Psalm 39

1 I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I set a guard on my mouth, while the sinner stood in my presence.

2 I was dumb, and humbled myself, and kept silence from good words; and my grief was renewed.

3 My heart grew hot within me, and a fire would kindle in my meditation: I spoke with my tongue,

4 O Lord, make me to know mine end, and the number of my days, what it is; that I may know what I lack.

5 Behold, thou hast made my days old; and my existence is as nothing before thee: nay, every man living is altogether vanity. Pause.

6 Surely man walks in a shadow; nay, he is disquieted in vain: he lays up treasures, and knows not for whom he shall gather them.

7 And now what is my expectation? is it not the Lord? and my ground of hope is with thee. Pause.

8 Deliver me from all my transgressions: thou hast made me a reproach to the foolish.

9 I was dumb, and opened not my mouth; for thou art he that made me.

10 Remove thy scourges from me: I have fainted by reason of the strength of thine hand.

11 Thou chastenest man with rebukes for iniquity, and thou makest his life to consume away like a spider’s web; nay, every man is disquieted in vain. Pause.

12 O Lord, hearken to my prayer and my supplication: attend to my tears: be not silent, for I am a sojourner in the land, and a stranger, as all my fathers were.

13 Spare me, that I may be refreshed, before I depart, and be no more.

Psalm 39 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.