5 You have made my days no longer than a hand's measure; and my years are nothing in your eyes; truly, every man is but a breath. (Selah.)
Truly men of low birth are nothing, and men of high position are not what they seem; if they are put in the scales together they are less than a breath.
See how short my time is; why have you made all men for no purpose?
And Jacob said, The years of my wanderings have been a hundred and thirty; small in number and full of sorrow have been the years of my life, and less than the years of the wanderings of my fathers.
My days go quicker than the cloth-worker's thread, and come to an end without hope.
As for man, the son of woman, his days are short and full of trouble. He comes out like a flower, and is cut down: he goes in flight like a shade, and is never seen again.
By the weight of your wrath against man's sin, the glory of his form is wasted away; truly every man is but a breath. (Selah.)
For all our days have gone by in your wrath; our years come to an end like a breath. The measure of our life is seventy years; and if through strength it may be eighty years, its pride is only trouble and sorrow, for it comes to an end and we are quickly gone.
All is to no purpose, said the Preacher, all the ways of man are to no purpose.
All the nations are as nothing before him; even less than nothing, a thing of no value.
When you are not certain what will take place tomorrow. What is your life? It is a mist, which is seen for a little time and then is gone.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Psalms 39
Commentary on Psalms 39 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
PSALM 39
Ps 39:1-13. To Jeduthun (1Ch 16:41, 42), one of the chief singers. His name mentioned, perhaps, as a special honor. Under depressing views of his frailty and the prosperity of the wicked, the Psalmist, tempted to murmur, checks the expression of his feelings, till, led to regard his case aright, he prays for a proper view of his condition and for the divine compassion.
1. I said—or, "resolved."
will take heed—watch.
ways—conduct, of which the use of the tongue is a part (Jas 1:26).
bridle—literally, "muzzle for my mouth" (compare De 25:4).
while … before me—in beholding their prosperity (Ps 37:10, 36).
2. even from good—(Ge 31:24), everything.
3. His emotions, as a smothered flame, burst forth.
4-7. Some take these words as those of fretting, but they are not essentially such. The tinge of discontent arises from the character of his suppressed emotions. But, addressing God, they are softened and subdued.
make me to know mine end—experimentally appreciate.
how frail I am—literally, "when I shall cease."
5, 6. His prayer is answered in his obtaining an impressive view of the vanity of the life of all men, and their transient state. Their pomp is a mere image, and their wealth is gathered they know not for whom.
7. The interrogation makes the implied negative stronger. Though this world offers nothing to our expectation, God is worthy of all confidence.
8-10. Patiently submissive, he prays for the removal of his chastisement, and that he may not be a reproach.
11. From his own case, he argues to that of all, that the destruction of man's enjoyments is ascribable to sin.
12, 13. Consonant with the tenor of the Psalm, he prays for God's compassionate regard to him as a stranger here; and that, as such was the condition of his fathers, so, like them, he may be cheered instead of being bound under wrath and chastened in displeasure.