Psalms 39:5-13

5 You've kept me on pretty short rations; my life is string too short to be saved.

6 Oh! we're all puffs of air. Oh! we're all shadows in a campfire. Oh! we're just spit in the wind. We make our pile, and then we leave it.

7 "What am I doing in the meantime, Lord? Hoping, that's what I'm doing - hoping

8 You'll save me from a rebel life, save me from the contempt of dunces.

9 I'll say no more, I'll shut my mouth, since you, Lord, are behind all this.

10 But I can't take it much longer. When you put us through the fire

11 to purge us from our sin, our dearest idols go up in smoke. Are we also nothing but smoke?

12 "Ah, God, listen to my prayer, my cry - open your ears. Don't be callous; just look at these tears of mine. I'm a stranger here. I don't know my way - a migrant like my whole family.

13 Give me a break, cut me some slack before it's too late and I'm out of here."

Psalms 39:5-13 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.