Psalm 39:12

12 ¹“Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear to my cry; hold not your peace at my tears! For I am ²a sojourner with you, ³a guest, like all my fathers.

Psalm 39:12 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 39:12

Hear my prayer, O Lord
Which was, that he would remove the affliction from him that lay so hard and heavy upon him;

and give ear unto my cry;
which shows the distress he was in, and the vehemency with which he put up his petition to the Lord;

hold not thy peace at my tears;
which were shed in great plenty, through the violence of the affliction, and in his fervent prayers to God; see ( Hebrews 5:7 ) ;

for I [am] a stranger with thee;
not to God, to Christ, to the Spirit, to the saints, to himself, and the plague of his own heart, or to the devices of Satan; but in the world, and to the men of it; being unknown to them, and behaving as a stranger among them; all which was known to God, and may be the meaning of the phrase "with thee"; or reference may be had to the land of Canaan, in which David dwelt, and which was the Lord's, and in which the Israelites dwelt as strangers and sojourners with him, ( Leviticus 25:23 ) ; as it follows here;

[and] a sojourner, as all my fathers [were];
meaning Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and their posterity; see ( Genesis 23:4 ) ( 35:27 ) ( Psalms 105:23 ) ; as are all the people of God in this world: this is not their native place; they belong to another and better country; their citizenship is in heaven; their Father's house is there, and there is their inheritance, which they have a right unto, and a meetness for: they have no settlement here; nor is their rest and satisfaction in the things of this world: they reckon themselves, while here, as not at home, but in a foreign land; and this the psalmist mentions, to engage the Lord to regard his prayers, since he has so often expressed a concern for the strangers and sojourners in the land of Israel.

Psalm 39:12 In-Context

10 Remove your stroke from me; I am spent by the hostility of your hand.

11 When you discipline a man with rebukes for sin, you consume like a moth what is dear to him; surely all mankind is a mere breath! Selah

12 “Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear to my cry; hold not your peace at my tears! For I am a sojourner with you, a guest, like all my fathers.

13 Look away from me, that I may smile again, before I depart and am no more! ”

Cross References

• 1. 39:12 Ps. 102:1
• 2. 39:12 Ps. 119:19; Lev. 25:23; 1 Chr. 29:15; Heb. 11:13; 1 Pet. 2:11; [Gen. 47:9]
• 3. 39:12 Ps. 119:19; Lev. 25:23; 1 Chr. 29:15; Heb. 11:13; 1 Pet. 2:11; [Gen. 47:9]