (Hide not Thy face from me); Psa 59:17 (ביום צר לי); Psa 31:3 and frequently (Incline Thine ear unto me); Psa 56:10 (ביום אקוא); Psa 69:8; Psa 143:7 (מהר ענני).