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Annotations & References
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Psalms 39
Psalms
Chapter 39
39
1I 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.
2I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; And my sorrow was stirred.
3My heart was hot within me; While I was musing the fire burned; Then spake I with my tongue:
4Jehovah, make me to know mine end, And the measure of my days, what it is; Let me know how frail I am.
5Behold, 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
6Surely every man walketh in a vain show; Surely they are disquieted in vain: He heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.
7And now, Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in thee.
8Deliver me from all my transgressions: Make me not the reproach of the foolish.
9I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; Because thou didst it.
10Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thy hand.
11When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, Thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: Surely every man is vanity. [Selah
12Hear 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.
13Oh spare me, that I may recover strength, Before I go hence, and be no more.
What is Psalms 39 about?
Delivered to Jeduthun the musician, this psalm of David meditates on the brevity and frailty of human life. Resolving at first to keep silence before the wicked, he breaks out to ask the LORD to make him know his end and the measure of his days, confessing that every man at his best is altogether vanity. He declares that his hope is in the Lord alone, and prays for pardon and relief before he passes away. Facing his own mortality, the psalmist casts his fleeting life upon the eternal God, as all who trust Him must.
Matthew Henry on Psalms 39