My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.
What does Psalms 73:26 mean?
God would not suffer his people to be tempted, if his grace were not sufficient, not only to save them from harm, but to make them gainers by it. This temptation, the working of envy and discontent, is very painful.
Key themes
Read with
Keep this verse inside its immediate passage and alongside a few nearby related passages.
Commentary on Psalms 73:26
My flesh and my heart faileth - Flesh and heart here seem to refer to the whole man, body and soul; and the idea is, that his powers of body and mind failed; were spent; were exhausted. This seems to have been said in an "ideal" sense, or by anticipation. He does not mean to say that his strength then had actually failed, but he seems to have placed himself by imagination in the situation where his strength "would" be all gone - in sickness, in weakness, in sorrow, on the bed of death.
Key words
- flesh
-
My flesh and my heart faileth,.
- heart
-
My flesh and my heart faileth,.
- faileth
-
My flesh and my heart faileth,.
Context in Psalms 73
Show chapter context
Psalms 73 belongs to the middle movement of the book, especially the section often described as Book III. Psalms is the Bible’s great book of sung prayer, teaching the full range of faithful speech from anguish and repentance to jubilation and doxology. Read this chapter with the wider themes of prayer, praise, and lament in view so the individual verses keep their proper weight.
Related topics
Explore by topic
Warnings against pride, arrogance, and haughty spirits, and the Bible's consistent teaching that pride leads to destruction.
Passages on trusting God, receiving Christ, persevering without sight, and the relation between faith and lived obedience.
Bible verses about suffering and trials
Key passages on grief, endurance, lament, divine mystery, and the Christian claim that suffering is neither final nor meaningless.
Passages on asking, persistence, confession, dependence, and the way prayer shapes Christian life and attention.
Central texts on sin, grace, faith, Christ’s saving work, and the Bible’s announcement that salvation is received rather than achieved.
Bible verses about thankfulness and gratitude
Passages on thanksgiving to God, grateful worship, and the discipline of remembering God’s goodness in ordinary life.