Psalms 39:11

11 When you rebuke and discipline anyone for their sin, you consume their wealth like a moth— surely everyone is but a breath.

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Psalms 39:11 in Other Translations

KJV

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

ESV

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

NLT

11 When you discipline us for our sins, you consume like a moth what is precious to us. Each of us is but a breath. Interlude

MSG

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

CSB

11 You discipline a man with punishment for sin, consuming like a moth what is precious to him; every man is a mere vapor. Selah

Psalms 39:11 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 39:11

When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity
The psalmist illustrates his own case, before suggested, by the common case and condition of men, when God corrects them; which he has a right to do, as the Father of spirits, and which he does with rebukes; sometimes with rebukes of wrath, with furious rebukes, rebukes in flames of fire, as the men of the world; and sometimes with rebukes of love, the chastenings of a father, as his own dear children; and always for iniquity, whether one or another; and not the iniquity of Adam is here meant, but personal iniquity: and correction for it is to be understood of some bodily affliction, as the effect of it shows;

thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth;
that is, secretly, suddenly, and at once; as a moth eats a garment, and takes off the beauty of it; or as easily as a moth is crushed between a man's fingers; so the Targum;

``he melts away as a moth, whose body is broken:''

the Vulgate Latin, Septuagint, Ethiopic, and Arabic versions, and so the metaphrase of Apollinarius, read, as a spider which destroys itself. The word rendered "beauty" takes in all that is desirable in man; as his flesh, his strength, his comeliness, his pleasantness of countenance all which are quickly destroyed by a distemper of the body seizing on it; wherefore the psalmist makes and confirms the conclusion he had made before:

surely every man [is] vanity; (See Gill on Psalms 39:5);

Selah; on this word, (See Gill on Psalms 3:2).

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Psalms 39:11 In-Context

9 I was silent; I would not open my mouth, for you are the one who has done this.

10 Remove your scourge from me; I am overcome by the blow of your hand.

11 When you rebuke and discipline anyone for their sin, you consume their wealth like a moth— surely everyone is but a breath.

12 “Hear my prayer, LORD, listen to my cry for help; do not be deaf to my weeping. I dwell with you as a foreigner, a stranger, as all my ancestors were.

13 Look away from me, that I may enjoy life again before I depart and am no more.”