Psalms 39:1-7

Context

Psalm 39¹

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

39:3 my anxiety intensified.⁸

As I thought about it, I became impatient.⁹

Finally I spoke these words:¹⁰

39:4 “O Lord, help me understand my mortality

and the brevity of life!¹¹

Let me realize how quickly my life will pass!¹²

39:5 Look, you make my days short-lived,¹³

and my life span is nothing from your perspective.¹⁴

Surely all people, even those who seem secure, are nothing but vapor.¹⁵

39:6 Surely people go through life as mere ghosts.¹⁶

Surely they accumulate worthless wealth

without knowing who will eventually haul it away.”¹⁷

39:7 But now, O Lord, upon what am I relying?

You are my only hope!¹⁸

[39:1] ¹sn Psalm 39. The psalmist laments his frailty and mortality as he begs the Lord to take pity on him and remove his disciplinary hand.

[39:1] ²tn Heb “I said.”

[39:1] ³tn Heb “I will watch my ways, from sinning with my tongue.”

[39:1] ⁴sn The psalmist wanted to voice a lament to the Lord (see vv. 4-6), but he hesitated to do so in the presence of evil men, for such words might be sinful if they gave the wicked an occasion to insult God. See C. A. Briggs and E. G. Briggs, Psalms (ICC), 1:345.

[39:2] ⁵tn Heb “I was mute [with] silence.”

[39:2] ⁶tn Heb “I was quiet from good.” He kept quiet, resisting the urge to find emotional release and satisfaction by voicing his lament.

[39:2] ⁷tn Heb “and my pain was stirred up.” Emotional pain is in view here.

[39:3] ⁸tn Heb “my heart was hot within me.”

[39:3] ⁹tn Heb “In my reflection fire burned.” The prefixed verbal form is either a preterite (past tense) or an imperfect being used in a past progressive or customary sense (“fire was burning”).

[39:3] ¹⁰tn Heb “I spoke with my tongue.” The phrase “these words” is supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.

[39:4] ¹¹tn Heb “Cause me to know, O Lord, my end; and the measure of my days, what it is!”

[39:4] ¹²tn Heb “Let me know how transient I am!”

[39:5] ¹³tn Heb “Look, handbreadths you make my days.” The “handbreadth” (equivalent to the width of four fingers) was one of the smallest measures used by ancient Israelites. See P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 309.

[39:5] ¹⁴tn Heb “is like nothing before you.”

[39:5] ¹⁵tn Heb “surely, all vapor [is] all mankind, standing firm.” Another option is to translate, “Surely, all mankind, though seemingly secure, is nothing but a vapor.”

[39:6] ¹⁶tn Heb “surely, as an image man walks about.” The preposition prefixed to “image” indicates identity here.

[39:6] ¹⁷tc Heb “Surely [in] vain they strive, he accumulates and does not know who gathers them.” The MT as it stands is syntactically awkward. The verb forms switch from singular (“walks about”) to plural (“they strive”) and then back to singular (“accumulates and does not know”), even though the subject (generic “man”) remains the same. Furthermore there is no object for the verb “accumulates” and no plural antecedent for the plural pronoun (“them”) attached to “gathers.” These problems can be removed if one emends the text from הֶבֶל יֶהֱמָיוּן (hevel yehemaun, “[in] vain they strive”) to הֶבְלֵי הָמוֹן (hevley hamon, “vain things of wealth”). This assumes a misdivision in the MT and a virtual dittography of vav (ו) between the mem and nun of המון. The present translation follows this emendation.

[39:7] ¹⁸tn Heb “my hope, for you it [is].”