Psalms 39:8-12

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 

[39:9]  ¹ tn Heb “because you acted.” The psalmist has in mind God’s disciplinary measures (see vv. 10-13).

[39:10]  ¹ tn Heb “remove from upon me your wound.”

[39:10]  ² tn Heb “from the hostility of your hand I have come to an end.”

[39:11]  ¹ tn “with punishments on account of sin you discipline a man.”

[39:11]  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 mss.

[39:12]  ¹ tn Heb “do not be deaf to my tears.”

[39:12]  ² tn Heb “For a resident alien [am] I with you, a sojourner like all my fathers.”