Bible Strands
Psalms 73:16
When I tried to understand all this, it was troublesome in my sight
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist speaks to God while wrestling with the apparent success of the wicked, positioned between his vow to remain silent and his subsequent entry into the sanctuary.
The words — The Hebrew אֲחַשְּׁבָה ('a.cha.shve.ha) means "I calculated" or "I tried to understand," paired with עָמָל ('a.mal), literally "toil" or "trouble," describing the mental burden of the inquiry.
The thread — This tension between human calculation and divine mystery appears in Ecclesiastes 8:17 and Psalm 39:6, which both record the inability of human effort to fully grasp God's work or the futility of vain striving.
Why it lands — The text states that unaided reasoning produces only frustration, requiring the reader to abandon intellectual self-reliance and await divine clarification rather than forcing a resolution.
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
When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me;
Cross-references
- Ecclesiastes 8:17 I saw every work of God, and that a man is unable to comprehend the work that is done under the sun. Despite his efforts to search it out, he cannot find its meaning; even if the wise man claims to know, he is unable to comprehend.
- Psalms 36:6 Your righteousness is like the highest mountains; Your judgments are like the deepest sea. O LORD, You preserve man and beast.
- Psalms 39:6 Surely every man goes about like a phantom; surely he bustles in vain; he heaps up riches not knowing who will haul them away.
- Psalms 77:19 Your path led through the sea, Your way through the mighty waters, but Your footprints were not to be found.
- Psalms 97:2 Clouds and darkness surround Him; righteousness and justice are His throne’s foundation.
- Proverbs 30:2 Surely I am the most ignorant of men, and I lack the understanding of a man.
- Luke 18:32 He will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon.
- John 16:18 They kept asking, “Why is He saying, ‘a little while’? We do not understand what He is saying.”
- Romans 11:33 O, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and untraceable His ways!