For I have become like a wineskin in the smoke, yet I have not forgotten your statutes.
English Standard Version (ESV)
The verse highlights that even when suffering has withered the psalmist's appearance and spirit to the point of being unrecognizable, like a shriveled leather bottle blackened by smoke, his inner resolve to obey God's commands remains firm. This isn't just about enduring hardship; it's about maintaining a connection to God's truth despite the deep personal decay and distress that affliction brings.
For I have become like a wineskin in the smoke, yet I have not forgotten your statutes.
English Standard Version (ESV)
The psalmist is in a season of intense suffering and affliction, feeling dried up and worn out, much like an old leather wineskin shriveling in smoke. Despite this profound distress and physical deterioration that makes him feel useless and disfigured, he makes a bold declaration of continued faithfulness. He emphasizes that even in his weakened state, he holds fast to God's commands and refuses to forget them.
Have you ever felt so dried up and worn out by life's hardships that you barely recognize yourself? The psalmist uses a vivid, ancient image to describe this exact feeling.
A Picture of Distress
The psalmist compares himself to a "wineskin in the smoke." In ancient times, bottles were made from animal skins. When hung near the fire in a dwelling, the smoke would dry them out, shrivel them, blacken them, and make them brittle. This isn't just about being dirty; it's about being parched, distorted, and seemingly ruined by the intense, persistent heat of suffering.
This imagery speaks to a deep sense of exhaustion, discomfort, and sorrow. It's the feeling of being worn down by relentless troubles, to the point where your body and spirit are depleted and your outward appearance might even reflect that inner turmoil.
Even when life feels like it's withering you away, there's a powerful anchor that can keep you steady. It's not about ignoring the pain, but about holding onto something greater.
Steadfastness Amidst Shrinking
Here's the incredible part: right after describing this desolate image of a shriveled wineskin, the psalmist declares, "yet I have not forgotten your statutes." This isn't a casual statement; it's a defiant act of will and a testament to enduring faith.
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Understand the original words
nod · Hebrew Noun
A container made of animal skin used to hold wine. When hung in smoke-filled dwellings, it becomes dry, shriveled, and useless, symbolizing physical or spiritual deterioration under sustained pressure.
choq · Hebrew Noun
Fixed, authoritative, and unchanging laws or decrees set by God. They serve as the standard of conduct for the covenant community.
This passage uses a similar image of Moab being like a 'pot in which no one cares to put anything,' emphasizing worthlessness and ruin due to judgment, mirroring the psalmist's feeling of being dried up and useless like a shriveled wineskin.
Lamentations 4:1The prophet laments, 'How the gold has become dim, how the most pure gold has changed! The holy stones are scattered at the head of every street,' which shares the theme of former glory reduced to a state of ruin and discoloration, akin to the smoke-darkened wineskin.
Psalm 22:15The psalmist here declares, 'My strength is dried up like a potsherd,' which expresses a very similar physical and spiritual depletion and desiccation as the image of the wineskin in the smoke.
Luke 5:37-38Jesus uses the analogy of new wine bursting old wineskins, illustrating that old, perhaps brittle or dried-out, containers cannot hold new life. This highlights the damaged state implied by the psalmist's 'wineskin in the smoke' image.
clarkePsalms 119:83: "For I am become like a bottle in the smoke; yet do I not forget thy statutes."
Like a bottle in the smoke - In the eastern countries their bottles are made of skins; one of these hung in the smoke must soon be parched and shrivelled up. This represents the exhausted state of his body and mind by long bodily affliction and mental distress.
barnesPsalms 119:83: "For I am become like a bottle in the smoke; yet do I not forget thy statutes."
For I am become like a bottle in the smoke - Bottles in the East were commonly made of skins. See the notes at Matthew 9:17 . Such "bottles," hanging in tents where the smoke had little opportunity to escape, would, of course, become dark and dingy, and would thus be emblems of distress, discomfort, and sorrow. The meaning here is, that, by affliction and sorrow, the psalmist had been reduced to a sta…
The verse highlights that even when suffering has withered the psalmist's appearance and spirit to the point of being unrecognizable, like a shriveled leather bottle blackened by smoke, his inner resolve to obey God's commands remains firm. This isn't just about enduring hardship; it's about maintaining a connection to God's truth despite the deep personal decay and distress that affliction brings.
The psalmist is in a season of intense suffering and affliction, feeling dried up and worn out, much like an old leather wineskin shriveling in smoke. Despite this profound distress and physical deterioration that makes him feel useless and disfigured, he makes a bold declaration of continued faithfulness. He emphasizes that even in his weakened state, he holds fast to God's commands and refuses to forget them.
The psalmist is in a season of intense suffering and affliction, feeling dried up and worn out, much like an old leather wineskin shriveling in smoke. Despite this profound distress and physical deterioration that makes him feel useless and disfigured, he makes a bold declaration of continued faithfulness. He emphasizes that even in his weakened state, he holds fast to God's commands and refuses to forget them.
"For I have become like a wineskin in the smoke, yet I have not forgotten your statutes." — The verse highlights that even when suffering has withered the psalmist's appearance and spirit to the point of being unrecognizable, like a shriveled leather bottle blackened by smoke, his inner res…
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Last reviewed October 2026