Psalms39
New American Standard
1 I said, “I will keep watch over my ways So that I do not sin with my tongue; I will keep watch over my mouth as with a muzzle While the wicked are in my presence.”
2 I was mute and silent, I refused to say even something good, And my pain was stirred up.
3 My heart was hot within me, While I was musing the fire burned; Then I spoke with my tongue:
4 “Lord, let me know my end, And what is the extent of my days; Let me know how transient I am.
5 Behold, You have made my days like hand widths, And my lifetime as nothing in Your sight; Certainly all mankind standing is a mere breath. Selah
6 Certainly every person walks around as a fleeting shadow; They certainly make an uproar for nothing; He amasses riches and does not know who will gather them.
7 “And now, Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in You.
8 Save me from all my wrongdoings; Do not make me an object of reproach for the foolish.
9 I have become mute, I do not open my mouth, Because it is You who have done it.
10 Remove Your plague from me; Because of the opposition of Your hand I am perishing.
11 With rebukes You punish a person for wrongdoing; You consume like a moth what is precious to him; Certainly all mankind is mere breath! Selah
12 “Hear my prayer, Lord, and listen to my cry for help; Do not be silent to my tears; For I am a stranger with You, One who lives abroad, like all my fathers.
13 Turn Your eyes away from me, that I may become cheerful again Before I depart and am no more.”
Study
Psalms 39Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Psalms 39. The full AI study guide (summary, themes, context) has its own page.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: David meditates on man's frailty. (1–6). He applies for pardon and deliverance. (7–13).
vv1-6
If an evil thought should arise in the mind, suppress it. Watchfulness in the habit, is the bridle upon the head; watchfulness in acts, is the hand upon the bridle. When not able to separate from wicked men, we should remember they will watch our words, and turn them, if they can, to our disadvantage. Sometimes it may be necessary to keep silence, even from good words; but in general we are wrong when backward to engage in edifying discourse. Impatience is a sin that has its cause within ourselves, and that is, musing; and its ill effects upon ourselves, and that is no less than burning. In our greatest health and prosperity, every man is altogether vanity, he cannot live long; he may die soon. This is an undoubted truth, but we are very unwilling to believe it. Therefore let us pray that God would enlighten our minds by his Holy Spirit, and fill our hearts with his grace, that we may be ready for death every day and hour.
vv7-13
There is no solid satisfaction to be had in the creature; but it is to be found in the Lord, and in communion with him; to him we should be driven by our disappointments. If the world be nothing but vanity, may God deliver us from having or seeking our portion in it. When creature-confidences fail, it is our comfort that we have a God to go to, a God to trust in. We may see a good God doing all, and ordering all events concerning us; and a good man, for that reason, says nothing against it. He desires the pardoning of his sin, and the preventing of his shame. We must both watch and pray against sin. When under the correcting hand of the Lord, we must look to God himself for relief, not to any other. Our ways and our doings bring us into trouble, and we are beaten with a rod of our own making. What a poor thing is beauty! and what fools are those that are proud of it, when it will certainly, and may quickly, be consumed! The body of man is as a garment to the soul. In this garment sin has lodged a moth, which wears away, first the beauty, then the strength, and finally the substance of its parts. Whoever has watched the progress of a lingering distemper, or the work of time alone, in the human frame, will feel at once the force of this comparison, and that, surely every man is vanity. Afflictions are sent to stir up prayer. If they have that effect, we may hope that God will hear our prayer. The believer expects weariness and ill treatment on his way to heaven; but he shall not stay here long: walking with God by faith, he goes forward on his journey, not diverted from his course, nor cast down by the difficulties he meets. How blessed it is to sit loose from things here below, that while going home to our Father's house, we may use the world as not abusing it! May we always look for that city, whose Builder and Maker is God.
Key Words
נָצַח: properly, to glitter from afar, i.e. to be eminent (as a superintendent, especially of the Temple services and its music); to be permanent
יְדוּתוּן: Jeduthun, an Israelite
מִזְמוֹר: properly, instrumental music; by implication, a poem set to notes
דָּוִד: David, the youngest son of Jesse
אָמַר: to say (used with great latitude)
שָׁמַר: properly, to hedge about (as with thorns), i.e. guard; generally, to protect, attend to, etc.
דֶּרֶךְ: a road (as trodden); figuratively, a course of life or mode of action, often adverb
חָטָא: properly, to miss; hence (figuratively and generally) to sin; by inference, to forfeit, lack, expiate, repent, (causatively) lead astray, condemn
לָשׁוֹן: the tongue (of man or animals), used literally (as the instrument of licking, eating, or speech), and figuratively (speech, an ingot, a fork of flame, a cove of water)
פֶּה: the mouth (as the means of blowing), whether literal or figurative (particularly speech); specifically edge, portion or side; adverbially (with preposition) according to
Cross References
Psalms 39The severe challenge of controlling and bridling the tongue, which is prone to slide into error.
Supported by Matthew Poole, John Calvin, JFB
Explicit structural framing of the believer as a stranger and temporary sojourner with the Lord.
Supported by Matthew Henry, John Calvin, JFB
The confession of the faithful that they are strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
Supported by Matthew Henry, John Calvin, JFB
The prayer to be taught the brevity of life in order to gain a wise heart.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
The vanity of storing up material wealth without knowing who will ultimately gather it.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Silent, humble submission to divine affliction because it is the Lord who has done it.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
David's refusal to speak against divine providence under the insolent provocations of the wicked.
Supported by Matthew Poole, John Calvin
A suppressed message and internal emotion bursting forth like a burning, pent-up fire.
Supported by Matthew Henry
The determined, measured, and highly finite boundary of human life appointed by God.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Human life and duration compared to, and standing as nothing before, God's eternity.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Verbal echo on the theme that men of all degrees are altogether vanity.
Supported by John Calvin
The patriarchal confession of life as a short, difficult pilgrimage and sojourn.
Supported by JFB
Laying one's hand over the mouth in silent recognition of God's sovereign authority.
Supported by John Calvin
The metaphor of God's silent judgment consuming man's beauty and strength like a moth.
Supported by Matthew Henry