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Psalms 39

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The Struggle for Silence 1–2

1
I said, I will take heed to my ways, That I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, While the wicked is before me. ​
2
I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; And my sorrow was stirred. ​

The Frailty and Vanity of Man 3–6

3
My heart was hot within me; While I was musing the fire burned; Then spake I with my tongue: ​
4
Jehovah, make me to know mine end, And the measure of my days, what it is; Let me know how frail I am. ​
5
Behold, thou hast made my daysas handbreadths; And my life-time is as nothing before thee: Surely every man at his best estate is altogether vanity. [Selah ​
6
Surely every man walketh in a vain show; Surely they are disquieted in vain: He heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them. ​

Hope in God Amidst Correction 7–11

7
And now, Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in thee. ​
8
Deliver me from all my transgressions: Make me not the reproach of the foolish.
9
I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; Because thou didst it. ​
10
Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thy hand.
11
When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, Thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: Surely every man is vanity. [Selah ​

The Stranger's Final Plea 12–13

12
Hear my prayer, O Jehovah, and give ear unto my cry; Hold not thy peace at my tears: For I am a stranger with thee, A sojourner, as all my fathers were. ​
13
Oh spare me, that I may recover strength, Before I go hence, and be no more. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Psalms 39

Verse 1

I will keep my mouth with a bridle — Machsom is a muzzle or bridle. 'Take heed' and 'keep' are the same verb, shamar, to guard. The resolve is the one of Ps 141:3, 'Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth', and the one James tests, 'bridleth not his tongue' (James 1:26). It is made 'while the wicked is before me'.

Verse 2

I was dumb with silence — Alam, to be mute, the verb used of the Servant before his shearers in Isa 53:7. 'Even from good' means he held back even good words. 'Sorrow' is kev, pain, and 'stirred' (achar) is to be stirred up: the silence did not quiet it, and v.3 follows.

Verse 3

the fire burned — Hagig, 'musing', is a murmur, a muttered meditation, and the heart grows hot (chamam) until 'then spake I with my tongue'. Jeremiah describes the same thing, 'his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing' (Jer 20:9).

Verse 4

mine end, and the measure of my days — 'End' is qetz, 'measure' is middah, and 'frail' is chadel, one who ceases. The request is for a number: Ps 90:12 asks the same, 'teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom', and Ps 103:14 gives the answer, 'he remembereth that we are dust'.

Verse 5

an handbreadth — Tephach, a palm's width, the thickness of the molten sea in 1 Kgs 7:26. 'Vanity' is hebel, breath, the word that opens Ecclesiastes (Eccl 1:2). 'At his best state' (nitsav) is man standing firm, and even then he is 'altogether vanity'.

Verse 6

a vain shew — Tselem is an image or shadow, the word rendered 'image' in Gen 1:26 and Ps 73:20. 'Disquieted in vain' is a restless stir that comes to nothing. The one who 'heapeth up' riches 'and knoweth not who shall gather them' is the rich man of Luke 12:20, 'whose shall those things be?'

Verse 7

And now, Lord, what wait I for? — 'Lord' is Adonai, and 'wait' is qavah. 'Hope' is tocheleth, expectation, from yachal, the verb behind 'hope' in Ps 33:18 and 22. The 'now' turns from the vanity of vv.5–6 to the one in whom hope rests.

Verse 9

because thou didst it — The verb is alam of v.2: the silence once kept before the wicked is here kept before God. David said 'let him curse, because the LORD hath said unto him, Curse David' (2 Sam 16:10), and Job answered 'the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away' (Job 1:21).

Verse 11

like a moth — 'Correct' is yasar, to chastise, and 'rebukes' are tokechot. 'Beauty' is literally what a man delights in (chamad), and 'consume away' (masah) is to melt or dissolve. Job 13:28 has the moth-eaten garment, and Paul says of the Lord's discipline, 'we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world' (1 Cor 11:32).

Verse 12

a stranger with thee, and a sojourner — Ger and toshab, the pair of Lev 25:23, where the LORD says of the land, 'ye are strangers and sojourners with me'. David prays the same of Israel in 1 Chr 29:15, 'we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers'. 'Hold not thy peace' is charash, the verb rendered 'kept silence' in Ps 32:3.

Verse 13

O spare me — Sha'ah is to look, so 'spare' is to look away, as in Job 14:6, 'Turn from him, that he may rest'. 'Recover strength' is balag, to break off from grief. Job 10:20 asks 'that I may take comfort a little', and 10:21 gives the reason: 'before I go whence I shall not return'.