Sick; or in any other great misery. Sackcloth; which was the habit of mourners, Genesis 37:34 Matthew 11:21 Revelation 11:3. I humbled my soul, Heb. I afflicted my soul, (of which phrase see Leviticus 16:29,31 Leviticus 23:27,32, &c.,) partly with fasting, and partly with compassion and fervent prayers for them. And my prayer returned into mine own bosom: according to this translation the sense may be this, and, or but, or although my fastings and prayers did them no good, neither abated their malice, nor prevailed with God for them, so far as I desired, but returned to me without success, like a gift sent to an uncivil person, who disdainfully rejects it, and returns it to the giver. But,
1. This is not true, that his prayers returned empty to him, and did them no good, for they prevailed with God for their recovery, as appears by the following verses.
2. This doth not seem to suit well with the context; for both in the foregoing and following words he is only describing what he did for them, and not what the effects of it were, which he describes in the succeeding verses. Others therefore render the words otherwise; either,
1. Thus, and my prayer in my bosom returned, i.e. I did daily and frequently repeat my prayers for them, and that not only in public, when I joined with others in a fast-day appointed for them, which might be done in policy or for ostentation; but also in secret, between God and my own soul, and that with a sincere and hearty affection: for what is done secretly and affectionately, is said to be done in the bosom, Numbers 11:12 Psalms 89:50 Proverbs 21:14, although indeed there is in those places another proposition; which may possibly alter the case. Or, 2. (which seems the truest sense) And as for my prayer, (to wit, which I joined with my fasting on their behalf,) let it return (nothing being more frequent than for future verbs to be put imperatively) into my own bosom; i.e. if any shall think or say that my fasting for them was but counterfeit or politic, and that I did not pray for them, but rather against them, as I do in this Psalm, and that under all this show I secretly wished their death or destruction; my earnest desire is, that the all-seeing and heart-searching God would grant unto me, when I come into their circumstances, the same things which I begged for them, whether good or evil. And this sense agrees with the common use of this phrase in Scripture, where whatsoever is repaid to any man is said to be rendered into his bosom, as Psalms 79:2 Isaiah 65:6,7 Jer 32:18 Luke 6:38, as elsewhere it is said to return upon his head.