Psalms 73:21

Thus R.V. For. If this rendering is adopted, the connexion is with the general sense of the preceding verses: -I failed to perceive the truth until my eyes were opened in the sanctuary, for" &c. But it is better to render:

When my heart grew sour,

And I was pricked in my reins,

I was brutish and Ignorant,

I became a mere beast with thee.

He confesses the folly of his former impatience. He had lowered himself to the level of a beast (Psalms 49:10), for what distinguishes man from the lower animals is his power of communion with God. Behçmôth, rendered beast, might be taken, as in Job 40:15, to mean -the hippopotamus," as an emblem for -a monster of stupidity," but the more general rendering is preferable. The reins (renes, the kidneys) were regarded as the seat of the emotions. Cp. Psalms 7:9.