Psalm 39 To the Chief Musician. To Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.

¹I said, “I will guard my ways,

Lest I sin with my tongue;

I will restrain my mouth with a muzzle,

While the wicked are before me.”

²I was mute with silence,

I held my peace even from good;

And my sorrow was stirred up.

³My heart was hot within me;

While I was musing, the fire burned.

Then I spoke with my tongue:

⁴“Lord, make me to know my end,

And what is the measure of my days,

That I may know how frail I am.

⁵Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths,

And my age is as nothing before You;

Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor. Selah

⁶Surely every man walks about like a shadow;

Surely they busy themselves in vain;

He heaps up riches,

And does not know who will gather them.

⁷“And now, Lord, what do I wait for?

My hope is in You.

⁸Deliver me from all my transgressions;

Do not make me the reproach of the foolish.

⁹I was mute, I did not open my mouth,

Because it was You who did it.

¹⁰Remove Your plague from me;

I am consumed by the blow of Your hand.

¹¹When with rebukes You correct man for iniquity,

You make his beauty melt away like a moth;

Surely every man is vapor. Selah

¹²“Hear my prayer, O Lord,

And give ear to my cry;

Do not be silent at my tears;

For I am a stranger with You,

A sojourner, as all my fathers were.

¹³Remove Your gaze from me, that I may regain strength,

Before I go away and am no more.”

Commentary

Vs. 1-3 ¹I said, “I will guard my ways,

Lest I sin with my tongue;

I will restrain my mouth with a muzzle,

While the wicked are before me.”

²I was mute with silence,

I held my peace even from good;

And my sorrow was stirred up.

³My heart was hot within me;

While I was musing, the fire burned.

Then I spoke with my tongue:

David opens this Psalm with a declaration of determined restraint and of inner resolve to not let his circumstances dictate his reactions and faith. Therefore, David once again puts his frustrations to pen, but not just to vent, but also to instruct. For its easy thing during such times to give into temptation, to just vent all of one's feelings and let unbecoming words and speech be unleashed out of one’s mouth, for the blameless Job eventually did that, and it didn't profit him. Therefore, David determined within himself to put a muzzle on his mouth, while the wicked were before him, and he himself was once again under chastening hand of God. However, as he held his peace, and as he pondered his own plight, his heart was stirred with all manner of emotions within him, sadness of the one hand, frustration and anger on the other, and so it all came to boiling point, therefore when he could no longer keep silent, he spoke with his tongue and said…  

Vs. 4-6 ⁴“Lord, make me to know my end,

And what is the measure of my days,

That I may know how frail I am.

⁵Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths,

And my age is as nothing before You;

Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor. Selah

⁶Surely every man walks about like a shadow;

Surely they busy themselves in vain;

He heaps up riches,

And does not know who will gather them.

It is then Davids inner reflection that causes him to think before speaking, to consider his (and every mans) temporal state and being. What then is the measure of a man? What then is the meaning of his days? If all of his strength, beauty, riches, and whatever else he acquires in this life and busies himself with is only being stored up for the grave, stored up for those who will acquire it and use it all at their own pleasure and leisure after he is gone. Life then lived devoid of the Lord is never really lived, nor can it be enjoyed forever. 

Vs. 7-8 ⁷“And now, Lord, what do I wait for?

My hope is in You.

⁸Deliver me from all my transgressions;

Do not make me the reproach of the foolish.

Knowing this life’s meaningless can be a turning point, it can lead one to the Lord. And it is there that David finds his purpose, renewal, and strength. For it is the Lord that he waits for, that we ourselves wait for, for we who believe in Him have also set our desires upon Him. For as his hope is in Him, so is ours. Hope then of everlasting life, hope then of a resurrection of the dead, of both the just and the unjust, hope then of an eternal and everlastingly just and peaceful and glorious future and home in heaven with the Lord where sin will not be, and the foolish will reproach no more!

Vs. 9 “I was mute, I did not open my mouth,

Because it was You who did it.”

David now acknowledges that his silence was born out of his reverence for the Lord, out of a healthy fear of Him, because He was chastening him, thus he didn't give himself over to ways and the words of the foolish who will not receive correction from God but will only rebel against Him. 

Vs. 10-11 ¹⁰Remove Your plague from me;

I am consumed by the blow of Your hand.

¹¹When with rebukes You correct man for iniquity,

You make his beauty melt away like a moth;

Surely every man is vapor. Selah

Therefore, David asks the Lord to remove his plague from him, acknowledging that he has been brought low by Him, that He has done this to correct for him for his iniquity. For David is not being singled out, or being mistreated, or wronged, nor does he see himself as being so, for the Lord deals justly with all. Therefore, David acknowledges that it is the Lord who sustains him or brings him low (consider 1 Sam. 2:6-8, "For by strength no man shall prevail" 1 Sam. 2:9). Any man who then thinks that he is self-made or self-sustained is a total fool, for just as the Lord makes his beauty melt away like a moth, so too his life is but for a moment, like a vapor that briefly appears, it too then vanishes away. Confidence in oneself, to save or deliver oneself, then is the ultimate folly! 

Vs. 12-13 ¹²“Hear my prayer, O Lord,

And give ear to my cry;

Do not be silent at my tears;

For I am a stranger with You,

A sojourner, as all my fathers were.

¹³Remove Your gaze from me, that I may regain strength,

Before I go away and am no more.”

David concludes his prayer with a heartfelt plea from a broken place, not an angry, arrogant, or prideful place, but a true place, a place of humility where he knows the Lord will look upon Him, where He will see his tears and remember that David, like every child of God, is also a stranger with Him, a sojourner in this world like all of our forefathers in the faith were (consider Heb. 11). In closing then David asks that the Lord remove His gaze from him so that he may regain his strength before he goes away and is no more.

Scripture Quotations

New King James (1982): Thomas Nelson.