39:8 Deliver me from all my sins of rebellion!
Do not make me the object of fools’ insults!
39:9 I am silent and cannot open my mouth
because of what you have done. 1
39:10 Please stop wounding me! 2
You have almost beaten me to death! 3
39:11 You severely discipline people for their sins; 4
like a moth you slowly devour their strength. 5
Surely all people are a mere vapor. (Selah)
39:12 Hear my prayer, O Lord!
Listen to my cry for help!
Do not ignore my sobbing! 6
For I am dependent on you, like one residing outside his native land;
I am at your mercy, just as all my ancestors were. 7
1 tn Heb “because you acted.” The psalmist has in mind God’s disciplinary measures (see vv. 10-13).
1 tn Heb “remove from upon me your wound.”
2 tn Heb “from the hostility of your hand I have come to an end.”
1 tn “with punishments on account of sin you discipline a man.”
2 tc Heb “you cause to dissolve, like a moth, his desired [thing].” The translation assumes an emendation of חֲמוּדוֹ (khamudo, “his desirable [thing]”) to חֶמְדוֹ (khemdo, “his loveliness” [or “beauty”]), a reading that is supported by a few medieval Hebrew
1 tn Heb “do not be deaf to my tears.”
2 tn Heb “For a resident alien [am] I with you, a sojourner like all my fathers.”