Psalms 39:2-4

Context

39:2 I was stone silent;¹

I held back the urge to speak.²

My frustration grew;³

39:3 my anxiety intensified.⁴

As I thought about it, I became impatient.⁵

Finally I spoke these words:⁶

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

and the brevity of life!⁷

Let me realize how quickly my life will pass!⁸

[39:2] ¹tn Heb “I was mute [with] silence.”

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

[39:2] ³tn Heb “and my pain was stirred up.” Emotional pain is in view here.

[39:3] ⁴tn Heb “my heart was hot within me.”

[39:3] ⁵tn 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] ⁶tn Heb “I spoke with my tongue.” The phrase “these words” is supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.

[39:4] ⁷tn Heb “Cause me to know, O Lord, my end; and the measure of my days, what it is!”

[39:4] ⁸tn Heb “Let me know how transient I am!”