Psalms 39:1-10

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.

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 days [as] 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.

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.

Psalms 39:1-10 Meaning and Commentary

To the chief Musician, [even] to Jeduthun, a Psalm of David. Some take Jeduthun to be the name of a musical instrument, as Jarchi, on which, and others the first word of a song, to the tune of which, this psalm was sung, as Aben Ezra; though it seems best, with Kimchi and others, to understand it as the name of the chief musician, to whom this psalm was sent to be made use of in public service; since Jeduthun was, with his sons, appointed by David to prophesy with harps and psalteries, and to give praise and thanks unto the Lord, 1 Chronicles 16:41; he is the same with Ethan {s}. The occasion of it is thought, by some, to be the rebellion of his son Absalom; so Theodoret thinks it was written when he fled from Absalom, and was cursed by Shimei; or rather it may be some sore affliction, which lay upon David for the chastisement of him; see Psalm 39:9; and the argument of the psalm seems to be much the same with that of the preceding one, as Kimchi observes.

{s} Vid. Hiller. Onomastic. Sacr. p. 513, 805.