Psalms 39

David, struggling with suffering and the sneers of the wicked, tries to keep silent but cannot. He pours out his heart to God about how short and fragile life is. He ends by clinging to God in hope and asking for a little relief before he dies.

Psalms 39:1

David resolves to keep his speech under control, especially in front of ungodly people. He fears that complaining aloud would be sin and would give them a reason to mock God. So he puts a muzzle on his mouth.

BSA: muzzle (“bridle, restraint”): He treats his own mouth like a restless animal that needs a firm hold. watch (“give attention to, observe carefully”): He decides on careful, deliberate self-watchfulness over his whole path.

See also: James 3:2; Psalm 141:3.

Psalms 39:2

His silence went too far. He held back even good words, and the bottled-up grief only grew worse. Holding everything inside did not heal him. It made the pain press harder.

BSA: sorrow (“pain, grief”): The hurt did not fade in silence but was stirred up like disturbed water.

Psalms 39:3

The pressure inside became like a fire. As he brooded, the heat rose until he could hold back no longer. His silence broke, but notice that he turns his words toward God, not toward the wicked.

BSA: fire (“of emotions, passion”): The picture is of strong feeling burning within until it must come out.

See also: Jeremiah 20:9.

Psalms 39:4

His first prayer is surprising. He does not ask for escape but for understanding: how long will I live, and how brief is it? He wants to see his life as God sees it, so that he can live wisely in it.

BSA: fleeting (“transitory, brief”): He asks to grasp, not just hear, how quickly life passes.

See also: Psalm 90:12.

Psalms 39:5

A handbreadth is the width of four fingers, one of the smallest measures. Life is that short beside God’s eternity. Even a person at his strongest is only a breath. The word Selah invites us to pause and take this in.

BSA: breath (“a fleeting puff of air, a transient moment”): Human life is as slight and quick to vanish as a puff of air. best (“in his strongest state, most flourishing condition”): Even the strongest, healthiest moment of life is still only a breath.

Hebrew: הֶבֶל (hevel, H1892) — “breath, vapor, vanity.” This is the same word that is often translated vanity in Ecclesiastes. It pictures something light and passing that cannot be held onto.

See also: James 4:14.

Psalms 39:6

People hurry about like a shadow, busy and anxious, piling up wealth. Yet they do not know who will end up with it. Hard work for riches alone is empty, because death takes away our grip on everything.

BSA: phantom (“shadow, image”): A person’s outward life can be like a passing shadow with little substance. bustles (“is disquieted, rushes”): The restless rushing of people is itself a sign of their unease.

See also: Luke 12:20; Ecclesiastes 2:18-19.

Psalms 39:7

After looking at how empty everything is, David asks what there is left to wait for. His answer comes at once: his hope is in the Lord. When all else proves to be a breath, God alone is solid ground.

BSA: hope (“trust, confidence”): His hope is not a vague wish but a firm trust placed in God Himself.

See also: Psalm 62:5.

Psalms 39:8

He now sees that his deepest trouble is sin, not circumstances. He asks to be set free from every transgression. He also asks that fools, who have no regard for God, not get to mock him as someone abandoned.

BSA: transgressions (“sins, rebellions”): The word means more than slips. It speaks of willful stepping over God’s boundaries.

Psalms 39:9

He returns to silence, but now it is a different silence. It is not a clenched muzzle but quiet submission, because he recognizes that God is at work in what has happened to him.

BSA: mute (“dumb, unable to speak”): He is hushed before God, with nothing left to argue.

See also: Job 40:4.

Psalms 39:10

Though he submits, he still pleads. He asks God to lift the blow that is wearing him down. God’s hand is heavy on him, and he honestly says that he is fading under it.

BSA: scourge (“stroke, blow, plague”): He feels a real strike from God’s hand, not a random misfortune.

Psalms 39:11

God corrects people for their sin, and what they treasure can waste away as a moth eats cloth, quietly and surely. Discipline shows how fragile we are. Once more he says that each person is only a breath.

BSA: moth (“as a moth consumes”): The wasting is slow and silent, like cloth being eaten away from within. discipline (“rebuke, correct”): God’s dealing is meant to correct and teach, not merely to punish.

See also: Hebrews 12:5-6.

Psalms 39:12

He prays with weeping, and tears are a prayer God hears. He calls himself a stranger with God, a traveler passing through, as his ancestors were. This world is not our permanent home, and God is our host along the road.

BSA: foreigner (“a temporary resident, a sojourner”): He lives on earth as a guest whose true belonging is with God. weeping (“my tears of sorrow”): He asks God to respond even to his tears, not only his words.

Hebrew: גֵּר (ger, H1616) — “resident alien, sojourner.” This describes someone who lives in a land without owning it and depends on the host’s protection. David says God is that host to him.

See also: 1 Peter 2:11; Hebrews 11:13.

Psalms 39:13

He closes asking for a little relief before his short life ends. Asking God to look away means asking Him to ease the heavy hand of discipline. He does not hide that death is coming, but he longs for gladness first.

BSA: cheered (“recovery strength, comforted”): He asks for renewed strength and a lightened heart, not just an end to pain.