John Gill Commentary Psalms 103:14

"For he knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust." — Psalms 103:14 (ASV)

For he knows our frame
The outward frame of their bodies, what brittle ware, what earthen vessels, they are; he being the potter, they the clay, he knows what they are able to bear, and what not; that if he lays his hand too heavy, or strikes too hard, or repeats his strokes too often, they will fall in pieces: he knows the inward frame of their minds, the corruption of their nature, how prone they are to sin; and therefore does not expect perfect services from them: how impotent they are to that which is good; that they can do nothing of themselves; nor think a good thought, nor do a good action; and that their best frames are very uncertain ones; and that, though the spirit may be willing, the flesh is weak.

The word used is the same that is rendered "imagination", (Genesis 6:5) (8:21) , and by which the Jews generally express the depravity and corruption of nature; and so the Targum here paraphrases it, ``for he knows our evil concupiscence, which causes us to sin;'' and to this sense Kimchi.

He remembers that we are dust
^F2; are of the dust originally, and return to it again at death; and into which men soon crumble when he lays his hand upon them; this he considers, see (Psalms 78:38Psalms 78:39) . The Targum is, ``it is remembered before him, that we are of the dust:'' the Septuagint version makes a petition of it, "remember that we are dust"; and so the Arabic version. And we should remember it ourselves, and be humble before God; and wonder at his grace and goodness to us, (Genesis 18:27) .

---

FOOTNOTES:

• F2: "Pulvis et umbra sumus", Horat. Carmin. l. 4. Ode 7. v. 16.