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Selected Verse: Psalms 73:20 - Strong Concordance

Verse	Translation	Text
Ps 73:20	Strong Concordance	As a dream [02472] when one awaketh [06974]; so, O Lord [0136], when thou awakest [05782], thou shalt despise [0959] their image [06754].
	King James	As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image.

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Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
As a dream when one awaketh - Their prosperity is like the visions of a dream; the reality is seen when one awakes. A man in a dream may imagine that he is a king; that he dwells in a palace; that he is surrounded by flatterers and courtiers; that he walks in pleasant groves, listens to the sounds of sweet music, sits down at a table loaded with the luxuries of all climes, and lies upon a bed of down. He may awake only to find that he is encompassed with poverty, or that he is on a bed of languishing, or that he is the miserable tenant of a hovel or a dungeon. The reality is when he awakes. So it is in regard to our present condition on earth. The reality is seen when the dream - the gorgeous dream - of life is over. So, O Lord, when thou awakest - The Hebrew expression here - בעיר bā‛ı̂yr - occurs in more than fifty other places in the Scriptures, and is in all these places translated "in the city." This interpretation, however, would be quite unmeaning here, and the probability is that the expression is a form of the verb עור ‛ûr, "to awake, to arouse;" and the idea is not, as in our version, that of "God's" awaking as if he had been asleep, but it refers to the dreamer when he shall awake. It is, literally, in the awaking; that is, when the dream is over. Thou shalt despise their image - The image that floated before their imaginations in the dream of life. Thou wilt pay no attention to it; there is no reality in it; it will at once vanish. In the future world, God will pay no regard to the dreams of human life, to the outward show, to the appearance; but the affairs of eternity will be regulated by what is real - by that which constitutes the character of the man. By that, and not by the vain dreams of the world, will the destiny of people be determined. We are to look at "that" in determining the question about the government of God, and not at what "appears" in the brief dream of life.

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]

As a dream when one awaketh - Their prosperity is like the visions of a dream; the reality is seen when one awakes. A man in a dream may imagine that he is a king; that he dwells in a palace; that he is surrounded by flatterers and courtiers; that he walks in pleasant groves, listens to the sounds of sweet music, sits down at a table loaded with the luxuries of all climes, and lies upon a bed of down. He may awake only to find that he is encompassed with poverty, or that he is on a bed of languishing, or that he is the miserable tenant of a hovel or a dungeon. The reality is when he awakes. So it is in regard to our present condition on earth. The reality is seen when the dream - the gorgeous dream - of life is over.

So, O Lord, when thou awakest - The Hebrew expression here - בעיר bā‛ı̂yr - occurs in more than fifty other places in the Scriptures, and is in all these places translated "in the city." This interpretation, however, would be quite unmeaning here, and the probability is that the expression is a form of the verb עור ‛ûr, "to awake, to arouse;" and the idea is not, as in our version, that of "God's" awaking as if he had been asleep, but it refers to the dreamer when he shall awake. It is, literally, in the awaking; that is, when the dream is over.

Thou shalt despise their image - The image that floated before their imaginations in the dream of life. Thou wilt pay no attention to it; there is no reality in it; it will at once vanish. In the future world, God will pay no regard to the dreams of human life, to the outward show, to the appearance; but the affairs of eternity will be regulated by what is real - by that which constitutes the character of the man. By that, and not by the vain dreams of the world, will the destiny of people be determined. We are to look at "that" in determining the question about the government of God, and not at what "appears" in the brief dream of life.

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]
They awake - Out of the pleasant dream of this vain life. Despise - Thou shalt make them despicable both to themselves and to all others; raise them to shame, and everlasting contempt. Image - All their felicity and glory, which shall be evidently discerned to be, no real or substantial thing, but a mere image or shadow.

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]

They awake - Out of the pleasant dream of this vain life. Despise - Thou shalt make them despicable both to themselves and to all others; raise them to shame, and everlasting contempt. Image - All their felicity and glory, which shall be evidently discerned to be, no real or substantial thing, but a mere image or shadow.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826
As a dream when one awaketh - So their goods fled away. Their possession was a dream - their privation, real. Thou shalt despise their image - While destitute of true religion, whatever appearance they had of greatness, nobility, honor, and happiness; yet in the sight of God they had no more than the ghost or shade of excellence which God is said here to despise. Who would be rich at such risk and dishonor?

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826

As a dream when one awaketh - So their goods fled away. Their possession was a dream - their privation, real.

Thou shalt despise their image - While destitute of true religion, whatever appearance they had of greatness, nobility, honor, and happiness; yet in the sight of God they had no more than the ghost or shade of excellence which God is said here to despise. Who would be rich at such risk and dishonor?

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