Bible Strands
Psalms 73:20
Like one waking from a dream, so You, O Lord, awaken and despise their form.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses God directly, marking the moment he shifts from observing the wicked's sudden ruin to affirming divine judgment.
The words — The Hebrew כַּ/חֲל֥וֹם (ka./cha.Lom, "like a dream") and תִּבְזֶֽה (tiv.Zeh, "you will despise") anchor the verse's core imagery. The text states God awakens to dismiss the wicked's appearance as worthless.
The thread — The motif of divine awakening and the fleeting nature of worldly power appears in Job 20:8, Psalms 78:65, and Psalms 7:6. These passages consistently link God's sudden intervention with the collapse of human arrogance.
Why it lands — It demands recognition that earthly prosperity lacks enduring substance and that God's judgment ultimately overrides human appearances.
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
As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image.
Cross-references
- Job 20:8 He will fly away like a dream, never to be found; he will be chased away like a vision in the night.
- Psalms 78:65 Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a mighty warrior overcome by wine.
- Psalms 7:6 Arise, O LORD, in Your anger; rise up against the fury of my enemies. Awake, my God, and ordain judgment.
- 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 90:5 You sweep them away in their sleep; they are like the new grass of the morning—
- Isaiah 29:7 All the many nations going out to battle against Ariel—even all who war against her, laying siege and attacking her—will be like a dream, like a vision in the night,