Psalm 39
For the Chief Musician. For Jeduthun. A Psalm by David.
I said, “I will watch my ways, so that I don’t sin with my tongue.
I will keep my mouth with a bridle while the wicked is before me.”
I was mute with silence.
I held my peace, even from good.
My sorrow was stirred.
My heart was hot within me.
While I meditated, the fire burned.
I spoke with my tongue:
“Yahweh, show me my end,
what is the measure of my days.
Let me know how frail I am.
Behold, you have made my days hand widths.
My lifetime is as nothing before you.
Surely every man stands as a breath.”
Selah.
“Surely every man walks like a shadow.
Surely they busy themselves in vain.
He heaps up, and doesn’t know who shall gather.
Now, Lord, what do I wait for?
My hope is in you.
Deliver me from all my transgressions.
Don’t make me the reproach of the foolish.
I was mute.
I didn’t open my mouth,
because you did it.
10 Remove your scourge away from me.
I am overcome by the blow of your hand.
11 When you rebuke and correct man for iniquity,
You consume his wealth like a moth.
Surely every man is but a breath.”
Selah.
12 “Hear my prayer, Yahweh, and give ear to my cry.
Don’t be silent at my tears.
For I am a stranger with you,
a foreigner, as all my fathers were.
13 Oh spare me, that I may recover strength,
before I go away, and exist no more.”
+1:2“Yahweh” is God’s proper Name, sometimes rendered “LORD” (all caps) in other translations.+2:2The word “Anointed” is the same as the word for “Messiah” or “Christ”+2:4The word translated “Lord” is “Adonai.”+2:12or, Kiss the son+3:2The Hebrew word rendered “God” is “אֱלֹהִ֑ים” (Elohim).+6:5Sheol is the place of the dead.+7:14“Behold”, from “הִנֵּה”, means look at, take notice, observe, see, or gaze at. It is often used as an interjection.+8:5Hebrew: Elohim. The word Elohim, used here, usually means “God”, but can also mean “gods”, “princes”, or “angels”. The Septuagint reads “angels” here.+9:17Sheol is the place of the dead.+16:10Sheol is the place of the dead.+18:5Sheol is the place of the dead.+18:50or, seed+22:16So Dead Sea Scrolls. Masoretic Text reads, “Like a lion, they pin my hands and feet.”+25:13or, seed+30:3Sheol is the place of the dead.+31:17Sheol is the place of the dead.+34:1Psalm 34 is an acrostic poem, with each verse starting with a letter of the alphabet (ordered from Alef to Tav).+37:26or, seed