The passage carries a graphic picture of an individual suffering from some unnamed malady. He is in distress; his days are consumed like smoke; his bones burn; his heart is broken; he has lost his appetite; his appearance has become as "skin and bones"; he has become like the
Psalms 102
pelican, the owl, and the lonely sparrow; his enemies cast reproaches upon him and curse by him; he sits in sackcloth and ashes, where sometimes his food gets ashes in it; his life's sun is sinking rapidly; the shadow on the dial is declining and the night of death is impending.