Psalm 39:13

13 Look away from me so that I may smile again before I go away and am no more.

Psalm 39:13 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 39:13

O spare me
Or "look from me" ^F6; turn away thy fierce countenance from me; or "cease from me ^F7, and let me alone"; as in ( Job 10:20 ) ; from whence the words seem to be taken, by what follows:

that I may recover strength;
both corporeal and spiritual:

before I go hence;
out of this world by death:

and be no more;
that is, among men in the land of the living; not but that he believed he should exist after death, and should be somewhere, even in heaven, though he should return no more to the place where he was; see ( Job 10:20 Job 10:21 ) , when a man is born, he comes into the world; when he dies, he goes out of it; a phrase frequently used for death in Scripture; so the ancient Heathens called death "abitio", a going away {h}.

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FOOTNOTES:

F6 (ynmm evh) "respice aliorsum a me", Gejerus; "averte visum a me", Michaelis.
F7 "Desine a me", Pagninus; "desiste a me", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius; "cessa a me", Vatablus.
F8 Fest. Pomp. apud Schindler. Lexic. col. 440.

Psalm 39:13 In-Context

11 With stern warnings you discipline people for their crimes. Like a moth you eat away at what is dear to them. Certainly, everyone is like a whisper in the wind. Selah

12 Listen to my prayer, O LORD. Open your ear to my cry for help. Do not be deaf to my tears, for I am a foreign resident with you, a stranger like all my ancestors.

13 Look away from me so that I may smile again before I go away and am no more.