Psalms
Chapter 39
David decides to stay silent in front of people who do wrong, but his grief builds until he has to speak. He asks God to show him how short his life is, and he says that people spend their days chasing things that do not last. He admits his wrongs, asks God to lift the punishment he is feeling, and ends by asking for relief before his life is over.
Plain reading written for preteens. Clear and complete, at about a fifth grade reading level.
I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me.
1I said, I will watch how I live, so that I do not sin with my words. I will guard my mouth while people who do wrong are near me.
2I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred.
2So I said nothing at all. I kept quiet, and did not even say good things. But my sadness only grew stronger inside me.
3My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue,
3My heart grew hot inside me. The more I thought, the more it burned. At last I spoke out loud:
4LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is: that I may know how frail I am.
4LORD, show me how my life will end and how many days I have. Let me see how short my life really is.
5Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.
5You have made my days as short as the width of a hand. My whole life is nothing to you. Even at his best, a person is only a breath. Selah.
A handbreadth is the width of a hand, about four inches. It was a common way to measure small lengths.
6Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.
6People move through life like a shadow. They rush around for nothing. A man piles up money and does not know who will get it.
7And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee.
7So now, Lord, what am I waiting for? You are my hope.
8Deliver me from all my transgressions: make me not the reproach of the foolish.
8Save me from all the wrong I have done. Do not let foolish people mock me.
9I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it.
9I said nothing. I did not open my mouth, because you are the one who did this.
10Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thine hand.
10Please stop hitting me. The blows from your hand are wearing me out.
11When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity. Selah.
11When you correct someone for doing wrong, you eat away what he loves, the way a moth eats cloth. Every person is only a breath. Selah.
12Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.
12Hear my prayer, LORD. Listen to my cry for help. Do not stay silent while I weep. I am only a guest with you, a visitor passing through, as all my fathers were.
13O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more.
13Look away from me, so I can be glad again, before I go away and am gone.
The KJV says "spare me," but the Hebrew asks God to turn his hard gaze away, so the writer can have relief.
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