1 To the Overseer, to Jeduthun. -- A Psalm of David. I have said, `I observe my ways, Against sinning with my tongue, I keep for my mouth a curb, while the wicked `is' before me.'
2 I was dumb `with' silence, I kept silent from good, and my pain is excited.
3 Hot `is' my heart within me, In my meditating doth the fire burn, I have spoken with my tongue.
4 `Cause me to know, O Jehovah, mine end, And the measure of my days -- what it `is',' I know how frail I `am'.
5 Lo, handbreadths Thou hast made my days, And mine age `is' as nothing before Thee, Only, all vanity `is' every man set up. Selah.
6 Only, in an image doth each walk habitually, Only, `in' vain, they are disquieted, He heapeth up and knoweth not who gathereth them.
7 And, now, what have I expected? O Lord, my hope -- it `is' of Thee.
8 From all my transgressions deliver me, A reproach of the fool make me not.
9 I have been dumb, I open not my mouth, Because Thou -- Thou hast done `it'.
10 Turn aside from off me Thy stroke, From the striving of Thy hand I have been consumed.
11 With reproofs against iniquity, Thou hast corrected man, And dost waste as a moth his desirableness, Only, vanity `is' every man. Selah.
12 Hear my prayer, O Jehovah, And `to' my cry give ear, Unto my tear be not silent, For a sojourner I `am' with Thee, A settler like all my fathers.
13 Look from me, and I brighten up before I go and am not!
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 39
Commentary on Psalms 39 Matthew Henry Commentary
Psalm 39
David seems to have been in a great strait when he penned this psalm, and, upon some account or other, very uneasy; for it is with some difficulty that he conquers his passion, and composes his spirit himself to take that good counsel which he had given to others (Ps. 37) to rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him, without fretting; for it is easier to give the good advice than to give the good example of quietness under affliction. What was the particular trouble which gave occasion for the conflict David was now in does not appear. Perhaps it was the death of some dear friend or relation that was the trial of his patience, and that suggested to him these meditations of morality; and at the same time, it should seem too, he himself was weak and ill, and under some prevailing distemper. His enemies likewise were seeking advantages against him, and watched for his halting, that they might have something to reproach him for. Thus aggrieved,
This is a funeral psalm, and very proper for the occasion; in singing it we should get our hearts duly affected with the brevity, uncertainty, and calamitous state of human life; and those on whose comforts God has, by death, made breaches, will find this psalm of great use to them, in order to their obtaining what we ought much to aim at under such an affliction, which is to get it sanctified to us for our spiritual benefit and to get our hearts reconciled to the holy will of God in it
To the chief musician, even to Jeduthun. A psalm of David.
Psa 39:1-6
David here recollects, and leaves upon record, the workings of his heart under his afflictions; and it is good for us to do so, that what was thought amiss may be amended, and what was well thought of may be improved the next time.
Psa 39:7-13
The psalmist, having meditated on the shortness and uncertainty of life, and the vanity and vexation of spirit that attend all the comforts of life, here, in these verses, turns his eyes and heart heaven-ward. When there is no solid satisfaction to be had in the creature it is to be found in God, and in communion with him; and to him we should be driven by our disappointments in the world. David here expresses,