Psalms 39:4-13

4 Make me to know, Jehovah, mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is: I shall know how frail I am.

5 Behold, thou hast made my days [as] hand-breadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before thee; verily, every man, [even] the high placed, is altogether vanity. Selah.

6 Verily, man walketh in a vain show; verily they are disquieted in vain; he heapeth up [riches], and knoweth not who shall gather them.

7 And now, what wait I for, Lord? 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; for *thou* hast done [it].

10 Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thy hand.

11 When thou with rebukes dost correct a man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely, every man is vanity. Selah.

12 Hear my prayer, Jehovah, and give ear unto my cry; be not silent at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, a sojourner, like all my fathers.

13 Look away from me, and let me recover strength, before I go hence and be no more.

Psalms 39:4-13 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or 'who standeth.'
• [b]. Lit. 'in an image (shadow).'
• [c]. Or 'for vanity,' as vers. 5,11: Job. 7.16.
• [d]. Lit. 'melt.'
• [e]. Or 'brighten up,' as Job 9.27; 10.20.