Psalms 39

I said: I will watch how I live, so that I do not sin with my words. I will keep a guard on my mouth while wicked people are in front of me.

1I 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.

Note"Take heed to my ways" is Hebrew idiom for watching one's conduct, not one's route. The "bridle" of the King James is literally a muzzle, the strap put on an animal's mouth to stop it biting or eating. "Before me" means in their presence, within earshot.

2I said nothing at all. I stayed silent, and did not even speak up about good things. And my pain only grew worse inside me.

2I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred.

3My heart grew hot inside me. The more I thought about it, the more the fire burned. Then at last I spoke out loud:

3My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue,

NoteIn Hebrew the heart is the seat of thought as well as feeling, closer to "mind" than to romantic emotion. A heart growing hot is a mind working itself up.

4LORD, show me how my life will end, and how many days I have. Let me see how short and fragile my life is.

4LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is: that I may know how frail I am.

Note"The measure of my days" treats a lifespan as a length that can be measured out, which sets up the hand's-width image in the next verse.

5Look, you have made my days only a hand's width long. My whole lifetime is nothing next to you. Truly, every person, even at his best, is only a breath. Selah.

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.

NoteA handbreadth is the width of the palm across the base of the four fingers, about three inches, the smallest ordinary unit of measure in ancient Israel, used for things like the thickness of a rim. The King James "vanity" translates Hebrew *hebel*, meaning a breath or puff of vapor: something real but weightless and gone at once. It is the same word repeated throughout Ecclesiastes. "Selah" is a term of unknown meaning that appears in the Psalms; it is probably a musical or performance direction, and translators leave it untranslated rather than guess.

6Surely everyone moves through life like a passing shadow. Surely all the rushing about comes to nothing. A man piles up riches and does not know who will end up taking them.

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.

NoteThe word behind "vain shew" means an image, a reflection, a shape, something that looks solid but has nothing behind it. "Disquieted" in 1611 English meant agitated and bustling, not merely uneasy. "Who shall gather them" is the ordinary word for bringing in a harvest: someone else collects the crop he worked for.

7So now, Lord, what am I waiting for? My hope is in you.

7And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee.

8Rescue me from all the wrong I have done. Do not leave me to be mocked by fools.

8Deliver me from all my transgressions: make me not the reproach of the foolish.

Note"The foolish" in Hebrew writing does not mean the unintelligent. A fool is someone morally reckless who despises restraint, and the sting is having such people be the ones entitled to sneer.

9I stayed silent. I did not open my mouth, because you are the one who did this to me.

9I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it.

10Take your punishment away from me. The blows from your hand are wearing me down to nothing.

10Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thine hand.

NoteThe word rendered "stroke" or "plague" covers any affliction sent as a blow, and is the standard term in the law codes for a diseased spot on skin, cloth or a wall. The line can be read as sickness as easily as misfortune.

11When you correct a person with sharp words for what he has done wrong, you make what he treasures waste away, the way a moth eats cloth. Surely every person is only a breath. Selah.

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.

NoteCloth was stored wealth in the ancient world (garments were inherited, given as gifts and used to settle debts), so a moth quietly destroying fabric in a chest was a familiar image for value eaten away unseen. What is consumed is literally "what he desires", his most prized possession.

12Hear my prayer, LORD, and listen closely to my cry for help. Do not stay silent while I weep. I am only a guest staying with you, a stranger passing through, as all my ancestors were.

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.

Note"Stranger" and "sojourner" are two legal terms for a resident foreigner: someone living in a land he does not own, holding no inherited land, dependent on a host's protection. Israelite landholders described themselves this way toward God, who was reckoned the land's true owner.

13Please spare me, so I can get my strength back before I go away and am gone.

13O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more.

Note"O spare me" is literally "look away from me". A divine gaze here means scrutiny and pressure, so asking God to stop looking is asking for relief, not for abandonment. "Recover strength" translates a verb meaning to brighten or cheer up. "Go hence" is the plain word for departing, i.e. dying.