For the music director, Jeduthun; a psalm of David.
39:1 I decided, 2 “I will watch what I say
and make sure I do not sin with my tongue. 3
I will put a muzzle over my mouth
while in the presence of an evil man.” 4
39:2 I was stone silent; 5
I held back the urge to speak. 6
My frustration grew; 7
39:9 I am silent and cannot open my mouth
because of what you have done. 8
53:7 He was treated harshly and afflicted, 9
but he did not even open his mouth.
Like a lamb led to the slaughtering block,
like a sheep silent before her shearers,
he did not even open his mouth. 10
“He was led like a sheep to slaughter,
and like a lamb before its shearer is silent,
so he did 12 not open his mouth.
Now on that day a great 14 persecution began 15 against the church in Jerusalem, 16 and all 17 except the apostles were forced to scatter throughout the regions 18 of Judea and Samaria.
1 sn Psalm 39. The psalmist laments his frailty and mortality as he begs the Lord to take pity on him and remove his disciplinary hand.
2 tn Heb “I said.”
3 tn Heb “I will watch my ways, from sinning with my tongue.”
4 sn The psalmist wanted to voice a lament to the
5 tn Heb “I was mute [with] silence.”
6 tn Heb “I was quiet from good.” He kept quiet, resisting the urge to find emotional release and satisfaction by voicing his lament.
7 tn Heb “and my pain was stirred up.” Emotional pain is in view here.
8 tn Heb “because you acted.” The psalmist has in mind God’s disciplinary measures (see vv. 10-13).
9 tn The translation assumes the Niphal is passive; another option is take the clause (note the subject + verb pattern) as concessive and the Niphal as reflexive, “though he humbled himself.”
10 sn This verse emphasizes the servant’s silent submission. The comparison to a sheep does not necessarily suggest a sacrificial metaphor. Sheep were slaughtered for food as well as for sacrificial rituals, and טֶבַח (tevakh) need not refer to sacrificial slaughter (see Gen 43:16; Prov 7:22; 9:2; Jer 50:27; note also the use of the related verb in Exod 21:37; Deut 28:31; 1 Sam 25:11).
11 tn Grk “he”; the referent (the man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
12 tn Grk “does.” The present tense here was translated as a past tense to maintain consistency with the first line of the quotation (“he was led like a sheep to slaughter”), which has an aorist passive verb normally translated as a past tense in English.
13 tn The term ἀναίρεσις (anairesi") can refer to murder (BDAG 64 s.v.; 2 Macc 5:13; Josephus, Ant. 5.2.12 [5.165]).
14 tn Or “severe.”
15 tn Grk “Now there happened on that day a great persecution.” It is less awkward to say in English “Now on that day a great persecution began.”
16 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
17 sn All. Given that the Jerusalem church is still active after this and that the Hellenists are the focus of Acts 6-8, it is possible to argue that only the Hellenistic Christians were forced to scatter.
18 tn Or “countryside.”
19 tn Or “you killed.”
20 tn Grk “at the hands of lawless men.” At this point the term ἄνομος (anomo") refers to non-Jews who live outside the Jewish (Mosaic) law, rather than people who broke any or all laws including secular laws. Specifically it is a reference to the Roman soldiers who carried out Jesus’ crucifixion.