Bible Strands
Psalms 103:14
For He knows our frame; He is mindful that we are dust.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses the worshiping community, positioning divine compassion directly beside human mortality in the immediate context of God’s forgiveness.
The words — יִצְרֵ֑נוּ (yitzrenu) literally means "our form" or "frame," and עָפָ֥ר ('aFar) translates to "dust," describing human physical composition.
The thread — This creation-to-dust pattern runs through Job 10:9 and Ecclesiastes 12:7, where earthly origin and return frame human limits.
Why it lands — The text states that God recognizes human frailty before demanding acceptance of mortality without seeking exemption from it.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.
Cross-references
- Ecclesiastes 12:7 before the dust returns to the ground from which it came and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
- Job 10:9 Please remember that You molded me like clay. Would You now return me to dust?
- Psalms 78:38 And yet He was compassionate; He forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them. He often restrained His anger and did not unleash His full wrath.
- Psalms 89:47 Remember the briefness of my lifespan! For what futility You have created all men!
- Genesis 3:19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground—because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”
- Job 7:5 My flesh is clothed with worms and encrusted with dirt; my skin is cracked and festering.
- Job 7:21 Why do You not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For soon I will lie down in the dust; You will seek me, but I will be no more.”
- Job 13:25 Would You frighten a windblown leaf? Would You chase after dry chaff?
- Isaiah 29:16 You have turned things upside down, as if the potter were regarded as clay. Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, “He did not make me”? Can the pottery say of the potter, “He has no understanding”?