What Does Psalm 102:5 Mean in the King James?
By reason of the voice of my groaning my bones cleave to my skin.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Suffering is pictured as a bond: the bones do not merely show through the skin; they cling to it.
THE MEANING
Here, your groaning has a voice, and anguish reaches the body’s frame: bone clings to skin. The verse holds bodily depletion in plain sight rather than dissolving it into an abstract feeling.
THE ROOT
דָּבְקָה
dāveqāh
GROWS FROM
דבק
d-b-q
To cling, cleave, or adhere.
“cleave” in this verse is dāveqāh. The same Hebrew verb describes bones clinging to skin and a person cleaving to a spouse or holding fast to God. Its core is attachment that holds; here, that binding names suffering made physical.
ALSO GROWS
wə-dāvaq: The verb describes a man cleaving to his wife.
וְדָבַק
Genesis 2:24 uses the same root for a bond that joins two people into one flesh.
tidbaq: The verb describes holding fast to the LORD.
תִּדְבָּק
Deuteronomy 10:20 uses the same root for steadfast attachment, showing how one word can name both closeness and bodily distress.
THE PATTERN
The verb דבק names attachment that binds a person to a beloved, to God, or even the bones to the skin in suffering.
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name.My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.THE THREAD
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.The verb for bones clinging to skin is the same verb that describes a man cleaving to his wife, where the two become one flesh. The shared root carries attachment across bodily union and bodily suffering.
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